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June 22, 2007

Charity Begins at Home for the Breck Girl

Posted by Dave Blount at June 22, 2007 11:44 AM

Just how phony and shameless is the ambulance-chaser who would be President? John Edwards' Center for Promise and Opportunity offers a clue.

With the stated purpose of "making the eradication of poverty the cause of this generation," it raised $1.3 million in 2005. The money went toward "retreats and seminars" with foreign policy experts, political consultants, and a website. A staggering $540,000 was spent on the "exploration of new ideas."

Apparently most of the rest paid Silky Pony's extravagant travel expenses. Jetting off to places like Britain, Belgium, Russia, Uganda, India, and China can result in quite a bill — not to mention a carbon footprint the size of his vast new mansion. Not to worry, though, I'm sure he'll buy some carbon offsets so that the polar bears will be okay.

Whether so much as a penny went to help the poor as advertised is doubtful.

Edwards' bogus antipoverty center supposedly isn't a political action committee, so it doesn't have to disclose its donors, and there are no limits on the size of individual donations. Even the Gray Lady is appalled:

[I]t was his use of a tax-exempt organization to finance his travel and employ people connected to his past and current campaigns that went beyond what most other prospective candidates have done before pursuing national office. And according to experts on nonprofit foundations, Mr. Edwards pushed at the boundaries of how far such organizations can venture into the political realm. Such entities, which are regulated under Section 501C-4 of the tax code, can engage in advocacy but cannot make partisan political activities their primary purpose without risking loss of their tax-exempt status.

Between the center, another foundation with virtually the same name (the Center for Promise and Opportunity Foundation) and two admitted PACs, the Breck Girl has vacuumed up about $4 million for his presidential bid. Plus he's got $30 million in the bank he managed to loot from doctors by exploiting our deranged legal system.

But he's still got a ways to go to catch up with multi-billionaire and possible candidate Mayor Mike. Maybe Edwards needs to sue some more doctors.

On a tip from V the K.