Sunday, February 18, 2007
Hillary Clinton Buying Black Vote for $200,000
NewsMax - The press reported on Tuesday that Sen. Hillary Clinton had scored a coup in the presidential race by winning the endorsement of a key black political leader in South Carolina, state Sen. Darrell Jackson.
Now it has come to light that just days earlier, Clinton’s campaign reached a deal to pay Jackson’s consulting firm $10,000 a month through the 2008 elections – a deal worth more than $200,000.
"Jackson had also been in talks with Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign about endorsing him and entering into a consulting contract for more than $5,000, sources said – raising questions about whether Jackson’s endorsement was bought by a higher bidder,” the New York Post reported.
Jackson – who is also the minister of a large church in the state capital, Columbia – acknowledged that he should have revealed his financial dealings with the Clinton campaign when he and fellow state Sen. Robert Ford, who is also African-American, endorsed Clinton.
But he told the Post: "It’s not about the money – there were some other candidates who offered to double [Clinton’s] offer,” Jackson told the Post, although he declined to name them.
Support from black voters is key in South Carolina, where 49 percent of the Democratic presidential primary vote came from blacks in 2004. The state will host the first Southern primaries for both the Democrats and the GOP in 2008.
NewsMax - The press reported on Tuesday that Sen. Hillary Clinton had scored a coup in the presidential race by winning the endorsement of a key black political leader in South Carolina, state Sen. Darrell Jackson.
Now it has come to light that just days earlier, Clinton’s campaign reached a deal to pay Jackson’s consulting firm $10,000 a month through the 2008 elections – a deal worth more than $200,000.
"Jackson had also been in talks with Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign about endorsing him and entering into a consulting contract for more than $5,000, sources said – raising questions about whether Jackson’s endorsement was bought by a higher bidder,” the New York Post reported.
Jackson – who is also the minister of a large church in the state capital, Columbia – acknowledged that he should have revealed his financial dealings with the Clinton campaign when he and fellow state Sen. Robert Ford, who is also African-American, endorsed Clinton.
But he told the Post: "It’s not about the money – there were some other candidates who offered to double [Clinton’s] offer,” Jackson told the Post, although he declined to name them.
Support from black voters is key in South Carolina, where 49 percent of the Democratic presidential primary vote came from blacks in 2004. The state will host the first Southern primaries for both the Democrats and the GOP in 2008.
