One of the hidden secrets of politics is how often
candidates - especially losing candidates - are deadbeats, failing to pay
their bills, especially to small businesses. Many of them are run by
single mothers or people just struggling to get by. It would therefore
seem to be a bit hypocritical for any candidate for public office
to talk about "how much they care for the invisible" while at
the same time stiffing small business owners and entrepreneurs just trying
to survive in a a growing recession - while paying themselves millions of
dollars from some slush fund that is collecting hundreds of millions of
dollars from secret contributors.
The question is - would you really want to vote for a
president who's a deadbeat and won't pay their bills?
And the beat goes on ...
It was just $2,492.63, a pittance, really, alongside million-dollar
television buys and direct mail drops.
But with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid for the Democratic
presidential nomination enduring a rough patch, Peter Semetis, the owner
of a deli and catering business in Lower Manhattan, had been following
the news and growing increasingly worried that he was not going to be
paid for the assorted breakfast trays, coffee, tea and orange juice he
had provided the campaign for an event in mid-December.
“I’m afraid of her dropping out of the campaign and me becoming a
casualty,” Mr. Semetis said.
Yes, I would be concerned, TOO. She can drop out, walk away and
straight up STIFF Mr. Semetis. And if it is happening to him, do you
think he is the only one?
So on Thursday, he went to small claims court and filed suit.
Do you think that anyone want to deal with going to court, filing
fees, for 2K? This man has more and better things to do, but if you keep
contacting a campaign and get the run around, what do you expect? […]
p.s. Here is a list of unpaid
bills, thanks to leevank.
p.s.s Another list of unpaid
bills, thanks to cookedchicken08.
A Portsmouth, N.H., landlord says he finally received his check for
$500 for a five-day stay by volunteers for Hillary Clinton’s campaign
in January.
But the ordeal — which included leaving his warehouse
property trashed with campaign signs – left him sore, so he’s
donating the cash to Barack Obama’s campaign.
“It was the last straw for Hillary Clinton for me,” Terry Bennett
told the Portsmouth Herald.
Bennett’s missing reimbursement wasn’t the only one, the Herald
found. An Iowa businessman told the paper he’s owed more than $7,000
by the campaign.
The campaign — which recently revealed it was strapped for cash in
January but has since made fundraising strides — told the paper all
money owed will be paid, but there have been a few “isolated
delays,” and the New Hampshire campaign director said she regretted
the condition in which Bennett’s property was left.
Now, I personally know, having been on both sides of the
coin, how difficult it is to get paid for services to political campaigns.
I once worked for a small proprietorship printer in
Nashville who had done a lot of work for a prominent campaign (I don't
recall exactly who) and one day he told me how frustrated he was getting
in trying to collect the money. I told him that for 10% I would collect
it. I called the local campaign headquarters and said that, if not paid in
24 hours, I would be going to the Nashville newspaper and TV stations to
let the city know what deadbeats they were.
"I want the money in cash, in our hands, before the
close of business tomorrow," I said. "No checks, no more empty
promises. I already have a statement prepared to be released to the
press."
The bill was paid within hours. I advised the owner,
"I don't care who it is - if they're in politics, get your money or
at least a 50% deposit and signed promise to pay, before you do anything
for them."
On the flip side of the coin, it was often a struggle to
get bills paid which had already been approved by the campaign. As
Illinois chairman of the McCarthy campaign in 1968, I had more direct
control and made it clear heads would roll if anyone was treated that way,
but in the John Anderson campaign of 1980, I was just the Davidson County
co-chairman. John Anderson's campaign, to his credit, paid its bills
promptly as far as I know. Both campaigns were definitely underdog
campaigns and I know they had fund-raising problems.
But there always seems to be this tendency to "put
this guy off" because "we need the money for something more
important" - not to mention the fact that the people we were told to
submit the invoices to rarely seemed to be the people who actually had any
authority to do anything with those invoices. The buck kept getting passed
from one to another, without end.
In al cases, I personally doubt that the candidate
himself/herself - busy as they were with campaign appearances - personally
knew what was going on. They hire people to do these things and have to
trust that it will be done as promised. Yet, in all cases, it is
ultimately the candidate who should - must - be held responsible.
How to become "visible"
The former wife of the fugitive financier controversially pardoned by
President Clinton on his last day in office had donated $450,000 to his
presidential library fund, according to reports in Washington.
Citing “sources familiar with the contribution”, the Washington
Post said Denise Rich made three donations from July 1998 to May 2000,
before she became active late last year in the successful lobbying
campaign for Marc Rich.
The pardon freed one of the world’s richest men from prosecution on
more than 50 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, income tax evasion and
illegal oil trading with Iran.
Her lawyer had told a house committee probing the pardon that Denise
Rich donated an “enormous sum of money” to the fund.
Misleading
Ads in Texas March 4, 2008
Independent pro-Clinton group misrepresents us [FactCheck.org] in one ad and
uses a misleading blurb in another.
Clinton
Edits 'The Truth' Feb. 25, 2008
A Clinton mailer quotes Obama's praise for free trade, but it omits his criticisms.
Cleveland
Clinkers
Clinton and Obama hit sour notes in the Cleveland debate.
EXCLUSIVE: Clinton's
Secret Agenda?
A 6-page White House document, if genuine, could be just the bombshell
that could derail the Clinton presidency train by exposing the secret
police-state political agenda of Bill and Hillary Clinton. That document
pertains to a Nov. 11, 1993 meeting attended by a handful of top Clinton
aides, the President and First Lady, in which Clinton sets the agenda
for the destruction of civil liberties in America. The document could
greatly anger her Latino base, Catholics, laborers hurt by NAFTA, the
elderly, and many, many more. There is a tantalizing, but redacted, clue
in Hillary's own First Lady schedule released just days ago. Is it
authentic or a hoax? You examine the document itself. You decide.
