image adapted from photograph by Juhan Sonin, used pursuant to CC license
by Damozel | Edwards acknowledges that his campaign finances are being scrutinized. The feds want to know if any of that campaign money went to cover up his affair. The office of US attorney George Holding -- a Raleigh Republican who has prosecuted several prominent Dems -- is conducting the investigation. (News & Observer).
To the extent that there is any right response in the circumstances, Edwards made it:
“I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly,” Edwards said in a statement.
“However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter. We appreciate the diligence and professionalism of those involved and look forward to a conclusion.”
Edwards declined to discuss the matter. (Charlotte Observer)
My mom, a/k/a (at her request) The Southern Lady, showed her usual prescience back when I was in the throes of supporting him (partly, I admit, because I adore Elizabeth). "There's just something about him I don't like," my the Southern Lady said. "There's something sleazy about him." And, having lived for 60 of her 85 years in a South Caroline textile town, she knows the original meaning of the word "sleazy": "made of thin and shoddily woven cloth that can't stand up to long-term use, strain, or close inspection."
Also: "He's not ever going to win the nomination, so you might as well not waste your vote or your money," she told me, when I was agonizing whether to vote with my heart (Edwards) or my head (Hillary or Obama) way before the Florida Democratic primary (where my vote didn't matter anyway, though that's a twice told tale).
These days, I just feel sad when I think of him -- the only truly progressive Democrat to make it as far as he did. (Elizabeth for President!)
But I have to agree with JE that a probe in this case is appropriate. It's not as if I am going to take John Edwards' word for it or for anything for the forseeable future.
The News and Observer further reports:
A review of Edwards' campaign money will turn up a cluster of nonprofits, some not subject to the same rules of transparency as official campaign organizations. Records of one that does disclose donors, the Alliance for a New America, show that Edwards' 2008 campaign got a huge boost from a single source: $3.48 million from a holding company for Rachel "Bunny" Lambert Mellon, a 98-year-old matriarch of the late industrialist Andrew Mellon's family.
The riches that bankrolled Edwards' bid for president will be tough to sort, campaign finance experts say.
"This may be a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of Open Secrets, a campaign watchdog group. "John Edwards is a leader in misleading the public."
Records show that Hunter was paid by a political action committee aligned with Edwards. She received $114,000 to film Edwards as he hopscotched the nation to rally crowds in the fight against poverty. She followed him to Uganda, where he met with starving children orphaned by attacks by rebel forces. Her "webisodes" live still on the Internet.
At Liberal Values, Ron Chusid observes:
These allegations come soon after the publication of Elizabeth Edwards’ memoirs which discussed the affair. The book revealed that Elizabeth had advised her husband to quit the presidential race to protect the family.
This investigation is not the first time that Edwards’ finances have been questioned. Edwards has also been accused of using his poverty center as a means of financing the early stages of his presidential campaign while avoiding campaign finance laws.
Sigh....
More at memeorandum....
RECENT BUCK NAKED POLITICS POSTINGS
Comments