http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/primariescaucus/2004-02-08-kerry-loan_x.htm $6.4M loan that saved Kerry may also drain him
By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Once written off as a Democratic presidential contender, John Kerry survived to become the front-runner thanks to a $6.4 million Christmas Eve loan he made to his campaign.
John Kerry's home in the Beacon Hill area of Boston.
By John Mottern, Getty Images
The loan allowed Kerry's campaign, which was struggling to raise money, to put ads on the air and pay staff until victories in Iowa and New Hampshire produced new funds. But now the loan, which he got using his home in Boston's exclusive Beacon Hill neighborhood as collateral, places a financial burden on the Massachusetts senator, with no easy way to pay it off:
•Kerry's financial disclosures show no assets sufficient to pay the loan or even to keep up with the interest payments. Aides say he has assets that aren't listed on the forms but decline to reveal them.
•His wife, heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry, has a fortune estimated at more than $500 million. But the law forbids her from paying off a campaign loan for her husband.
•If he wins the nomination, Kerry could pay himself back from campaign contributions made before the Democratic convention in late July. But doing so would siphon off money at a time when he would be running against President Bush, who will have a projected $200 million to spend.
"There are a limited number of ways he can pay off that loan, and it's a fair question to ask what he intends to do," says Larry Noble, director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which studies money in politics.
Kerry borrowed the money Dec. 24 from the
Mellon Trust of New England.(Richard is on the board) It is payable over 30 years, with interest-only payments for the first 10 years, at a variable interest rate beginning at 3.125%.
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So you guys donating there, it's going into old Richard's pockets anyway!