HONORABLE????!!!! Those Senators, etc. mentioned??? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Sen. Kerry, Pioneer Linked In "Big Dig" Overpayment 02/06/2004
An insurance company led by Bush Pioneer Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has been connected to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA) - currently the frontrunner for this year's Democratic presidential nomination - in a series of events that appear to illustrate a trade of favors involving a huge Boston transportation project. The Associated Press reported Feb. 5 that in 2000, Kerry stopped a bill that would have forced American International Group (AIG) to repay $150 million related to overpayments for insurance premiums on the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, a $14.6 billion highway, bridge and tunnel complex better known as the "Big Dig." In 2001 and 2002, AIG paid $540 in travel expenses for a Kerry speech in Vermont, gave $18,000 to Kerry's Senate and presidential campaigns, and donated at least $30,000 to a tax-exempt "exploratory committee" Kerry set up to examine whether he should run for president.
The bill that Kerry blocked came after the Transportation Department found in 1999 that Big Dig managers overpaid AIG $128.9 million for unneeded worker's compensation and liability insurance, then let AIG invest the money in the market and keep about half the profits from the investments. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill in 2000 that would have taken $150 million in federal funding from the Big Dig while banning insurers from investing any excessive premiums paid with federal money. McCain relented when Kerry and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) asked McCain to drop the bill; instead, McCain held a hearing on the issue before the Senate Commerce Committee. A spokeswoman said Kerry called for hearings to determine whether the investments were legal, but opposed cutting funding for the project