Ramblings' Journal

FEC says pay us back; Crazy Al says "NO! NO! NO! MINE! MINE! MINE!"

The six-member Federal Election Commission ordered former Democratic Presidential Candidate Al Sharpton to repay $100,000 in matching funds he received during his White House bid.

An investigation found that Sharpton had exceeded a $50,000 limit that candidates may spend on their own campaigns.

Sharpton plans to fight the Commission.

"We expected this. They've been under pressure from these right-wing hate groups for months now," said Sharpton campaign manager Charles Halloran. "We planned all along to appeal this decision and have met extensively with counsel. The statutes are clear and convincing about the reverend's donations to his own campaign, and we've followed them to the strict letter of the law."

"The FEC is trying to deny me the right to earn a living," said Sharpton last week in response to the commission's earlier ruling. "All my life I have been traveling as a civil rights leader and minister trying to speak out for those for whom no one is representing. Now the FEC wants to call those trips political if I spend 2 hours at a fund raiser out of four days of speaking to civil rights groups. This will not stand."

The Sharpton group is contemplating legal action against the Commission.

Anything for Crazy Al to keep the money already in his grubby little paws.

Posted by mhking at May 14, 2004 10:58 PM