Sunday, March 30, 2008

Hillary Clinton Stiffs The Working People

There is something seriously ironic about a woman that will tell a bunch of rich people at a 2004 San Francisco fundraiser that she is going to "take things away from you on behalf of the common good", referring to taking from the rich to give to the working class, and then proceed to stiff that same working class when she owes them monies for services rendered.

The Hillary Clinton campaign has avoided paying hundreds of bills and vendors and service providers are warning people to get paid up front before rendering any services to the Clinton campaign or they may not get paid at all.

A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.

Their cautionary tales, combined with published reports about similar difficulties faced by a New Hampshire landlord, an Iowa office cleaner and a New York caterer, highlight a less-obvious impact of Clinton’s inability to keep up with the staggering fundraising pace set by her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.


The Clinton campaign claims they are paying their bills but the people they owe money to, say , not so!

Some of the debts the Clinton campaign owe, more than a month old include but are not limited to;

Sioux City Art Center Board of Trustees $3,500 for catering and venue costs;

New Hampshire’s Winnacunnet Cooperative School District $4,400 in event costs;
Qwest $24,000 for phone service;

Various branches of the Iowa-based supermarket chain Hy-Vee $15,000 for food, beverages and catering;

$7,700 to Ohio and Massachusetts branches of the theatrical stage employees’ union, for equipment costs.

In fact, about a third of the nearly 700 individual debts Clinton reported at the end of February were for various types of “event expenses,” including $319,000 for catering and venue costs, $420,000 for equipment, $11,000 for photography and $9,000 for security.


These are debts for services rendered, people that make their living providing services, and they are getting stiffed by the Clinton campaign so that Hillary Clinton can continue to pay for "media buys" to advertise in states where she is in a tight contest with Barack Obama.

An employee of an event production company Forty Two of Youngstown, Ohio, says, "I feel insulted by the way that the campaign treated this company and treated us personally."

The employee also adds, "We worked very hard to put together these events on a moment’s notice and do absolutely everything to a ‘t’ to make it look perfect on television for her and for her campaign. Sen. Clinton talks about helping working families, people in unions and small businesses. But when it comes down to actually doing something that shows that she can back up her words with action, she fails."

Hillary Clinton, the woman that prides herself for her agenda for the common good, prides herself of being willing to take from the rich to give back to the working class, is now refusing to pay that same working class for services rendered to her and her campaign and not even offering the respect of returning their calls.

Jim Phillips, the owner of Show Tyme Exhibits, who has political events for years and had never had problems getting paid before Clinton, is only owed $607.00 and says ,"It was only $607, but I’m a small guy; I could use that", and although he is willing to wait for his money he says he regrets voting for Hillary Clinton and would be reluctant to work for her again.

Some of these people are not huge organizations, they are small business owners and they are getting the shaft from the Clinton campaign in a time where money for services rendered is very important.

Despite her campaigns inability to pay their bills in a timely manner, Hillary Clinton vows, via the Washington Post, to stay in the race, all the way until the August Democratic Convention.

UPDATE: This really has to be read to be believed. Included in these debts, from the queen of Hillarycare is her neglecting to pay her staff's healthcare premiums.

Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out.


The campaign claims they have now been paid and it will be reflected in the report the campaign will file this month with the Federal Election Commission.

Unreal.

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