Presidential hopeful John Kerry, has been caught on the back foot again when it comes to his Bermuda-bashing tactics ? this time through a captive formed in Vermont.

Democrat Kerry, of Massachusetts, criticised the former governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, for trying to turn the state into ?a snowy Bermuda? by promoting captive development there.

But it has emerged that Vermont regulators issued licence No. 657 to Heinz-Noble Inc., a captive formed by HJ Heinz Co.

Kerry?s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry is the glamorous Heinz heiress, widow of Senator John Heinz, a Pennsylvania Republican who was heir to the HJ Heinz ketchup and condiment fortune.

She inherited an estate currently estimated at more than $500 million when Senator Heinz died in a 1991 plane crash. She married Kerry in 1995.

A trawl of the Registrar of Companies in Bermuda showed this week that there were no companies incorporated in Bermuda with the name Heinz attached.

While Ms Kerry is probably more interested in running the Heinz family?s $1.6 billion philanthropic foundations than the company?s risk management or risk financing functions, the connection is still ironic given the senator?s apparent bias against captive insurers.

This is not the first time Kerry?s wife?s fortune has left him with egg on his face. Last month he was hauled over the coals for his anti-Bermuda stance ? after it was discovered his wife?s trust made a killing on Ingersoll-Rand redomesticating to the Island.

Kerry has been loudly denouncing US companies moving offshore to save on their taxes calling them ?Benedict Arnold? firms ? after the notorious American traitor.

But as the Kerry Campaign heats up, so does the scrutiny of his affairs. Reporters and his opponents have been leaving no stone unturned scrutinising his every move ? and that of his wife.

Newsweek revealed that in 2002 the conversion and sale of up to a million dollars of stock in Ingersoll-Rand made between $100,000 and $200,000 after stock rose in price following the company?s move to Bermuda.

In an article headlined ?The Wedge War?, Newsweek lookedinto the general election campaign and with it how the Kerry camp is fairing.

It said of his bid: ?And oppo (opposition) types will undoubtedly focus on family financial transactions.

?One such deal involves the conversion and sale in 2002 of up to a million dollars of stock in Ingersoll-Rand. It was a profitable sale ? netting from $100,000 to $200,000 ? of a company whose balance sheet was boosted by its decision to move its headquarters offshore to Bermuda.

?So what? Well, one of Kerry?s best applause lines is his pledge to end tax breaks for what he calls ?Benedict Arnold? firms that move offshore ? to places such as Bermuda.? (Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said the sale was made by professional fund managers for Teresa Heinz?s trust and that Kerry wasn?t even aware of it. ?Senator Kerry is not involved in the management of her assets,? said Meehan.)

Kerry?s latest speech containing anti-Bermuda rhetoric was last week in Toledo, Ohio. He said: ?Right after September 11th, a major accounting firm put on a seminar to show how companies could move their official address to Bermuda and avoid paying taxes here at home.

?One of the firm?s partners said that day ? quote ? ?the improvement on earnings is powerful enough that maybe the patriotism issue needs to take a back seat.? I believe we need to put patriotism back in the driver?s seat.

?We need to encourage a corporate culture where companies provide a fair break for workers and a fair return for shareholders instead of a fast buck and a false bottom line followed by golden parachutes; where corporations make profits the old-fashioned way ? by building our economy, not bilking our people...

?But, if I?m President, our government won?t provide a single reward for shipping our jobs overseas, or exploiting the tax code to go to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes while sticking the American people with the bill.?