debt – FEC: Debt for Giuliani, Dodd, Romney

debt – FEC: Debt for Giuliani, Dodd, Romney – Yahoo! News

Posted by Doug Russel | Debt | Sunday 28 February 2010 8:46 am

FEC: Debt for Giuliani, Dodd, Romney – Yahoo! News

The presidential campaign is over, but the debt lives on.

The campaigns of also-ran candidates Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Chris Dodd, Mike Huckabee and John McCain at the end of last month still owed a combined $4.7 million to a wide array of consultants, banks, lawyers and accountants, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission in the run-up to a midnight Wednesday deadline.

Dodd, the Connecticut senator who dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination after finishing seventh in the Iowa Caucuses, still owed $1,400 to cable companies, while Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who bowed out of the Republican race after finishing a distant third in the Florida primary, reported $142,000 in unpaid bills owed to his own security company, Giuliani Security & Safety.

Campaign committees cannot close their books until they either pay off all outstanding bills or get vendors to agree to debt settlement agreements that are approved by the FEC.

In the first three months of the year—the period covered by the reports—Giuliani chipped in $200,000 of his own money to his campaign committee, the first time he dug into his own pocket for his campaign. He also got $2,000 from the coffers of eventual GOP nominee John McCain’s campaign. Nonetheless, the Giuliani campaign's $2.4 million in debt at the end of last month led the pack.

But it was the Democratic runner-up, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had the biggest bill. The entirety of her $2.3 million in debt was owed to her pollster, Mark Penn, even after she paid his firm back $3 million in the first quarter.

Behind them, the next biggest debtor was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who reported that his GOP campaign still owed $2 million to Goldman Sachs, though that may be a bit misleading, since it was in the form of a credit line secured by his personal assets held at Goldman Sachs. Romney still lists his personal $44 million contribution to his campaign – the overwhelmingly bulk of which he can no longer himself pay back – as a loan.

Dodd, who paid back $252,000, still owes $299,000, and Huckabee, a Republican former Arkansas governor, owes $82,000.

Though the outstanding debts are among the top-line highlights from the first quarter reports, there's a lot of interesting context buried deep in the data.

Dodd, who has caught flack for his ties to the finance industry, disgorged $11,500 in donations linked to the embattled Stanford Financial Group to the receivership appointed by a federal judge to compensate victims of an $8 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by R. Allen Stanford and his companies.

McCain, the Arizona Senator who was bested by President Obama in the general election, contributed $5,000 to his new leadership political action committee, and refunded or voided $173,000 worth of checks for various reasons – presumably in an effort to get his books in order for an impending FEC audit required by his acceptance of $84 million in taxpayer money for his campaign.

Joe Biden, who mounted his own presidential campaign before becoming Obama’s running mate, reported receiving $2,275 in taxpayer funds for his primary campaign.

And New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson paid off $27,000 in airfare he rung up as he crisscrossed the country during his bid for the Democratic nomination partly on corporate jets controlled by a couple influential New Mexicans with deep pockets — including Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.).

The money went to Lea King LLC, a corporation that New Mexico corporate filings show was set up by Teague and oilman Johnny Cope.

The federal government, most states, and some counties and even a few cities have all passed legislation regulating debt collection agencies and prohibiting certain acts. Nevertheless, debt collection scams persist. Here are a few things you can do to keep you from falling victim to these scams.

First, know your rights. The first notice you receive from a debt collection agency should cause you to contact your local consumer protection agency and get a pamphlet or other publication outlining your rights and listing what collection agencies can and cannot do. Debt collectors are hoping you will be intimidated by them and that you will pay the debt rather than try to protect yourself by contacting government officials or attorneys.

You may be tempted to ignore the first notice but please do not do so. You have certain rights which can be waived if you do not act timely. For instant, you must request n writing that the agency provide you with proof of the debt it is attempting to collect. The company then has 30 days to provide this information and all collection efforts must cease until such information is provided. The debt collector will not go away by you doing nothing. However, your rights will so act and act timely.

Another thing you can do to protect yourself from falling victim to debt collection scams is to communicate with the debt collecting company in writing via certified mail, return receipt requested. These companies know the law even if they do not follow it. If you do not keep a record of your communications with the company, the representative will deny that you provided the notices you claim to have provided. This is why you should communicate in writing and always keep a record of any other conversations and communications with the company.