THE WIDENING GYRE:

Tyco put up $25,000 for Shaheen sales tax plan (JOHN DiSTASO, 10/04/02, Manchester Union-Leader)

Tyco International was the largest New Hampshire contributor to Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's 2001 advertising effort to pass a sales tax, The Union Leader has learned.

Documents made public for the first time yesterday show the company formerly headed by the embattled Dennis Kozlowski donated $25,000 to Shaheen's $200,000 effort to promote with television and radio advertising the so-called Excel plan. Kozlowski resigned as chairman and CEO of the Exeter-headquartered firm earlier this year amid accusations of tax evasion and misuse of Tyco funds.

Excel was a $900 million sales tax-based school funding plan passionately championed by Shaheen after her inauguration to a third term as the state’s chief executive. The House killed Excel by a vote of 235-148 in April 2001.

Although Kozlowski and other current and former Tyco executives have donated to Republican candidates for office, the Tyco corporate donation to Shaheen's sales tax promotion has several layers of political irony.

-In a hot U.S. Senate race, Democrat Shaheen has been repeatedly accusing Republican foe John E. Sununu of being in the pocket of corporations that have set up domiciles in Bermuda to avoid paying U.S. taxes on overseas business. Tyco is one of the most prominent users of the so-called "Bermuda loophole."

This was Ms Shaheen's big weapon against Mr. Sununu, the Bermuda loophole, and it just blew up in her face. Even the NPR reporters this morning had to portray this as a disaster.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 4, 2002 1:43 PM