I think I speak for a lot of Democrats who have wanted to give John Edwards a fair shake and reconsideration of his campaign and forget about 2004. However, the contradictions in his campaign make that very difficult. This is not about the costs of his haircuts. I thought he and his staff dropped the ball by charging this to the campaign when the focus of his campaign is about equality for all Americans regardless of economic status. It was not very good politics but not the end of the world. Neither was I particularly concerned about the cost of his new home, although having lived in Durham, NC for several years I can tell you that 5-6 million will get you a lot of house in this part of the country.
That said, this piece on the front page of the WashPo is very disappointing. First, I had wondered what he had been doing with himself since he left the Senate in 04. I was suprised to find that he had gone to work as a consultant for a 30B hedge-fund (Fortress Investments) that was immersed in creating off-shore tax shelters for the wealthiest of Americans (typically for millionaires). He apparently left just in time to start running fo president.
What is more revealing is his refusal to provide any information about his time there including what he worked on or how much he was paid.
Fortress announced Edwards's hiring as an adviser in a brief statement in October 2005. Neither Edwards -- who ended his consulting deal when he launched his presidential campaign in December -- nor the firm will say how much he earned or what he did.
At best it appears to conflict with his whole message of giving government back to the people.
it was an unusual choice of employment for Edwards, who for years has decried offshore tax shelters as part of his broader campaign to reduce inequality. While Fortress was incorporated in Delaware, its hedge funds were incorporated in the Cayman Islands, enabling its partners and foreign investors to defer or avoid paying U.S. taxes... his ties to Fortress were suggested by the first round of campaign finance reports released last week. They showed that Edwards raised $167,460 in donations from Fortress employees for his 2008 presidential campaign, his largest source of support from a single company.
To be sure, he is not the only candidate to accept contributions from hedge-fund managers. The list includes Clinton, Giulinai and Dodd-who worked to prevent legislation blocking off-shore tax shelters from ending, as well Obama-although he, along with Carl Levin and Norm Coleman has put forth legislation to drasticaly reduce the availability of these tax-shelters.
Apparently, Sen. Edwards even went to Germany to lobby for Fortress with Angela Merckel. All of this seems to contradict the following statement.
"John Edwards believes offshore tax shelters are wrong," Bedingfield said last week. "As president, he will end them.
I think his campaign may want to start responding more directly to some of these contradictions, and soon.