"I've been there. I know what $400,000 could do for these people's lives."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Sean Penn: Concerned About Wyclef Jean's Haiti Candidacy, Support From Corporate Interests
By Susie Madrak Saturday Aug 07, 2010 3:00pm

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/sean-penn-concerned-about-wyclef-jean

Wyclef Jean has filed papers to run for president of Haiti, and Sean Penn is skeptical.

Interviewed on CNN last night as Wyclef officially announced his bid, Penn said, "This is somebody who's going to receive an enormous amount of support from the United States, and I have to say I'm very suspicious of it, simply because he, as an ambassador at large, has been virtually silent. For those of us in Haiti, he has been a non-presence," Penn said.

Penn, who has been active in Haiti since the earthquake, highlighted allegations that Wyclef mishandled $400,000 donated for the country through his Yele Haiti foundation. "He claims he didn't do it. That has to be looked into it," said Penn, who has been running a 55,000-person tent camp through the J/P Haitian Relief Organization he co-founded. "I've been there. I know what $400,000 could do for these people's lives."

He added, "I'm not accusing Wyclef Jean of being an opportunist; I don't know the man," Penn told Wolf Blitzer, who was filling in for Larry King. "One of the reasons I don't know very much about Wyclef Jean is that I haven't seen or heard anything of him in these last six months that I've been in Haiti."

[midnight]

1. No sign of this man who wants to run for office of President?

[TreasonousBastard]

2. The NY Times ran an oped piece pretty critical of this run...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/opinion/07blow.html?_r=1&ref=wyclef_jean

He's been AWOL from Haiti since the earthquake. Wasn't around much, if at all before it, either.

He has no administrative experience, except making excuses for the missing $400,000.

If Bill Clinton and Sean Penn, who HAVE been down there, can't get the world to shake its pockets free of some more cash, how's Jean gonna do it?

His uncle, a former ambassador, is running and this gets in the way of that run.

One of his band members, a cousin no less, doesn't think he'll be good for the job.

Bringing Haiti up to even poverty standards is not the job for amateurs.