July 16, 2009
Posted: July 16th, 2009 10:28 AM ET
From CNN Political Research Director Robert Yoon
Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid against Barack Obama is now almost out of debt, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Hillary Clinton is almost debt-free from her failed bid for the presidency. Exactly one year after announcing it was a staggering $25.2 million in debt, her campaign reported Wednesday carrying its smallest amount of unpaid campaign bills since the former New York senator and current U.S. Secretary of State first began her presidential bid in early 2007. As of June 30, Clinton's campaign organization owed $1.5 million in unpaid bills and had $2.5 million in the bank, according to a new disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission. Previously, the smallest amount of debt the campaign had reported was $1.6 million in March 2007, roughly two months after Clinton launched her presidential bid. As the race for the Democratic nomination grew more competitive, the campaign's debt grew steadily and reached its peak on June 30, 2008, just three weeks after Clinton suspended her campaign. At that point, Clinton's campaign owed $12 million to almost 500 individual creditors and an additional $13.2 million to the candidate herself, who used her own money to help keep her operation afloat. Campaign finance laws forced Clinton to forgive the amount she loaned her committee because she was not able to repay the funds by the required deadline. Wednesday's filing showed that the campaign now owes $1.5 million to one remaining creditor, Penn, Schoen & Berland, the political consulting firm that advised Clinton during the campaign. The firm's president, Mark Penn, had also served as Clinton's senior campaign strategist. At the start of 2009, the firm had been owed $5.4 million. Clinton's campaign repaid Penn's firm about $808,000 since the end of May, almost all of it on June 29, the day before the end of the most recent reporting period. The bulk of this amount, $725,000, had been for "mail expenses," while $68,000 was for "web site" expenses, and another $15,000 was for various advertisements. The campaign raised $541,000 in contributions from April through June and generated an additional $403,000 from both bank interest and from the rental of its campaign mailing lists to other organizations. Those organizations include the national Democratic party's Senate campaign arm, which paid $41,000, and the campaigns of Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, both of whom are up for re-election in 2010. Two non-profit groups headed by people close to the former senator also rented the list: the "NoLimits Foundation," a policy and issue education organization headed by long-time Clinton adviser Ann Lewis, and the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, created by the former president. Lewis' organization paid the Clinton campaign $200,000, while the former president's foundation paid $75,000. So far this year, President Clinton's foundation has paid Hillary Clinton's campaign a total of $349,000 in list rental fees. A federal law known as the "Hatch Act" prohibits Clinton, as the secretary of state, from personally soliciting or accepting political contributions. The law does allow others to raise funds on Clinton's behalf, without her direct involvement. Since ending her campaign, Clinton has received fundraising help from an all-star line-up of notable Democrats, including President Barack Obama, the man who defeated her for the Democratic nomination, Vice President Joe Biden, and family members such as President Clinton, her daughter, Chelsea, and her mother, Dorothy Rodham. –CNN's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. Filed under: Hillary Clinton Popular Posts
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