Kerry Campaign Finds Support In SouthCoast
By Scott Brooks
WASHINGTON – SouthCoast business and political leaders have weighed in early in the presidential campaign cash war, donating almost entirely to home-state hopeful John Kerry.
The Kerry campaign raked in more than $20,000 from SouthCoast residents on its way to a second-place finish in the Democratic field’s first-quarter fundraising race. His donors were mostly attorneys and local business executives and included several members of the board overseeing the city’s Oceanarium project.
Sixteen residents of New Bedford and surrounding towns and cities gave to Sen. Kerry during the first three months of this year. Among the senator’s eight Democratic opponents, only Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, received any contributions from the SouthCoast, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
“Clearly, Kerry is the favorite-son candidate in Massachusetts,” said former New Bedford city solicitor George Leontire, who donated $1,000 to the Kerry campaign. “He’s the Massachusetts candidate. I’d find it surprising to see it any other way.”
Mr. Leontire, who sits on the New Bedford Oceanarium’s board of governors, said he gave to the senator before attending a Kerry fundraiser in Boston last month. He attended the fundraiser with New Bedford developer and Oceanarium board chairman William N. Whelan, whose real estate firm, Whelan Associates, hired Mr. Leontire last year.
Mr. Leontire said he supports the Kerry campaign because the senator has been “extremely attentive” to the area and particularly supportive of projects in New Bedford. He pointed to Sen. Kerry’s efforts to obtain federal dollars for the reconstruction of Route 18, as well as his support of the fishing industry and schools.
The Oceanarium, he said, had no bearing on his donation. Directors of the Oceanarium are trying to secure $10 million in federal money for the project, which is estimated to cost $135 million. Plans to move ahead with the project hit a snag last month when the Bush administration rejected the board’s application for $40 million worth of tax credits.
Mr. Leontire had harsh words for President Bush, who is pressuring Congress to pass a series of tax cuts, as well as for Gov. Mitt Romney, another anti-tax Republican.
“I’m really just upset with the direction of the country,” Leontire said. “I’m so fed up between watching the president give away all the money on the federal level and Romney dismantling the economy on the state level. It’s just a very sorry time.”
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Chancellor Jean MacCormack, who gave $250 to Sen. Kerry, said the senator has long been an advocate for southeastern Massachusetts’ interests. Sen. Kerry spends a good deal of time in the area, she said, and he’s often willing to speak on campus.
“I think it’s not surprising that people would look to him for some leadership and support,” she said.
SouthCoast contributions were just a small part of the $1.8 million Sen. Kerry raised in the Bay State. Massachusetts contributed roughly one-quarter of the campaign’s $7-million in receipts last quarter.
Outside of the home-state candidate, Mr. Dean drew the most financial support from Massachusetts, taking in nearly $250,000 in the first quarter. Mr. Dean, another New Englander, was head-and-shoulders above the remaining candidates, including Sen. Joe Lieberman, from neighboring Connecticut. Sen. Lieberman, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2000, raised just $44,000 in Massachusetts.
Though none of the money came from the South Coast, Massachusetts residents contributed about $80,000 to Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who led all Democratic candidates in fundraising during the first quarter, collected $40,000 in Massachusetts. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida took in $22,000.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio received $6,000 from just six Massachusetts donors. Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois did not receive any contributions from the state. The Rev. Al Sharpton had not released fundraising totals Thursday.
Mr. Dean’s SouthCoast support came from one couple: state Rep. Bill Straus, D-Fairhaven, and his wife, Kerry Shortle. The two contributed a total of $1,900 to Mr. Dean, whose brother lives in Massachusetts and is one of the couple’s old friends.
“My decision to support Howard Dean is no knock on Kerry,” Rep. Straus said. “It’s just that I think I’ve got a better candidate to support. I do it as a positive statement.”
In February, Rep. Straus toured the Statehouse with Mr. Dean and discussed his campaign with reporters and lawmakers in a building where Sen. Kerry, the former lieutenant governor, once worked.
Mr. Dean has held several events in Massachusetts since kicking off his campaign, and he has more fundraisers planned, Rep. Straus said.
The candidate has the strong backing of Steve Grossman, a Newton activist who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002 and headed the Democratic National Committee. Dean spokeswoman Dorie Clark said Mr. Grossman was key to Mr. Dean’s fundraising success in Massachusetts.
Rep. Strauss said he does not expect any of the other Democratic candidates to steal Massachusetts from Sen. Kerry. Still, he said, there is room for Mr. Dean to build a base in the state between now and Massachusetts’s March 2 presidential primary.
“You’d have to assume that John Kerry is the heavy favorite to win, but don’t be surprised if Howard Dean is there picking up delegates, because people are responding to him,” Rep. Straus said.
Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass Dartmouth, said he expects Sen. Kerry to continue raising money across the Bay State. He said support for the senator should be particularly strong in the SouthCoast, which he said was predominately Democratic but less liberal than Mr. Dean.
“All things remaining the same, one would anticipate that Kerry would continue to carry the day in this part of the state, and probably in Massachusetts as a whole,” Mr. Barrow said.
Published in The New Bedford Standard Times, in Massachusetts.
