John Edwards - Fights for the Little Guy

EDWARDS HEDGE FUND $OAKS 'CANE VICTIMS
By ANDY SOLTIS, Post Wire Services


August 18, 2007 -- Embarrassed presidential hopeful John Edwards promised yesterday to take millions of dollars of his own fortune out of a hedge fund tied to subprime lenders who foreclosed on victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The populist candidate - who has denounced such lenders - invested $16 million of his $30 million in assets in Fortress Investment Group. The Wall Street Journal reported that 34 New Orleans homeowners struggling to overcome Katrina's aftermath faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress.

Yesterday, the red-faced Democratic candidate vowed to remove from his portfolio any Fortress funds that have a stake in those lender units.

"I will not have my family's money involved in these firms that are foreclosing on people in New Orleans," he said while on the campaign trial in Des Moines, Iowa.

When Fortress' connections to subprime lenders were reported in May, Edwards said he was unaware of it and would ask the company to help Katrina victims faced with losing their homes.

Sources said Edwards spoke to senior Fortress executives and was assured something would be done.

But the Journal's disclosures indicated the foreclosures were still being pursued and that led him to decide yesterday to divest his stake, they said.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, has other connections to Fortress. He worked for the firm as a senior adviser after his losing 2004 race as Sen. John Kerry's vice-presidential running mate. He was paid $479,512 for part-time work last year, records show.

Fortress executives also have donated more than $150,000 to Edwards' campaign during the first six months of the year.

A spokesman for the campaign said he didn't know how quickly Edwards would be able to divest the controversial funds. He declined to say whether Edwards would give back the adviser's fee or the campaign contributions.

Edwards has made the plight of Katrina victims a recurring theme of his bid for the Democratic nomination.

He chose New Orleans to kick off his campaign in December, when he vowed to help poor residents recover from Katrina. In April, he returned to the city to promote his plan to end the "shameful lending practices" of subprime-mortgage firms.

Asked yesterday if his investments damaged his image as a poverty fighter, Edward's said: "No. Everyone knows I am completely committed to eliminating poverty in this country."

The mortgage flap was the second embarrassing disclosure this month involving Edwards and his finances.

Edwards demanded that his Democratic rivals give back any money they received from Rupert Murdoch and boycott Murdoch's Fox News.

But two weeks ago it was disclosed that Edwards had been paid $800,000 for a book published by a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp., which also owns The Post. In response, Edwards said he gave $500,000 to charity and used the rest for researchers and other expenses, although he did not provide records.

 

He does a little too much flaunting of his wealth.

He is now dead to me.

 

Even though Obama and Clinton are the front runners for the Democratic Party nomination, something tells me that Edwards could spoil everything and either come in second or may actually win.

 

Edwards needs to be more circumspect, but I don't get the notion that he must be a hypocrite because he's rich.

I don't think Edwards' stock portfolio undermines his commitment to fighting poverty any more than I think Romney's portfolio undermines his pro-life beliefs:

http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=1017251&format=text%20

The media never bought the "blind trust" excuse from the Clintons; we'll see what happens if Mitt plays the card. I'm sure the New York Post will be all over this.

 

And it's not "Edwards hedge fund" any more than RCA was mine, back in the day.

 

That douchebag Romney doesn't stand a chance to win. Anything he does, won't be enough.

 

Is it time for me to point out that the Republican party is pretty much in shambles at the moment?

 

But that's with Guliani appearing to the the front runner?

 

If you need more evidence than this that he's a hypocrite, you've got your lib blinders on, as usual.
Admit it...the guy's a pretty-boy empty suit and now we now that he was prepared to make money off the backs of Katrina victims had this not come to light.

 

Come on Boom and Hondo, you guys are supposed to be bashing the people who couldn't pay their mortgages.

 

So, anyone who professes to care for the plight of the poor must take a vow of poverty?

Then you believe that Romney is a hypocrite? Cheney too?

And I'll pass on the character-judgment lecture from you, thanks.