Politico updates the "Clinton Fails to Pay Bills" article

[dkf]

"about a third of the nearly 700 individual debts Clinton reported at the end of February were for various types of “event expenses,” including $319,000 for catering and venue costs, $420,000 for equipment, $11,000 for photography and $9,000 for security.

Event production is important to big-time presidential campaigns. It shapes how candidates look and sound, not just to the thousands of people who turn out to campaign speeches and rallies but also to the millions who catch snippets of them on television.

And word is getting around that Clinton’s campaign does not promptly pay those who labor to make her events look good, said an employee of the event production company Forty Two of Youngstown, Ohio.

Forty Two also has done events for Obama’s campaign, which has paid its bills promptly, according to the employee. FEC records show Obama’s campaign paid the company $18,500.

Show Tyme Exhibits, another Youngstown event production company, has produced political events for years and had never had problems getting paid before Clinton, according to owner Jim Phillips.

He said he’s still waiting for a payment for setting up the sound system and stage for Clinton’s February tour of a General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio.

“It was only $607, but I’m a small guy; I could use that,” said Phillips, adding, “Everyone I can tell, I do tell about it. You tell somebody something bad about somebody, they tell 10 other people.”

Both Phillips and the Forty Two employee said they voted for Clinton in Ohio’s March 4 primary, which she won handily, but regret their votes and are reluctant to work for her campaign again.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9259_Page2.html

--I wonder if event planners are going to start asking for Hillary to pay upfront. Her money problems may start to affect her ability to campaign properly. Maybe she won't be able to feed her volunteers either.

[izzybeans]

Bankrupting a war chest. hmmm sounds familiar. Better put it all into social security IOU's.

It is a shame really. She is a formidable candidate. She has surrounded herself with some big time incompetence.

[IndyHatedByBothSides]

10. Which is why she wouldn't make a good president

The president cannot do everything in an administration. Thus the president's main job is pick competent advisers. If Clinton cannot do this for a campaign, what makes anyone think she will do so in the White House?

[izzybeans]

11. I agree, of all the soundbites, and "experience" that just doesn't do it for me, with her

This one is the most troubling.

[IndyHatedByBothSides]

13. Having worked both sides...

...as both a campaign manager and a small vendor, I definitely recommend you get your money up front when dealing with a political campaign. There's a sort of "tunnel vision" that sets in on a campaign, by which you believe "it's so close" that "if only" you can do X, the money will come in. The closest thing I can compare it to is "slot fever" at the local casino.

[KittyWampus]

15. the mindset you just described sounds VERY similar to gambling addiction.

[lynnertic]

20. More evidence that she's running an old-school campaign

and old-school doesn't work anymore.

I have an uncle w/ a print shop, he told me as I grew up that if you work for a political campaign, not to expect to get paid.

[DerekJ]

This is damaging. It's not a small story. And I am not trying to hype it.

[niceypoo]

30. This is a non story

The FEC came out with a report just over a month ago stating her campaign has $33 mil cash on hand.

Covering Period 02/01/2008 Through 02/29/2008
10. Cash on Hand at CLOSE of the Reporting Period 33,174,862.16

http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2008/M3/C00431569.html

More 'tout Obama by blowing everything about Hillary out of proportion' obfuscation, will they ever talk about ISSUES?

[EmilyAnne]

1. I really wonder how she can handle this. Will she have to pay them out of pocket? How could she

enter the GE with a deficit?

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

2. K&R!

Interesting - seems she's a lot of talk about the regular people but doesn't respect them enough to pay them for services rendered. Has she paid the health care bill yet for her staff?

[dkf]

3. After the news organizations started targeting her on this specific budget item...yes she did.

Someone pointed out that her health insurance bill would make what she is doing illegal.

[RoadRage]

4. How exactly does she balance the country's budget...

when she can't seem to manage a comparatively "small" budget like this?

I'm sorry - but it's simple.. you know how much you have in the bank.. you can make estimates on how much you will raise during a single week, or month and include that - then you deduct expenses from there.

Obama has more money, but he also seems to be very good at staying within his budget, allocating appropriately, and staying in the black. That's the guy I see as being more prepared to balance a national budget - not Clinton.

And, further - in PA there are a lot of union guys who don't like to be paid 3 months late. If she keeps this up, it could come back to haunt her. Saying that you're all for Unions.. except when it comes to paying laborers... well that sounds like doublespeak.

[IndyHatedByBothSides]

16. Okay, I think I figured something out

"Obama has more money, but he also seems to be very good at staying within his budget, allocating appropriately, and staying in the black."

Of the major candidates, in both parties, Obama has been the only candidate to consistently remain in the black. No wonder some are calling him the black candidate!

[lynnertic]

22. (snicker)

good one.

[RoadRage]

25. Ya know.. a bell sorta went off

when I typed that line.. and I thought to myself should I put "remain in the black" or "stay out of the red".. but i let it go. Why did I think it would fly under the radar here?? :)

[quantass]

5. She has serious issues

[AP]

6. This is an issue with every campaign. Every vendor who has worked for a campaign more than once

knows that they have two choices -- get paid up front, or submit an invoice and risk not getting paid at all, or getting paid much later.

And every candidate knows that if they don't pay up front, and don't pay eventually, they run the risk of having a public relations problem. But I think most candidates would be surprised that their experienced vendors were trying to screw them with bad publicity before the end of the campaign.

What happens in almost every case is that a campaign that's not in first place in the polls, like HRC's, will have to stretch their dollars in order to get in a competitive position -- presuming they are in the race to win it. If there are vendors willing to submit invoices, they will absolutely get paid after the campaign has paid for all the things that will help them get ahead in the polls. In fact, getting ahead in the polls is the best way to insure the campaign will get money sooner rather than later to pay all its venders. HRC will not pay an outstanding Ohio invoice instead of paying for something in PA or NC that can actually help her get ahead. That would be dumb, and poor management of the campaign.

Part two of this story is always that, once a campaign is over, any candidate who seriously wants to run a second time for anything, will retire all their campaign debt -- they will go to their biggest supporters who want to see that candidate continue to have a political life to get funding to pay off debts. That's why vendors were willing to invoices in the first place. There are thousands of stories every year about candidates at all levels retiring all their campaign debt before embarking on subsequent campaigns.

I think HRC is obviously going to pay this debt off eventually.

[uberblonde]

7. Thank you for stating the obvious truth.

Some people would obviously prefer to see Clinton as a heartless crook- which I think says more about themselves.

[dkf]

9. Someone said that John Glenn still has debt from his Presidential run.

I have no idea how long ago that was.

And I do think it is heartless to have people labor for you (and setting up sound stages is more strenuous than what Mark Penn is doing) and then have to wait months, or God forbid years, to get paid. Especially in Ohio, where 1 in 8 or 10 is on foodstamps. People are going through hard times.

I think she should just loan her campaign another $5 million and pay off all these small vendors and regular Joes.

[AP]

14. She probably will lend her campaign money to pay off some debts, provided the FEC allows it

but she's not going to do that before the end of the race. She needs to allocate her resources so that she can win. if she can loan herself money to win NC and PA, she'll do that instead.

How many days ago was OH? Are these debts even 30 days past due?

[dsc]

18. glenn was in a unique position

He had such a small group of donors they all maxed out and he couldn't get them to pay for it. I think he eventually paid it but it did take a really, really long time.

[AP]

23. His unique situation was that a Columbus bank gave him a 2M dollar loan

and he took matching funds and the FEC imposed limitations on how he could use his own money to pay it off. Also, he was near the end of his career, and there wasn't really a fourth act that funders wanted to protect...

[dsc]

24. He ran for Senate at least one more time

I think twice actually.

[Mother Of Four]

32. The economy is on a downward slide as we all know--

But I wouldn't call it "Heartless" I'd call it irresponsible, it's like having a garden. You don't just plant something and walk away from it, you have to water and weed it to keep it growing instead of being choked off.

There are many small businesses that frankly can NOT afford to wait 2-4 months for payment, they have to pay their workers and such. So her campaign is literally robbing Peter (the lil guy) to pay Paul (her adverts).


Sounds to me that if she's not careful she'll end up with a garden full of dandelions and chickweed instead of Irises.

[dkf]

8. But her biggest funders are maxed out.

Are the maximums lifted if the campaign is over? Or do they have to wait for the next year or next cycle to donate again?

[KittyWampus]

17. Nice attempt at rationalizing the inexcusable. If you can't bring in the money your campaign's dead.

If Hillary can't scare up money, that means there aren't enough people willing to invest in her campaign.

She has little grassroots. Her campaign has relied entirely on pre-existing party machinery.

And it's not like she just owes a couple of hundred here and there.

She owes millions.

[AP]

19. It's not a rationalization. It's a statement about what happens in reality. People should know this

on an intuitive level, even if they don't remember things they've read in newspaper articles over the years about other candidates and campaigns.

I'm not trying to spin here. I'd say the same thing if Obama were the one in second place and trying to allocate his resources so that he could win.

Anyway, if she wins PA because she allocated resources wisely to PA, maybe she'll get a boost,in fundraising and will be able to pay off those debts easily...

[KittyWampus]

28. #1. Vendors do NOT willingly allowing services on credit. #2. Hillary will win PA because she's got

Rendell's Machine and race baiting surrogates working for her. Not because she's allocated resources wisely.

#3. The time to allocate resources begins at the start of the campaign. When she was spending like a drunken sailor.

#4. Her fundraising didn't pick up enough for her to pull out of the hole after she won Ohio, why would it after PA where she's EXPECTED to win by 20 points.

[AP]

29. Your #1 is not true anecdotally and not true in this situation.

I know for a fact that campaigns are constantly faced with this -- some vendors will accept credit and some will only accept cash.

And if "vendors are NOT willingly allowing services on credit" then this wouldn't even be a story in this case since, obviously, a lot of vendors willingly allowed Clinton credit for their services.

[mrJJ]

12. OPM

Sen Clinton can handle her OWN finances without a problem. Her financial problem arises when she's using OTHER PEOPLES MONEY... Vendors cant sue her for the funds only her campaign. Sux to be the little guy


Just a financial but one heck of a spread $10 Mill too $50 mill? 47 pages of stock, bonds, Bank accts, royalties etc

Hillary Clinton (D-NY) - 2006 Politician Profile Net Worth: From $10,360,009 to $51,021,998 Ranks 9th among all members of the Senate. Assets: 10 totaling $10,460,009 to $51,052,000. Liabilities: 2 totaling $30,002 to $100,000.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/candlook.php?txtName=clinton

http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00000019&year=2006

http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/candlook.php?capcode=h3mpd&CID=N00000019&submit=Submit

[tblue37]

21. Yet Mark Penn always gets his monthly millions.

How absurd is that?

[saltpoint]

26. She's probably glad it's springtime. It saves on snow shovels.

[JimGinPA]

27. K&R

[niceypoo]

31. Lazy reporters fail to do basic research

http://query.nictusa.com/pres/2008/M3/C00431569.html

:rofl:

[crankychatter]

33. As a Contractor I have to say...

some rich people hate paying their bills.

they seem to think money should make money and overhead should be ZERO

must be her Walmart experience