Oops!: Our $6,250 in political campaign contributions last year . . .

Exhibit 2 showing I am too rock-dumb to be fairly accused of slipperiness or dishonesty regarding my dialogue with Ramesh Ponnuru is that by the time I started attacking Ponnuru last week, I had completely forgotten about all the political campaign contributions my wife and I made just last year.

Recall that in my initial attack on Ponnuru's article which I posted on my main blog, here, I listed among my qualifications to defend Tribe against a right-wing attack my absence of partisanship; that is, I was not a left-wing partisan attacking a right-wing partisan. Specifically, I represented: "I am not a person who is at all active in partisan politics."

Problem is, as one reader of my blog quickly discovered through an Internet search, and kindly posted in a comment on my blog, both my wife and I have made fairly sizable political campaign contributions, with every penny going to candidates of the Democratic party:

Tom, I think you unfairly downplay your liberal bias which underlies your defense of your mentor. Sure you have argued conservative positions in court but anyone who's met you also knows that you were willing to argue anything that provided the chance to appear before the Supremes. That doesn't change your personal beliefs, the fact that you were one of the first associates at Al Gore's attorney's firm, that you clerked for a quite liberal judge or that you donated the maximum allowed to John Kerry. In this light, your critque of Ponnuru's article as a preemptive partisan attack appears to be more a reuslt of your affinity with Tribe and his political outlook than a valid rebuttal of the fact presented.

The commentator was right on target about those political contributions, as you can see for yourself by looking up me and my wife and law partner (Amy L. Howe) on this website: www.opensecrets.org. According to the website, here are the political contributions we made just last year, as I said, with every penny going to Democrats:

1/12/04: $250 to Stephanie Herseth
2/29/04: $500 to John Edwards
3/1/04: $500 to John Kerry
3/31/04: $3,500 to John Kerry
5/20/04: $250 to Stephanie Herseth
7/28/04: $250 to Stephanie Herseth
9/15/04: $500 to Barack Obama
9/30/04: $250 to Stephanie Herseth
10/28/04: $250 to Stephanie Herseth

If I've done my math correctly, that's $6,250 in political campaign contributions to Democratic candidates just last year. Sorry, we couldn't spare anything for Republicans! But let me assure you that I was not being slippery or deceitful in telling you I'm not "at all active in partisan politics." Let me repeat that: I was not being slippery or deceitful. Remember, I'm rock-dumb. I simply forgot about all those political campaign contributions we made last year.