Sharpton Was Paid to Aid Kerry Campaign

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Sharpton Was Paid to Aid Kerry Campaign

James Joyner | Thursday, December 9, 2004

Sharpton Was Paid to Aid Kerry Campaign (AP)

All of John Kerry’s one-time rivals in the Democratic presidential primary eventually lined up to support him as the nominee, but only one got paid for it â Al Sharpton. The Democratic National Committee paid Sharpton $86,715 in travel and consulting fees to compensate for his campaigning for Kerry and other Democratic candidates, according to reports to the Federal Election Commission.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Sharpton said he was paid for travel and he didn’t know how much he had been reimbursed. “They asked me to travel to 20 or 30 cities to campaign, and I did that,” Sharpton said. “What am I supposed to do, donate the cost of air fare?” But records show that while most of the money was to reimburse travel expenses, Sharpton was paid $35,000 as a “political consulting fee” 15 days after the election. The consulting fee was first reported in this week’s edition of the Village Voice.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Jano Cabrera said the party paid Sharpton at the request of the Kerry campaign. “After meeting with Kerry’s staff, we did agree to pay for Reverend Sharpton’s travel and consulting expenses,” Cabrera said. “He traveled very extensively to help the nominee and Democrats across the board, encouraging them to get out and vote on November 2.” Sharpton frequently appeared at Kerry’s side in the final weeks before the election as Kerry was trying to connect with black voters. Sharpton was with Kerry in largely black churches and when he spoke to other black audiences.

Kerry’s eight other former rivals from the Democratic primary also worked to varying degrees to get Kerry elected. In particular, Wesley Clark, Bob Graham, Dick Gephardt and Dennis Kucinich often campaigned with Kerry, although the latter three mostly appeared in their home states. But none of the other eight Democrats who were once in the race were paid travel reimbursements or consulting fees, according to a search of federal records collected by tracking service PoliticalMoneyLine.

Sharpton’s campaign was on a shoestring budget, so one can hardly begrudge him travel reimbursement. A $35,000 “consulting fee,” however, is rather odd. Especially when the Kerry campaign isn’t paying some of the people who were actually its employees. And, while $35,000 isn’t much in the big leagues of American politics, it’s a lot of money to pay someone to whom the DNC doesn’t listen.

Update: “Captain Ed” Morrissey has some interesting thoughts on what this says about Sharpton and the DNC.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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