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Edwards Loan Criticized
Raleigh News & Observer ^ | May 24, 2004 | MATTHEW EISLEY

Posted on 07/07/2004 5:17:45 PM PDT by The Anti-Democrat

A decade ago, when Sen. John Edwards was suing doctors instead of running for president, he lent a divorcing friend $30,000 to help send the man's sons to college.

The friend was federal bankruptcy Judge Rich Leonard of Raleigh.

At the same time, Leonard was handling a complex bankruptcy case in which Elizabeth Anania Edwards, John Edwards' wife, was one of the lawyers.

Now some are saying it wasn't kosher for Judge Leonard to have kept the case after getting a personal loan from the spouse of one of the lawyers involved.

"The judge had a financial debt to this family, and that presents an obvious conflict of interest," said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor. "I think it's pretty serious."

(Excerpt) Read more at newsobserver.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: edwardsjudges

1 posted on 07/07/2004 5:17:46 PM PDT by The Anti-Democrat
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To: The Anti-Democrat


My guess is that prettyboy is very dirty.

I wouldn't be surprised if he had bimbo problems, too.


2 posted on 07/07/2004 5:25:31 PM PDT by adam_az (Call your State Republican Party office and VOLUNTEER!!!!)
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To: The Anti-Democrat

All Demonrats are sleazy. Let's see the media make a big deal out of this corruption. Of course, the media is as sleazy as the Demonrats.


3 posted on 07/07/2004 5:25:48 PM PDT by bushfamfan
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To: The Anti-Democrat

Uh-oh, another Hillary. With prettier hair.


4 posted on 07/07/2004 5:25:50 PM PDT by Paul Atreides (Didn't your father tell you that unnecessary excerpting will make you go blind?)
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To: Paul Atreides

Just hair...hell...prettier all around.


5 posted on 07/07/2004 5:27:07 PM PDT by Hildy ( If you don't stand up for what's RIGHT, you'll settle for what's LEFT.)
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To: adam_az

Yes, we wouldn't be surprised if he has bimbo problems, but sex only matters when you're a Republican(like Jack Ryan, who had a 'sex scandal' with his wife!).


6 posted on 07/07/2004 5:27:15 PM PDT by bushfamfan
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To: adam_az
I wouldn't be surprised if he had bimbo problems, too.

Just whose bimbo do you think he has been?

7 posted on 07/07/2004 5:27:19 PM PDT by Paul Atreides (Didn't your father tell you that unnecessary excerpting will make you go blind?)
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To: adam_az

"...I wouldn't be surprised if he had bimbo problems, too. .."

Pretty face lawyer...oh yeah...


8 posted on 07/07/2004 5:27:46 PM PDT by forAmericasFutureVoteBush (Hold on please, I have to go to the toilette and take a Kerry.)
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To: The Anti-Democrat
Well, the only fair way to resolve this is to see how many dem members of Congress stand up to state as fact that this was not a bribe. If, of course, all the members of the fully segregated, step-n-fetchit, colored ony Congressional Black Caucus rise to tell us that this was not a bribe, then, just as I believed them when the said Willie wasn't lying and didn't have sex with that woman, I'd have to believe them.

Consider where the complaint is coming from. The complaint must be from other judges who had open cases where Edward's wife was representing a party and the judge, so very unfairly and arbitraily, didn't get a bribe, I mean a payoff, I mean a gift, I mean a loan.

9 posted on 07/07/2004 5:28:04 PM PDT by Tacis (,)
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To: adam_az

>>My guess is that prettyboy is very dirty.

Well duh. He's a Lib-Dem-lawyer...


10 posted on 07/07/2004 5:29:03 PM PDT by Keith in Iowa (Michael Moore has made "documentary" a 1-word oxymoron.)
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To: The Anti-Democrat

This is only about money. Can't we move along?


11 posted on 07/07/2004 5:29:58 PM PDT by Right Wing Professor (...Edwards; how unqualified can a man be?)
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To: The Anti-Democrat

Welcome to the big leagues, Breck girl.


12 posted on 07/07/2004 5:31:14 PM PDT by mombonn (¡Viva Bush/Cheney!)
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To: The Anti-Democrat
Now some are saying it wasn't kosher for Judge Leonard to have kept the case after getting a personal loan from the spouse of one of the lawyers involved.

"Some are saying"? It seems perfectly obvious to me.

Of course, I suppose if Jamie Gorelick sitting in judgement upon her own actions isn't a conflict of interest, nothing is.

13 posted on 07/07/2004 5:31:47 PM PDT by ScottFromSpokane (Re-elect President Bush: http://spokanegop.org/bush.html)
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To: adam_az

Just the tip of the iceberg !


14 posted on 07/07/2004 5:37:36 PM PDT by KnutCase (Where are we going? And why am I in this handbasket?)
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To: The Anti-Democrat

Wow, this dude gets dirtier by the minute.
The faulty campaign financing that he funneled throught employees...and now this.
And its only day two of his vp run.
Quick, somebody to a search to see if his middle name
is really Geraldine!!!


15 posted on 07/07/2004 5:38:29 PM PDT by ArmyBratproud
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To: ScottFromSpokane

Typical of Lawyers. They get to be as corrupt as they want. They scream that companies should be held accountable (translation: lawyers should be able to get rich by shaking down companies), but then they feel that they themselves should be allowed to violate every ethic,cannon, and law on the book.


16 posted on 07/07/2004 5:42:02 PM PDT by ArmyBratproud
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To: The Anti-Democrat

If Hades ever freezes and pigs fly and the media ever decides to look into Edward's dirty dealings, perhaps they might also take a peak into Kerry's.
It's pretty obvious why the media has ignored the new biography of Kerry - " John F Kerry,The Complete Biography By The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best. "

Kerry and questionable financial deals seem to go hand in hand. Notice the absolute silence on the part of the "misleadia " to investigate the stench coming from Kerry's finances.

Here are 2 examples.

Pages 199-202 detail Kerry's offshore and probably illegal tax shelter schemes in the Cayman Islands.

In 1983, Kerry received $225,000 as his share of some legal work from his former law partner and girlfriend, Roanne Stagow.
In Dec 1983, Kerry claims that he invested between $25,000 and $30,000 in " a scheme using offshore accounts." Page 200 ibid.
This was a scheme known as a " straddle "- which was the buying and selling of forward contracts through companies in the Cayman Islands.
It was a tax shelter involving paper transactions.

Kerry claimed in April of 84, that he cancelled the deal on the advice of his accountants because they questioned it's legitimacy.
Then Kerry went into his usual I didn't know, nobody told me flip flop.

His campaign claimed that he had not violated any law and everything he had done was by the book and perfectly legal. We must not forget that Kerry was a lawyer, when he was signing the paperwork and reading the fine print .
He was also running for the Senate and in desperate need of money.

Here's the money quote :

However " records obtained by the Boston Globe revealed that much went undisclosed about the complex scheme." Page 201 ibid.

" On Dec 13,1983 Kerry pledged 2,470 shares he held in a company called Peabody Commodities Trading Corporation as collateral for a $ 238,527 promissory note signed the same day by Sytel Traders, Ltd."

Both companies were registered in the Cayman's.

" Kerry has never disclosed a stake in Peabody Commodities or an indebtedness to Sytel Traders." Page 202 ibid.

Kerry did not dispute the authenticity of the documents obtained by the Boston Globe.
But, he dismissed the paperwork as " meaningless."

He also claimed ignorance about the fact that the companies were offshore tax shelters in the Cayman Islands.

But, the Boston Globe found the pledge agreement with Kerry's signature and in the first line it stated that Sytel Traders was organized in the Caymans.
The IRS soon clamped down on offshore tax shelters and some of the investors in Sytel were forced to pay steep penalties.

Why hasn't anyone in the media investigated Kerry and his off shore tax shelter ?
Did Kerry get the $ 238,000 from Sytel Traders in 1983 ?
Did he pay it back ?
Did he report it to the IRS ?

Perhaps the media might be interested in Kerry's eyebrow raising real estate deals- Pages 236-246 ibid.

Kerry has been involved in a bunch of questionable real estate deals that have a whiff of Whitewater.

Here's an interesting tidbit, involving Senator Bob Graham of Florida.
Kerry was always grubbing for money and just barely solvent.
However, his finances " got much better in 1988," when he sold his Capitol Hill townhouse to Florida Senator Bob Graham .

"Even after taking into account the expensive renovations done by Kerry, it was a huge profit after only three years of ownership." Page 243 ibid.
The inference is that Graham overpaid " BigTime " for Kerry's townhouse.
Was Graham a dupe or a dope or something else ?
Did Graham funnel money to Kerry by overpaying for the townhouse ?
You would think an enterprising reporter would examine the real estate transactions for Kerry's neighborhood and Graham's financing.
You would think.
However, until Kerry and Edwards change their names to Bush and Cheney-they'll get a free pass on all shady and sleazy deals.


17 posted on 07/07/2004 5:46:41 PM PDT by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: Wild Irish Rogue

I wouldn't be surprised if there is not a lot of dirt that comes up about Edwards between now and the convention. It may be so bad that Kerry has to dump him by the convention and add someone else like Hillary or Gephart.


18 posted on 07/07/2004 6:13:58 PM PDT by gswilder
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To: The Anti-Democrat

Here we go...Lots of rocks to lift up and see what slithers out!


19 posted on 07/08/2004 1:54:22 AM PDT by lainde (Heads up...We're coming and we've got tongue blades!!)
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To: Wild Irish Rogue

Wow...I haven't heard a peep about any of this! And I rarely miss a day (or middle of the night) of freeping. Hopefully the RNC is aware.


20 posted on 07/08/2004 1:57:31 AM PDT by lainde (Heads up...We're coming and we've got tongue blades!!)
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