The Boston Herald reveals that:
Senate Democrats, after railing last week against the rising tide of corporate abuses, Friday hopped aboard a fleet of company jets for a secret Nantucket weekend retreat with top party donors.I'm told there were once honest socialists. But I don't believe it.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a leading Senate health-care reformer who this week will launch a major fight on prescription drug coverage, flew aboard health insurance giant AFLAC's company jet, an aide confirmed.
Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Bay State colleague Sen. John F. Kerry are among the 16 senators and 250 big-ticket contributors - mostly corporate executives and lobbyists - schmoozing at Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee events on the island.
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The annual weekend - which includes tennis, golf, sailing, cocktails and lavish meals - provides wealthy donors with extraordinary personal access to lawmakers.
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"Senator Kerry is helping to elect Democrats who will actually vote to curb corporate abuses instead of just talking about it," said Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander.
Just before departing Capitol Hill Friday, Senate Democrats voted to shut off debate on legislation cracking down on corporate accounting abuses.
Kerry hosted a Friday night dinner with his wife, Teresa Heinz, at their Brant Point mansion. Kennedy, who attended an issues briefing breakfast with top donors yesterday before heading to his family's Hyannisport compound, hosted an annual clambake.
Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) are among the Nantucket participants.
Some of America's largest corporations - Federal Express, Bell South Corp., Eli Lily and AFLAC - provided jets for the Nantucket getaway at a cost of nearly $50,000. Corporate executives and lobbyists were aboard.
