Hedge-Fund Ties Help Edwards Campaign

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Washington Post

Two years ago, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, gearing up for his second run at the Democratic presidential nomination, gave a speech decrying the "two different economies in this country: one for wealthy insiders and then one for everybody else."

Four months later, he began working for the kind of firm that to many Wall Street critics embodies the economy of wealthy insiders -- a hedge fund.

Edwards became a consultant for Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based firm known mainly for its hedge funds, just as the funds were gaining prominence in the financial world -- and in the public consciousness, where awe over their outsize returns has mixed with misgivings about a rarefied industry that is, on the whole, run by and for extremely wealthy people and operates largely in secrecy.

A midsize but growing player in the hedge fund industry with more than $30 billion in assets, Fortress was the first hedge fund manager to go public, thereby subjecting itself to far more scrutiny. But it was an unusual choice of employment for Edwards, who for years has decried offshore tax shelters as part of his broader campaign to reduce inequality. While Fortress was incorporated in Delaware, its hedge funds were incorporated in the Cayman Islands, enabling its partners and foreign investors to defer or avoid paying U.S. taxes.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201339.html?hpid=topnews

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. A John Solomon hit piece.

Formula: Take a set of disparate facts. Mix liberally with inferences. Slant everything in negative and sinister terms of art. Smear on Democrats, especially John Edwards.

[liberalnurse]

5. Yea, it's that time again.

DU Swift-Boatism..................:puke:

[JDPriestly]

2. FDR and Kennedy were also wealthy.

And look what they did.
What is wrong with having a clue about economics?
Unions are hopefully investing their pension funds wisely.

What's the deal here? This is a non-news, non-story. Edwards is smart. He's for lifting the poor up. That cannot be done by someone like Bush who can't manage money. I wish Bush had a little experience in the investment/money management area. Bush has bankrupted the country. Edwards will make us more prosperous. Edwards understands money. You go Edwards.

[underpants]

3. I think the point of this is that ...

Edwards needed some way to pay for those haircuts

:sarcasm:

[liberalnurse]

6. Please, the tinfoil moments

are not due yet, say for another 8 months.

[DeleteRepublicans]

4. Glad he's there!

I know part of my pension is partially managed by Fortress. So, I'm glad Edwards is there looking after my future.

[Kingofalldems]

7. Search the internet for anti-Dem stories

Post them right here on DU. Thanks for your concern.

[truthisfreedom]

8. "John Edwards believes offshore tax shelters are wrong," Bedingfield said last week. "As president,

he will end them. By voluntarily going public, Fortress has ended the practice of using offshore tax shelters for deferred compensation and has committed itself to a whole set of transparency and disclosure obligations that no other hedge fund has committed itself to before."

Sounds like he's doing some good already. Sometimes the best way to change something is to become part of it.

[badgervan]

9. John Solomon Again

I don't read anything with this guy's byline. Can't be trusted. Thanks so much, Mr. Hiatt and Donny Graham, for bringing this anti-dem crusader onboard to further decrease the Washington Post's readership. Ms. Graham must be spinning in her grave. Hiatt should move on to the Faux conglomerate where he philosophically belongs. What a shame that the WP continues to rag on dems, and offer cover to the worst administration in our country's history.