Sharpton Debts Top $485,000, FEC Says

[ringmastery]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62877-2004Feb22.html

Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton, who has billed his campaign for hotel stays of more than $1,000 a night, has campaign debts totaling $485,696, including unpaid staff salaries dating to last May, finance reports show.



As of Jan. 31, Sharpton's campaign had just $1,039 in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Among those to whom he owes money is Frank Watkins, his former campaign manager. The report said Watkins had not been paid salary and expenses from last May to September, for a total of $55,000.

In addition, Sharpton owes $38,000 to Kevin Gray, who ran his South Carolina campaign

"There was no focus and discipline as it relates to raising money, and that's not the way you run a campaign," Gray told the Associated Press.

Sharpton's current manager, Charles Halloran, said, "I have no current plans to pay Kevin Gray. . . . I can't see any value for what he was allegedly doing over there in South Carolina."

[cally]

1. Amazing

:kick:

[arewethereyet]

2. and some of you insist that this be encouraged

by his ongoing presense at debates.

at this point its just a scam.

[Leilani]

3. Why am I not surprised?

He should get his Repub buddies to pay off the debt. Who's his guy?

Roger Stone?

[ShaneGR]

4. but..but...but, he's still in the race and should be in the debates!

sighs

[Rooktoven]

6. I feel your sarcasm

oh, I mean sincere pain...

[jenk]

5. Sharpton is a con man

[ButterflyBlood]

7. more reason to ban him from the debates

n/t

[nomaco-10]

8. Leer jets, limos and a penchant for.....

fine dining and $1,000 per night hotel suites, not to mention a dozen burley body guards on the payroll. It's the best gig he's had in awhile, no wonder he wants to drag it out til the convention.

[Tinoire]

9. Kerry - $7.2 million in debts. Exclude him from the debates NOW!

If it's so good for the goose, let's make it good for the gander! :)

And to the person who said maybe Sharpton could get his Republican buddies to pay off his debt. Maybe Kerry could get Rupert Murdoch to pay off his? Or Predictive?

Kerry's cash keeps campaign in black
By Sharon Theimer, Associated Press, 2/22/2004

WASHINGTON -- John F. Kerry spent more than he raised from donors last month as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination relied on a $3.5 million infusion of personal cash to keep his campaign financially afloat.

Kerry raised about $4.1 million from contributors and spent $7.1 million, according to his campaign finance report for January, which was released yesterday.

Kerry mortgaged his family's Boston home to finance campaign loans. The campaign began February with $2.1 million in the bank and $7.2 million in debts.

<snip>

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2004/02/22/kerrys_cash_keeps_campaign_in_black/

===

Media chiefs back Kerry campaign
Owen Gibson
Tuesday February 10, 2004

Fresh from his latest win in Maine, the favourite to challenge George Bush for the US presidency has secured the financial support of some of the most powerful media moguls in the world.
As John Kerry's campaign to secure the Democrat nomination - and with it a crack at the White House - continues to gather pace, it has emerged that it is being bankrolled by key executives from News Corporation, MTV-owner Viacom and Sony.

<snip>

Unsurprisingly, the donation from News Corp's boardroom came not from chairman Rupert Murdoch, a committed Republican, but from the company's chief operating officer, Peter Chernin.

Mr Chernin, one of Mr Murdoch's most trusted lieutenants, is among several media chiefs who have pledged to raise between $50,000 and $100,000 to support the Vietnam war veteran's campaign for the White House.

Others who have pledged to raise more than $50,000 include the Viacom chief executive, Sumner Redstone, and Sony chairman Howard Stringer, whose name has recently been linked with the vacant chairmanships at ITV and the BBC.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0%2C13918%2C1144797%2C00.html
====

Now Kerry must face up to those tough questions
Paul Harris in Washington
Sunday February 15, 2004
The Observer

<snip>

Kerry - like Bush - has recruited an army of 'bundlers' who skip around strict campaign finance laws by gathering $2,000 cheques from friends and employees into bundles of $50,000 or $100,000. Kerry has 32 $100,000 bundlers and 87 $50,000 bundlers. They come mainly from powerful law firms, real estate companies, financiers and lobbyists.

Kerry has received more money from lobbyists over the past 15 years than any other serving senator. Some of Kerry's close links with lobbyists have raised eyebrows among supporters used to his campaign slogan: 'From the moment I take up office, I will stand up to special interests.'

Kerry has strong ties to lobbyists for the telecommunications industry. Michael Whouley, a top Kerry political aide, is a registered lobbyist for telecoms giant AT&T. Kerry has also taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from Boston lobbying firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky. Kerry's brother Cameron is a lawyer for the company which represents communications firms and the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.

Between 1999 and 2002 Kerry sponsored two law bills and co-sponsored six more that were seen as advantageous to CTIA's interests. One of Kerry's main bundlers, Chris Putala, is employed as a lobbyist by the CTIA. 'We are beyond the point of whether he takes money from special interests, but rather what, if anything, has been done in response to the funds,' said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the Centre for Responsive Politics watchdog.

<snip>

But Paul Davis, co-founder of internet firm Predictive Networks, has seen the process of how fundraising and legislation mix. Kerry met a top Predictive executive on 25 July, 2000. A day later Kerry introduced a Senate bill that would allow internet firms to monitor what their consumers were viewing and that Predictive had been lobbying for. In February 2002 Predictive chief executive Devin Hosea threw a fundraiser for Kerry in Boston. Kerry was given a lift back to Washington DC in a private jet. Hosea threw a second fundraising party that summer. In the end Hosea become one of Kerry's $100,000 'bundlers'.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1148524,00.html