Today's Boston Globe reveals that Kerry accepted about 50,000 dollars from an insurance company he helped out by preserving a legal loophole. Kerry's now under fire from the Center for Public Integrity:

"WASHINGTON -- A Senate colleague was trying to close a loophole that allowed a major insurer to divert millions of federal dollars from the Big Dig. Senator John F. Kerry stepped in and blocked the legislation.

Over the next two years, the insurer, American International Group, paid Kerry's way on a trip to Vermont and donated at least $30,000 to a tax-exempt group Kerry used to set up his presidential campaign. Company executives donated $18,000 to his Senate and presidential campaigns.

Were the two connected? Kerry says not.

But some government watchdogs said they see the tale of the Massachusetts senator's 2000 intervention, detailed in documents obtained by the Associated Press, as a textbook case of the special interest politicking that Kerry rails against on the presidential trail.

"The idea that Kerry has not helped or benefited from a specific special interest, which he has said, is utterly absurd," said Charles Lewis, head of the Center for Public Integrity , which just published a book on political donations to the presidential candidates.

"Anyone who gets millions of dollars over time, and thousands of dollars from specific donors, knows there's a symbiotic relationship. He needs the donors' money. The donors need favors. Welcome to Washington. That is how it works."

Give me good Ol' Vermont politics any time.

full story here:

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/02/05/critics_question_candidates_links_to_projects_insurer/