McAuliffe reealy is a cynical sort of fellow. Either that, or he thinks Virginia Democrats are a bunch of silly hicks...
I'm not the resident expert on the environment, climate change, carbon or coal... Others are much more informed than I am. But this is truly second-grade material, isn't it? Is anyone that isn't in the pocket of industry seriously asserting that clean coal exists - or ever will?
Ugh.
That's not all I have today about Mr. McAuliffe.
[flip]
I told you in my last post that I was concerned about what "Taliban" Bob McDonnell and his republican thug team would do to McAuliffe in the general. Briefly, I suggested that McAuliffe maybe vulnerable to charges of cronyism having to do with the current banking crisis. As circumstantial evidence, I proffered an article by Matt Tiabbi that mentioned how Democrats of the nineties started playing the lobbying game... that while McAuliffe was arranging White House sleep-overs and coffees for large donors, bankers had all of their legislative dreams fulfilled. I wanted to know how much money Terry McAuliffe raised from AIG, BoA, Citigroup, Chase, Bear Stearns, GOldman Sachs and their executives.
I reached out to the campaign.
After promising to run a fully transparent and "open book" race, the McAuliffe camp ignored my questions. I still haven't heard back.
Just as a matter of record: it wasn't for lack of access. I didn't leave a message with an intern that answered a campaign hotline. No... I actually did exchange emails with senior campaign staff. I was told that they'd try to get back to me. They never did.
So let's do some digging of our own.
Here's what McAuliffe was up to in the late 90's:
During the 1996 election cycle, he served as national finance chairman and then national co-chairman of the Clinton-Gore re-election committee. In 1997, he was chairman of the 53rd Presidential Inaugural Committee. In 1999, he was chairman of the White House Millennium Celebration. In 2000, McAuliffe chaired a tribute to outgoing President Bill Clinton, which set a fundraising record for a single event, raising $26.3 million. The same year, he chaired the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
I'm going to start looking in to what records are available. It'll be pretty interesting to examine who McAuliffe's "friends" were and what they received after making their "generous" donations.
One last thing before I go, from the WashPost:
Terry McAuliffe's ties to lobbyists go beyond the political friendships that prompted a group of supporters to host a fundraiser for him this week in the offices of the BGR Group, a prominent Washington lobbying firm. For nearly 10 years, McAuliffe was the managing partner of a law firm with its own thriving lobbying practice.
...
The details of McAuliffe Kelly Rafaelli's foreign lobbying are available under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires companies to disclose to the Department of Justice any advocacy they do on behalf of foreign governments. To read the disclosure forms, clink on the links below.
Perhaps most controversial was the company's representation of Turkey at a time when that government was the subject of international scrutiny for alleged human rights abuses. The firm was criticized by name in a report called "The Torturers' Lobby" published in 1992 by the Center for Public Integrity.
Listen...
McAuliffe can avoid hard questions for now if he wants to. But his time is growing short. His background will catch up to him. Virginian's best hope is that it happens during the primary process; if we leave it to "Taliban" Bob McDonnell... well, he and his minions will feast on McCauliffe's political carcass for the entire election season.
Virginians: it is our duty to vet our candidates. And Terry McAuliffe is a HUGE job. Let's get started.