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 How will John Edwards fare against the other presidential candidates? |
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Posted on 04/17/2003 6:48:34 AM PDT by Howlin
Senator paid firms for private flights
WASHINGTON -- Money from lawyers has helped U.S. Sen. John Edwards get his presidential campaign off the ground. But it's their jets that keep him in the air.
During the first three months of the year, the North Carolina Democrat's campaign paid more than $83,000 to five law firms for use of their private planes, according to a report filed this week with the Federal Election Commission.
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Jennifer Palmieri, Edwards' spokeswoman, said the campaign tries to travel on commercial flights whenever possible because doing so is generally less expensive.
"We do it when it's feasible," Palmieri said, "but often it's just not possible. Candidates have to use private planes to make their schedules work."
Last week, for example, Edwards interrupted a campaign swing through South Carolina to fly back to Washington for an afternoon budget vote. He returned on a private plane in time to make a 7 p.m. reception in Myrtle Beach.
Though flying on corporate planes is not unusual, Edwards' used them more frequently than any of the other Democratic hopefuls during the first part of the year, according to FEC reports. Several candidates, including Edwards, also spent thousands of additional dollars on charter plane service.
One 2004 rival, U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, routinely used a plane owned by Flying Squirrel Inc., a corporation controlled by his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. The Kerry campaign reported paying his wife's company $39,781 between January and March for use of the aircraft.
Edwards' campaign, meanwhile, paid more than $63,000 to a single law firm, Dallas-based Baron & Budd, for use of its planes. Fred Baron, one of the firm's principals, is a finance co-chairman of Edwards' presidential campaign.
Palmieri said the firm's plane was used on 15 occasions, primarily for fund-raising trips. The number of aides traveling with Edwards varied, she said, but it was usually no more than two. Baron said he was also present on most of those flights.
Baron, whose firm owns three aircraft, said it is difficult to say whether the level of reimbursement outlined in FEC rules covers the full costs of the private flights.
"It really depends on how many people are on the aircraft," he said. "Sometimes it pays for it, and sometimes it doesn't. ... My sense is it's probably a break-even."
Besides Baron's firm, the Edwards campaign paid $8,432 to Turner & Associates of Little Rock, Ark.; $7,272 to Wilkes and McHugh of Tampa, Fla.; $4,753 to Ness Motley of Mount Pleasant, S.C.; and $420 to Girardi and Keese of Los Angeles.
Lawyers from those firms were among those who helped Edwards raise $7.4 million in the first quarter of the year, more than any other Democratic candidate. Collectively, employees from Baron & Budd gave Edwards more than $56,000, while those at Girardi & Keese gave more than $45,000.
Edwards' report also contains $54,509 paid to a travel agency, which aides said booked only commercial flights, and several thousand more dollars paid directly to commercial airlines.
On Wednesday night, Palmieri said, Edwards was scheduled to board an American Airlines flight to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has a full day of campaigning in the nation's first presidential caucus state scheduled today.
Washington correspondent John Wagner can be reached at (202) 662-4380 or jwagner@mcclatchydc.com.
Is Johnny Boy too good to fly on Hooter's Air?
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