Heitkamp Fundraising Report Shows Big-Money Contributions From Tobacco Lawsuit Cronies, Eliot Spitzer
Yesterday I wrote that the reason why Heidi Heitkamp’s 2011 fundraising report was taking so long to post at the FEC is because she didn’t file it electronically, which not only means that there’s a serious delay in making the report available online, once it is online you can’t search the contributions and expenditures. They exist only in a non-searchable PDF (see it below).
So, clearly, Heidi Heitkamp is no fan of government transparency. But she has good reason not to want people combing through her report. For one thing, she’s got some very politically inconvenient contributions. Like a $500 contribution from disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer (of Client 9 fame). And $40,000 in contributions from employees of the Motley Rice law firm, where Heitkamp tobacco lawsuit crony Jack McConnell worked.
McConnell was appointed by Heitkamp to represent North Dakota in the tobacco lawsuit class action, something for which he continues to make millions of dollars per year even after appointment to the federal bench for Obama. In the 2000 election cycle, McConnell reciprocated by showering tens of thousands of dollars on Heitkamp’s campaign for governor (not to mention the state Democrat party).
It looks like that apparent quid pro quo deal Heidi struck all those years ago is still paying off Here’s the list of Motley Rice lawyers contributing to her campaign (this is outside the special fund for trial lawyer contributions Heidi set up):
V. Brian Bevon, Charleston, SC – $1,500
James M. Hughes, Charleston, SC – $1,000
Samuel B. Cothran, Jr., Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,000
Anne McGinness Kearse, Charleston, SC – $2,000
Donald A. Migliori, Saunderstown, RI – $2,000
Marlon E. Kimpson, Charleston, SC – $500
Joseph Rice, Mount Pleasant, SC – $5,000
Kevin R. Dean, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,000
Mark I. Labaton, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,500
Michael E. Elsner, Isle of Palms, SC – $1,500
Nathan D. Finch, Bethesda, MD – $1,500
Vincent I. Parrett, Palo Alto, CA – $1,000
Jodi W. Flower, Mount Pleasant, SC – $2,000
America Mary Schiavo, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,500
Gregg Levin, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,000
Joseph Rice, Mount Pleasant, SC – -$2,500
Lisa S. Rice, Mount Pleasant, SC – $2,500
Ronald Motley, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,500
Frederick C. Baker, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,000
William Narwold, West Hartford, CT – $2,000
Carmen Sessions Scott, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,000
Kimberly A. Baden, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,500
Ingrid L. Moll, West Hartford, CT – $1,000
Fred Thompson, Sullivans Island, SC – $1,000
John A. Baden IV, Mount Pleasant, SC – $1,500
Vincent L. Greene, Norton, MA – $1,000
Robert J. McConnell, Providence, RI – $2,000
Meanwhile, Heidi “I will represent constituents not special interests” Heitkamp got 35% of her contributions from PACs and other political committees. This isn’t counting individual contributions from special interests (like the Motley Rice lawyers listed above), or the nearly $800,000 sitting in the special campaign fund for trial lawyers her campaign authorized.
