Text 28922, 101 rader
Skriven 2007-05-27 20:53:29 av Gary Braswell (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 28800 av Mimi Gallandt (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Something Fishy
=======================
Never seen this before. Nope. Never. Ever.

A politician who is rich claiming to be an advocate for the poor.

My God. The humanities!

I lost track on how many rich folks are in Congress. Its a large percentage.

While I do agree most are out of touch with the common man, I doubt we will
ever see a poor man in Congress as an advocate for the poor.

So I guess Congress had just better shut up about the poor, right?


Mimi Gallandt -> All wrote:
 MG> Edwards made $479,000 part time
 MG> Presidential candidate who railed against 'wealthy insiders' reports
 MG> hedge fund investments worth $1 million to $5 million
 MG> Rob Christensen, Staff Writer

 MG> Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards did well during his brief
 MG> stint on Wall Street, earning nearly a half million dollars last year
 MG> while working as a part-time adviser for a New York-based hedge fund,
 MG> according to a campaign report made public Wednesday.
 MG> Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, reported earning $479,512 as a
 MG> senior adviser to Fortress Investment Group LLC last year.

 MG> He also said that he and his wife held investments in the private equity
 MG> fund valued at between $1 million and $5 million.

 MG> The involvement by Edwards in Fortress had drawn notice because of his
 MG> emphasis in the last campaign on the "two different economies in this
 MG> country: one for wealthy insiders and one for everybody else."

 MG> Edwards had sharply criticized offshore tax shelters when he was running
 MG> in 2004. Fortress was incorporated in Delaware, but its hedge funds were
 MG> incorporated in the Cayman Islands, allowing its partners and foreign
 MG> investors to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

 MG> While campaigning in Iowa on Tuesday, Edwards defended his work for the
 MG> hedge fund.

 MG> "If you look at what I've done since the last election, it is true that
 MG> I did consulting work for a hedge fund part time," Edwards told The
 MG> Associated Press. "It's also true that I started a poverty center at the
 MG> University of North Carolina, that I led a minimum wage initiative in
 MG> six states -- all successful -- that I started a college-for-everyone
 MG> program for poor communities in Eastern North Carolina, that I helped
 MG> organize thousands of workers into unions, that I did humanitarian work
 MG> in Africa."

 MG> The Edwards campaign has noted that Fortress had ended its practice of
 MG> letting its managing partners defer their U.S. income taxes by
 MG> reinvesting profits in the offshore funds.

 MG> In October 2005, Fortress announced it was hiring Edwards, a millionaire
 MG> former trial lawyer, to provide strategic advice on global economic
 MG> issues. He resigned from his post with Fortress in December when he
 MG> announced his second run for the presidency.

 MG> Fortress, founded in 1998, had about $35.1 billion in assets at the end
 MG> of last year.

 MG> Not only was Fortress generous in compensating Edwards, but its
 MG> executives contributed $167,460 to Edwards' presidential campaign during
 MG> the first three months of this year, according to campaign finance
reports.

 MG> Edwards, who now lives near Chapel Hill, was busy during 2006 -- laying
 MG> the groundwork for his presidency, heading an anti-poverty effort,
 MG> writing a book about childhood homes and giving speeches around the
 MG> country.

 MG> Edwards earned $333,334 in royalties from his book on boyhood homes that
 MG> was published by HarperCollins. He donated the money to charity. And he
 MG> earned $40,000 from his position as director of UNC's Center on Poverty
 MG> Work and Opportunity. The salary was provided by private funds,
 MG> according to university officials.

 MG> He also earned $415,000 in speaking fees, mainly to universities. He
 MG> typically charged $32,000 to $40,000 per speech.

 MG> The report requires presidential candidates to state the value of their
 MG> assets in broad categories. The report suggests that Edwards' assets are
 MG> valued at between $19 million and $41 million. The Edwards campaign said
 MG> the candidate's assets were calculated as worth $29.5 million.

 MG> http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/574988.html




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night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."- George Orwell

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