WASHINGTON (AP) -- Labor unions, former Democratic Sen. Bob Torricelli and one of presidential hopeful Howard Dean's own donors were among big givers to a group that ran ads criticizing Dean in three early voting states.þþAmericans for Jobs, Healthcare and Progressive Values raised $663,000 last year and spent $626,840 of it, a finance report provided to The Associated Press on Tuesday showed.þþIt ran at least three ads in December against then-Democratic front-runner Dean.þþThe group spent $15,000 on an ad aired in South Carolina and New Hampshire that showed a picture of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and said Dean, former Vermont governor, didn't have the experience needed to take on terrorism.þþThe group aired two anti-Dean ads in Iowa, the first state to hold a delegate contest. One criticized Dean's history of endorsements by the gun industry's National Rifle Association, and the other blasted his support for the North American Free Trade Agreement and said he supported cuts to Medicare. Together, those ads cost $485,000.þþ``We did more with $600,000 than Howard Dean did with $41 million,'' said David Jones, the group's treasurer and a Democratic fund-raising consultant, referring to the Democratic record campaign fund Dean raised and largely spent last year. In all, the group spent $500,000 on ads.þþIt drew some big donors, including two giving $100,000 each.þþThey are Slim-Fast Foods tycoon S. Daniel Abraham of Florida, who also contributed $2,000 each to Dean and several other Democratic hopefuls; and Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network LLC, a New York-based sports cable channel that televises New York Yankees' baseball games. The network's chief executive, Leo Hindery, contributed $2,000 to then-Dean rival Dick Gephardt.þþAbraham wasn't the only Dean donor giving to the group. California attorney Ken Ziffren gave $5,000 to the Jones group and $2,000 each to the campaigns of Dean, Gephardt and John Kerry. Abraham and Ziffren did not immediately respond to messages left at their offices by The Associated Press seeking comment.þþDean spokesman Jay Carson called the group's anti-Dean commercials ``some of the nastiest smear ads'' in the Democratic race.þþ``The Washington establishment put this group together just to try to stop Governor Dean,'' Carson said.þþTorricelli, the former New Jersey senator who is now raising money for front-runner Kerry, donated $50,000 from his Senate campaign fund to the group.þþFederal Election Commission spokesman Bob Biersack said it was ``fuzzy'' whether Torricelli's contribution was permissible under FEC rules. Donations to such groups are not included on an FEC list of permitted uses for campaign funds.þþTorricelli and his campaign treasurer, attorney Michael Perrucci, did not immediately respond to messages left at their offices Tuesday evening seeking comment.þþNearly all the group's donors were backers of Gephardt, who staked his candidacy on Iowa and was in a head-to-head battle with Dean there in December.þþThey include several labor unions: The International Longshoremen's Association, Laborers International Union and International Association of Machinists, which gave $50,000 each; the International Association of Ironworkers, $25,000; and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, $5,000.þþGephardt dropped out after finishing the Iowa caucuses behind Kerry, John Edwards and Dean.þþJones declined to comment on the large number of Gephardt donors, saying only that his group didn't purchase a donor list from Gephardt's campaign.þþ
Source: NY Times
