Edwards charges $55,000 to speak to UC Davis students about poverty

[Herman Munster]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&entry_id=16809

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who as a Democratic presidential candidate recently proposed an educational policy that urged "every financial barrier" be removed for American kids who want to go to college, has been going to college himself -- as a high paid speaker, his financial records show.

The candidate charged a whopping $55,000 to speak at to a crowd of 1,787 the taxpayer-funded University of California at Davis on Jan. 9, 2006 last year, Joe Martin, the public relations officer for the campus' Mondavi Center confirmed Monday.

That amount -- which comes to about $31 a person in the audience -- included Edwards' travel and airfare, and was the highest speaking fee in the nine appearances he made before colleges and universities last year, according to his financial records.

The earnings -- though made before Edwards was a declared Democratic presidential candidate -- could hand ammunition to his competition for the Democratic presidential nomination. The candidate -- who was then the head of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina -- chose to speak on "Poverty, the great moral issue facing America," as his $55,000 topic at UC Davis.

[Fridays Child]

1. Let's check out Rudy's pre-campaign speaking fees.

http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2007/05/17/giuliani_speeches/

[Whoa_Nelly]

19. Giuliani = $92 m 2006-07 speaking tour

http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2007/05/17/giuliani_speeches/

The former mayor of New York made $9.2 million on a speaking tour in 2006 and 2007. Here is a look at who paid him and how much.

May 17, 2007 | Editor's note: The following pages are taken from Rudy Giuliani's Public Financial Disclosure Report, which is required of all presidential candidates, as filed on May 15, 2007.

At Link: Three Pages of places where the asshat mayor spoke, the gross speaker fee, and the net .

[Bucky]

2. Wow, late breaking news here: this was 16 months ago.

The key to a good smear is timing. A 16 month lag is officially "bad timing."

[Lex]

10. I'm not surprised. Throw anything on the wall & see what sticks.

I just hate seeing DU'ers do it to our Democratic candidates.

[melody]

3. Good, I'm happy to hear he's earning a good living n/t

[Lerkfish]

4. ah, good, I've been needing to update my ignore list

thanks.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. And the Edwards' smears keep going on. eom

[Kingshakabobo]

A bargain at twice the price. If I were him, I wouldn't utter a peep for less than $62 a head. n/t

[OHdem10]

6. And which campaign do you support?? Could Edwards :Lead

in Iowa have anything to do with this?

[illinoisprogressive]

7. The point is Edwards keeps tripping up. He needs to be more careful and aware

[Beaverhausen]

48. This was in January 2006. He wasn't a candidate then

You have to do better than this. :yawn:

[Alexander]

Oh, the horrors! An ex-senator accepting speaking fees!

What, like everyone has to be destitute to prove they're serious about poverty? :eyes:

[BlooInBloo]

11. Dammit - I was gonna say that. Ok - I'll add on: It's the typical Nietzchean inversion of power....

... I.e., if you can't beat em, redefine the game, turning winning into losing, and vice-versa.

[Lex]

8. Doing the freeps work for them, eh?

Never ceases to amaze me.

[spanone]

9. So.....

[DefenseLawyer]

12. What a crock

This is some kind of gotcha that he got paid to give a speech about poverty? Every speaker on the college "circuit" gets paid to speak. As well they should. Is the argument that only homeless people can speak about poverty? Is it that if not for Edwards' speaking fee there would be no poverty? Gotcha politics is just so very very lame.

[Lex]

13. Bill Clinton will speak about poverty for $200,000 a pop

and we all know how he hates poor people and isn't sincere about fighting poverty. :eyes:

[Robbien]

14. Sooner or later Edwards needs to find a way to handle these hit jobs

So far the hit job artists have been winning.

Edwards needs a better class of consultants.

[Lex]

15. How do you figure the "hit job artists have been winning?"

:shrug:

[JANdad]

18. Thats why

he is leading in Iowa...right???

[calteacherguy]

16. It's not a hit job, it's just facts. People will interpret the facts as they will.

And the voters will decide.

[countingbluecars]

23. Facts presented

with a right wing slant.

[sandnsea]

34. Yes he does

Especially considering he insists he would have handled the hit jobs in 2004 better than Kerry. If Edwards can't even deal with this Dem primary soft ball stuff, he's going to be slaughtered in the GE.

[Big Pappa]

17. Nothing

wrong with earning some money, but Edwards should be a little more discreet if at the time he knew he was going to run. Which I am sure he did.

[DefenseLawyer]

21. Get paid, but be discreet?

I think I am going to start telling everyone I work for free. Of course I will discreetly keep getting paid. Okay I haven't worked out the details of this plan yet, but when I do I will tip off John Edwards on how to do it.

[Big Pappa]

38. When your running

to be the prez, it is imperative your discreet. 55,000 dollar speaking engagements, millions from hedge funds, and $400 haircuts are a far cry from looking at the common man in the eye and saying " I got your back". Make money fine, spend it fine, but be discreet. Yes discreet.

[DefenseLawyer]

42. So substance doesn't matter

Just put up a false front, lie if you have to, but keep up appearances that can't be assailed by a ridiculous argument that a rich person doesn't understand poverty or doesn't have empathy for the "common man". Be rich, just pretend not to be rich. Bullshit. How about being who you are. Tell the truth and have some substance. I didn't need to see John Kerry duck hunting. Oh, and not to be a dick, but it's you're.

[Big Pappa]

43. So DL

If you were Senator Edwards advisor would advise him to get $400 haircuts or just go to the neighborhood Barber and hang out with the locals. Would you advise him to build a 28,000 sf mansion with a basketball court. Or maybe advise to work for a hedge fund and pocket 5mil while studying about poverty. Btw I don't need to see Senator Kerry duck hunting either. And any one who cannot see that this while not illegal or immoral is just not in good taste for someone running on a "Two America's" theme.

[Screwfly]

20. I think this reflects worse on

the audience/college than does on Edwards. Frisco was wall to wall homeless poeple when I visted that area, and they need to paid somebody 55 grand to point out to them that poverty is problem in this country.

[Garbo 2004]

26. UC Davis is not in San Francisco or the Bay Area. n/t

[karlrschneider]

22. I guess I'll just send him $31.

...

[Peregrine Took]

24. Them that has...gits. n/t

[Big Pappa]

47. That is the damn truth

n/t

[EFerrari]

25. Cool. Go, John.

:)

[hyphenate]

27. Well, I did a little research

didn't want to spend TOO much time on it, though, but here are just some facts and figures about some of the GOP candidates for president:

Rudy Guiliani had SEVERAL speakers fees of $180,000, and a net income of $9.3 million from speaking fees alone.

Mike Huckabee (in general, a nobody on the national stage) had a couple of speaking wngagements, one of which was $35,000 from a healthcare company.

In addition, Newt Gingrich had speakers fee of $50,000, and personally, I would rather see John Edwards than Newt Gingrich!

ALL senators MUST donate their honoraria to charity--it's the law.

I also checked out the darling of freepdom, AC, and she commands a speaking fee of $25,000--not too shabby for a complete psycho, KWIM.


I would therefore say that John Edwards' fee of $55,000 was not unduly high. And I, too, am getting really, really pissed off by people reporting all this negatory information about the Democratic candidates. I don't give a fuck if you support Kucinich, Edwards, Clinton, Richardson, Clark or someone else, if you really want to post negative shit on our pool of contenders, go to freepland where you will get the best response for your buck.

In addition, the following was also noted of Edwards:

Edwards received about $395,000 in paid speeches—most of them at colleges—and was paid $40,000 salary for work at the University of North Carolina Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity.

The Edwards family donated more than $350,000 to charity, including the International Rescue Committee and Habitat for Humanity.

Edwards also received $333,334 in royalties for his book "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives." The money was donated to charity.

[countingbluecars]

28. Thanks for the information.

The Edwards are good people.

[Beaverhausen]

49. Good information. Thanks

:hi:

[wildbilln864]

29. EDWARDS/OBAMA '08 n/t

[L. Coyote]

30. WOW, that's one hell of a lot of $400 haircuts!!! Oh, I forgot, haircuts paid for by

the campaign contributors.

[w4rma]

41. Actually the haircuts were paid by Edwards, out of his own pocket.

They apparently weren't supposed to be put on the campaign fees. They were also haircuts for television ads where the stylist had to travel across California to get to Edwards at the place where they would be shooting the ad.

[Gold Metal Flake]

31. Such a busy little bee you are.

So cute!

[Horse with no Name]

32. Let's see

$31 a person. Not a bad investment to hear John Edwards and a good message.
Tell me how you feel about the $2500 a plate fundraising dinners that Bush gives?
You do see the difference don't you?
Quit doing their work for them will you?
>>>snip
It cost $2,500 for a ticket to the dinner. Campaign finance regulations allow someone to contribute up to $25,000 per party committee. Last night, for that sum, attendees could be photographed with the president.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/19/AR2006061901490.html

[Kingshakabobo]

35. Doesn't Ann Coulter get like 25 or 30k per speech? Surely Edwards is worth twice as much??? n/t

[sandnsea]

33. Who oh who could be bashing Edwards

I simply can't imagine. :eyes:

These stories are just coming one right on top top of the next. Somebody did that to Dean in winter of 2003.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

36. You forgot to mention "the haircut".

N/T

[quinnox]

37. ok this doesn't look good

I like Edwards but he has to polish up his actions a little and use more common sense, speaking about poverty for 55 grand looks really bad. Especially considering the haircut thing and the house thing. This is forming a dubious pattern.

[w4rma]

40. Because when Clinton charges $200k to speak about poverty it's different? (nt)

[ecstatic]

50. Not to nit-pick... but Clinton is a great orator and the last rightfully elected President

There's really no comparison between Clinton and Edwards.

[Garbo 2004]

39. Odd, the article doesn't mention that the speakers' series isn't free.

Ticket prices for Edwards: http://www.mondaviarts.org/events/event.cfm?event_id=119 Doesn't look like the taxpayers absorbed the entire costs of Edwards' appearance. Not that you'd know that from the article.

So Edwards as a private citizen was making money in various ways, including charging speaking fees. The horror.

Next season's schedule, some speaking fees, past & present: http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2007/04/25/news/250new1.txt

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Yuo think tis is coincidence?

only tells me he is gaining and they are throwing caca to see what sticks

[Blackhatjack]

45. Herman ..Herman...Herman... Why Keep Shooting At Edwards? No Other Targets?

I guess all the other candidates are so squeaky clean that you just have to spend all your time attacking Edwards instead of examining the positions and practices of any of the other candidates.

BTW I know exactly who you will NOT vote for (Edwards), but most of us here have no idea who you will vote for --because you fail to promote the positive characteristics of your chosen candidate.

I guess the saying must be true --when you are a threat, everyone takes a shot at you.

[rucky]

46. If you're going to charge that much to speak...

you should talk about how great it is to be rich! That way, you avoid being ironic.

[LBJDemocrat]

51. It's called fundraising. This is becoming really f--king pathetic.

How the hell can a populist candidate be elected if he's attacked for being hypocritical by simply raising money? Besides, getting money from a university or its students isn't half as sleazy as going to speak to an Indian company (Tata Consultancy) and assuring them that globalization is here to stay. I think you know which candidate I'm talking about. Hint: The one who was endorsed by Morgan Stanley's CEO.

[brentspeak]

55. Thank you. Sanity.

[JerseygirlCT]

52. So?

The point is what? That he's supposed to work for cut-rates because he's made poverty an issue? Is he only respectable in that regard if he IS poor?

That's all nonsense. Those are the rates for someone of his popularity. That's how it works.

The thing to watch is what he now *does*, not what he charges.

[etherealtruth]

53. Who needs a Republican attack machine ...

Edwards can't ever prove he wants to alleviate poverty and empower the disadvantaged unless he lives in a box under the railroad tracks and eats at a soup kitchen ... but then "we" can criticize him for losing/giving away/ burying all the money he earned.

[brentspeak]

54. This would be a problem IF Edwards wasn't running for President and needed to raise money

for his campaign.

Is it better that he raise funds from lobbyists -- or from average citizens who want to see him get elected so he can have the authority to do something about poverty?