JEFFORDS - Agrees to refund campaign donations

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MONTPELIER, Vt. — Sen. James Jeffords, who last week left the Republican Party to become an independent, will return campaign donations to Vermonters who request it, his spokesman said Thursday.

Jeffords' announcement last week threw the Senate to Democratic control by a 50-49 majority.

Jeffords was attending an environmental conference in Italy on Thursday and could not be reached. His spokesman, Erik Smulsen, said the senator was prepared to return money to individual Vermont donors who requested it.

"I do know there have been a number but I can't say how many" requests for refunds, Smulsen said.

Smulsen said along with those requests, the senator has received unsolicited donations from Vermonters and others who were pleased with his decision.

Smulsen said Jeffords did not plan to return donations that came from business political action committees or from individuals outside Vermont.

"At this point we're taking one thing at a time," Smulsen said.

Jeffords is a 26-year veteran of Congress who was elected to the Senate in 1988. He won re-election handily last year.

Skip Vallee, a Republican national committee member, said he and his wife each gave $2,000 to Jeffords' campaign last year and don't believe they've gotten what they paid for.

"A lot of us who supported him supported him because he was a Republican," the Shelburne businessman said. "We feel misled, and we think he should at a minimum return the money."

Aside from donations and requests for refunds, Smulsen said Jeffords' offices had received responses ranging from bouquets of flowers to death threats.

Smulsen said Capitol Police provided Jeffords a security detail last week for the first time. He would not elaborate, saying, "The Capitol Police have asked us not to comment about current investigations."

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001


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