A story in Sunday's Raleigh News & Observer reports that Edwards, a Democratic senator from North Carolina from 1999 to 2005, has acknowledged that officials are looking into whether any donations to his 2008 campaign were diverted to his mistress, Rielle Hunter, to keep her from going public. Diverting funds from a campaign non-profit for any personal expenditure would be a violation of federal law.
Hunter, who had no previous experience as a filmmaker, was paid $114,000 to film a series of campaign "webisodes'' that mainly showed him flirting with her; her intended audience seemed to be the candidate's wife.
After he was photographed by tabloid photographers running away from them in the Los Angeles hotel where he was visiting Hunter and her baby, Edwards admitted to the affair last summer.
But he said in a statement released to the News & Observer that the Feds wouldn't find anything illegal in the campaign records he has turned over: "I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly. However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter. We appreciate the diligence and professionalism of those involved and look forward to a conclusion."
Among several Edwards nonprofits that investigators are looking into is the Alliance for a New America, which according to the News & Observer received a $3.48 million check in 2008 from 98-year-old Rachel "Bunny'' Lambert Mellon. Though not a regular political donor, she told relatives she had been moved by Edwards' "Two Americas'' anti-poverty campaign.
A new book by Elizabeth Edwards, due in stores on May 12, says her husband met Hunter at a campaign event in New York, where she opened the conversation by telling him, "You're so hot.''
Friends of Hunter's have said that their affair began that night. The former candidate told ABC News last summer that it began after she had gone to work for his campaign.
He also told ABC that he'd been visiting Hunter in Los Angeles hotel where he was chased by photographers only because he feared that she would go public if he didn't meet with her: "I wanted her not to tell the public what had happened. Very simple. That's the reason I went."
Did he also pay for her silence? The Feds aren't the only ones who'd like to know; disillusioned former supporters would, too.
In the interview with ABC News last summer, Edwards said, "I think my family is entitled to every detail. They've been told every detail.'' Yet in her book, his wife said that even when he did tell her about the relationship, he "left most of the truth out,'' and insisted that it had been a one-night stand.
Edwards' close friend Fred Baron told ABC at the time that he had been sending money out of his own pocket to Hunter and to the former campaign aide who had claimed paternity of her baby, at his own instigation: "[I] decided independently to help two friends and former colleagues rebuild their lives when harassment by supermarket tabloids made it impossible for them to move forward on their own. I did this of my own volition without the instruction or suggestion of anyone, and made a conscious decision not to tell anyone, including John Edwards, that assistance was provided. The assistance was offered and accepted without condition. This is now and shall always remain a private matter between these individuals and me." That much did turn out to be true; Baron has since died of cancer.
At a recent Dallas event honoring Baron, the only mention of Edwards was from Baron's widow, Lisa, who noted ruefully that their foray into presidential politics had not exactly turned out as planned.
No comments:
Post a Comment