Edwards, Clark, still have unpaid 2004 debt

In the 1980s I worked at Chicago's Bismarck Hotel in the catering department. I was told by my boss that he learned a hard lesson when he allowed a couple of political fundraising events to be billed to the candidate's campaign committee--instead of paying up front. The candidate lost, and the hotel never got paid for those parties.

In short, he told me--Never issue a political campaign credit.

Twenty years later, that advice, one-hundred times over, is being spread around by burned vendors who issued credit to the political campaigns of John Edwards and Wesley Clark.

From AP:

Democrats John Edwards and Wesley Clark have debts of several hundred thousand dollars from their unsuccessful White House bids in 2004, a burden as they consider presidential runs in 2008.

Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee, had about $2,200 in his campaign account at the end of September and more than $300,000 in unpaid bills from his failed campaign for his party's nomination.

Clark, who has said he will decide in the next few months whether to run again, had about $390,000 left from the last campaign and debts totaling more than $260,000.

According to the Federal Election Commission, candidates are not obligated to pay off debts from a past presidential campaign before starting a new one.

Now my 1980s deadbeat went on to run for office at least two more times, and that outstanding debt was a minor issue for that candidate. I have no idea if those old bills were ever paid.

Edwards and Clark are considering a 2008 reprise of their '04 runs, and their debt ought to be an issue should they choose to run again.

The AP article goes on to explain that some of the unpaid vendors are relatively small operations running on a tight cash-flow.

This should be, but probably isn't, a personal embarrassment to former Senator Edwards, who has lately attached himself to the hip of the anti-Wal-Mart group Wake Up Wal-Mart. Edwards portrays himself as a battler for "the little guy," but the "little guy" deserves to get paid for services rendered.

Retired General Wesley Clark, who ran a bizarre presidential campaign in '04, probably is oblivious to his campaign debt problems. A military lifer, he's used to other people paying the bills, sight unseen. And if they're not paid, well, again, it's all "sight unseen" to Clark.

Which makes sense, because if I'm reading the AP story right, Clark has sufficient funds in his 2004 campaign treasury to pay off his old bills.

Technorati tags: Wal-Mart Wake Up Wal-Mart John Edwards Wesley Clark politics Democrats 2008 elections