Here is how Edwards used fundraising for poverty to help launch his 2008 presidential campaign.

Hat tip to ST via the NYT:

In Aiding Poor, Edwards Built Bridge to 2008

John Edwards ended 2004 with a problem: how to keep alive his public profile without the benefit of a presidential campaign that could finance his travels and pay for his political staff.

Mr. Edwards, who reported this year that he had assets of nearly $30 million, came up with a novel solution, creating a nonprofit organization with the stated mission of fighting poverty. The organization, the Center for Promise and Opportunity, raised $1.3 million in 2005, and — unlike a sister charity he created to raise scholarship money for poor students — the main beneficiary of the center’s fund-raising was Mr. Edwards himself, tax filings show.

A spokesman for Mr. Edwards defended the center yesterday as a legitimate tool against poverty.

The organization became a big part of a shadow political apparatus for Mr. Edwards after his defeat as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 and before the start of his presidential bid this time around. Its officers were members of his political staff, and it helped pay for his nearly constant travel, including to early primary states.

While Mr. Edwards said the organization’s purpose was “making the eradication of poverty the cause of this generation,” its federal filings say it financed “retreats and seminars” with foreign policy experts on Iraq and national security issues. Unlike the scholarship charity, donations to it were not tax deductible, and, significantly, it did not have to disclose its donors — as political action committees and other political fund-raising vehicles do — and there were no limits on the size of individual donations.

…

Mr. Edwards mixed policy and politics in a way that allowed his supporters to donate to the causes he believed in — and to the organizations he had set up. He also set up two political action committees, something commonly done by politicians thinking of running for president.

But it 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.

I have to say that ST summed it up far better then anyone else:

Just more proof that John Edwards is a dishonest, self-serving creep who is more interested in feathering his own nest while trying make others feel guilt about not ‘doing more for the poor.’ Anyone who would attempt to channel the words of an unborn baby girl in the courtroom in order to pander to the jury, use his wife’s cancer announcement as a fundraising tool, and claim that he and his running mate would cure diseases and make people walk again if they were elected certainly isn’t beyond using a center he created to ‘help the poor’ to help advance his own political interests. I remember when I first heard about him creating the poverty center and thinking to myself “he’s up to something.” Sure enough, he was.

This man is a slick, lying snake oil salesman, and any Democrat who believes he’s an honest man is a fool.

It bears noting however that he has his pseudo defenders.  Tom Bevan for example said:

The article never gets around to saying Edwards has done anything illegal or untoward, though all along the way it leaves that impression, concluding with this quote from Marcus Owens, a lawyer who headed the IRS division overseeing nonprofit agencies:

“I can’t say that what Mr. Edwards did was wrong,” Mr. Owens said. “But he was working right up to the line. Who knows whether he stepped or stumbled over it. But he was close enough that if a wind was blowing hard, he’d fall over it.”

Okay, fine. But Edwards’ establishment of the non-profit was clearly within the law, and neither the Times nor anyone else provides proof that Edwards has violated any laws with respect to the running of the organization - no matter how complex or arcane those laws might be.

Perhaps.  But my question to anyone who wants to defend it, is “was it ethical”?  Was it honest to set up a charity that identified itself as having a mission to fight poverty, and then using that finance other political causes?

It may not have broken the law.  Lawyers are good at finding loopholes.  But was it ethical?

And I am personally tired of politicians hiding behind the defense “it was not illegal.”  They are suppose to be the role models and leaders of our country, and all they really teach by their disgusting examples is how to lie and cheat and not get caught.

As he has made such an issue of saying there are two America’s and made poverty his mantra, he should at least have the decency not to defraud the average people who donated to his cause thinking it would bear real fruit.

He is a slimy Clintonesque liar who deserves to be in jail.

As for the accusations that the Clinton’s arranged this exposure, I wouldn’t be surprised, as the Clinton’s understand intimately how slimy politicians can get, and Hillary wants power at all costs.  That she would feed a fellow democrat to the sharks is a no brainer if he stands in her way.

 Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, Right Truth, Big Dog’s Weblog, The Pet Haven Blog, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, The Uncooperative Blogger, stikNstein… has no mercy, Nuke’s news and views, Pirate’s Cove, The Right Nation, The Pink Flamingo, Church and State, CatSynth.com, Right Pundits, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Random Yak, DeMediacratic Nation, 123beta, Adam’s Blog, On the Horizon, Webloggin, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao’s Blog, , The Florida Masochist, Colloquium, Conservative Cat, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Azamatteroprinciple - A new blog dedicated to fighting pork barrel spending, High Desert Wanderer, The Yankee Sailor, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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