Posted on 12/11/2001 5:02:18 AM PST by tom paine 2
THE Rev. Al Sharpton stands accused of welching on a $25,000 Midtown hotel bill.
Sharpton's National Action Network is being sued by the Millennium Hotel New York, where Sharpton's group held an "Invitational Summit on Multicultural Markets and Media" in the hotel's Hudson Theater to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday in January of last year.
The group rented 14 rooms, including the $900-per-night presidential suite, and also spent $8,600 ordering room service and raiding mini-bars, reports U.S. News & World Report. It laid down an $18,000 deposit, but the final bill came to $43,000 and the folks at the Millennium want to get paid.
Network lawyer Michael Hardy insists his group is getting a raw deal. "The dispute has to do with guests who attended the conference and then charged their rooms and their food to the network," he tells PAGE SIX's Ian Spiegelman. "Rev. Sharpton took a room, some staffers took rooms and we rented the theater for $18,000.
"Our position is that they cannot prove that we in any way authorized these other people to charge the network's account," says Hardy. "We are not responsible for the people who attended the conference."
Hardy added, "It is my understanding that there were some disputes as to quality and whether all the services were actually rendered."
A spokeswoman for Sharpton, who announced his presidential run in Harlem last week, said the lawsuit would have no effect on his candidacy.
"The dispute was over billing. The National Action Network has nothing to do with Rev. Sharpton's presidential bid," she said. "Rev. Sharpton has 17 chapters. I'm not sure he even knows they filed a suit."
Hardy also sought to draw a line between Sharpton the candidate and Sharpton the Action Network honcho. Hardy - who says he still hasn't seen the complaint - tells us, "Rev. Sharpton was not named in the suit."
But according to the suit, "Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, ‘gave his word' that the invoice would be paid on June 9, 2000. Despite this promise, no payment was made."
Hardy said, "We deny that we owe the money, and we will challenge it."
Sharpton's failure to settle the bill comes as no surprise to Steven Pagones, the former Westchester prosecutor who won a suit against Sharpton for falsely naming him as one of the white men who had allegedly raped Tawana Brawley in 1987. It took Pagones three years to collect the $87,000 judgment.
Well, if THAT B.S. doesn't work, then...
"It is my understanding that there were some disputes as to quality and whether all the services were actually rendered."
Well, With Al Sharpton in the race, I gotta say it's gonna be an interesting one... maybe Bush should consider Condoleeza Rice as his running mate next time around... that would put a cork in any claims of 'Racism' that Fat Al would try ;0)
1) "I didn't break it."
2) "It wasn't broken when I returned it."
3) "It was already broken when I borrowed it."
Friend that manages an air charter company in Westchester NY told me that they are billing the reverund jacksom's org for 30k in damages to a Gulfstream IV.
That was 18 months ago.....no payment yet.
unless I am missing something, I would encourage him to run.
I will go for more than they owe for the expenses they have cost me.
I could care less their politics, race, religion or activities, I expect people to honor theor incurred debts and obligations.
And what about the converse?
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