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RandySF

(59,279 posts)
Sun Sep 20, 2015, 10:23 PM Sep 2015

Multimillionaire Carly Fiorina Took 4 Years to Pay Staffers From Her Last Campaign

Carly Fiorina, the Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO, is marketing herself as a pragmatic, fiscally responsible businesswoman—the only GOP candidate who knows, as she says, "how the economy actually works." Yet during her unsuccessful US Senate bid in 2010, her opponents slammed her record at HP. When she led the firm, it laid off 18,000 workers, and its stock declined by 41 percent. Eventually, she was forced out of the company but departed with a $21 million golden parachute. Now she may need to answer for another managerial blunder. For more than four years, she was a deadbeat and didn't pay the bills she owed for her Senate campaign. She only settled these outstanding debts just before she jumped into the 2016 race.

Until late last year, Fiorina was close to $500,000 in debt from her 2010 run, nearly all of it in unpaid compensation to campaign staffers and outside consultants, according to Federal Election Commission filings. In 2013, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Fiorina owed serious cash to former campaign operatives, several of whom were unsure about when they would be paid for their work. And they complained they were not getting clear information from Fiorina about when she would get them their money. At that time, she owed $60,000 to her 2010 campaign manager, Marty Wilson; $20,500 to Beth Miller, a consultant and former aide to California Gov. Pete Wilson; and $30,000 to the firm of veteran GOP political consultant Joe Shumate.

Shumate, who also worked for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, died suddenly during Fiorina's Senate race. John Allan Peschong, another adviser whom the campaign owed money, told the Chronicle, "I would hope that Carly Fiorina would pay his widow the money that was owed him at the time of his death." Wilson, Fiorina's campaign manager, said in 2013 that he didn't recall if he "got that granular" with Fiorina regarding the campaign's mounting debt near the finish line. Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that the compensation delay had left her former staffers bitter.....

But the matter wasn't settled until Fiorina, who lost her Senate race by 10 points to incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, was on the cusp of a new political endeavor. In January, Fiorina—whose own wealth is estimated up to $120 million—personally donated $487,000 to her Senate campaign, and then she made good on the back pay, including the money owed to Shumate's family, according to a February 2015 Federal Election Commission filing. Two months later, she officially entered the presidential race.


http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/carly-fiorina-campaign-debt-senate-2016

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Joanie Baloney

(1,357 posts)
3. She certainly knows how the economy works
Sun Sep 20, 2015, 11:19 PM
Sep 2015

She knows how to screw people over and make it work for her benefit. What a slimeball and that's an insult to slimeballs everywhere. I actually would love to see a one-on-one debate between her and Trump.

-JB

 

riderinthestorm

(23,272 posts)
4. How much interest/profit did she earn on $500k in the past 5 yrs of economic recovery?
Sun Sep 20, 2015, 11:23 PM
Sep 2015

while her former staff got to reap ZERO reward from the bull run.

They simply got their back pay. Five years too late.

Disgusting

Takket

(21,635 posts)
6. a republican is more worried about their personal fortune...
Sun Sep 20, 2015, 11:42 PM
Sep 2015

Than all the people they exploited to get power? GET OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!!!! I'm stunned!

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
7. Sounds like singer Melanie (Brand New Key)
Sun Sep 20, 2015, 11:55 PM
Sep 2015

This is entirely hearsay, but it's from the guy who was my medic in Vietnam, so I trust it.

After VN my medic played bass guitar backing Melanie on two overseas tours. He told me that he and the other backup musicians never got paid for their work.

"I got a brand new pair of roller skates, you're never gonna get paid..."


NBachers

(17,149 posts)
8. After the recording & promotional agencies took their cut, there probably wasn't anything left over.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 02:27 AM
Sep 2015

I can't cry for the entertainment conglomerates when they go into their poor victimized routines. They've stolen more from their artists than anyone.

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
10. Yeah, I don't think stiffing the musicians is necessarily the artist's fault
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 02:39 AM
Sep 2015

The artists are at the mercy of the "higher powers" in a cutthroat business. Morality need not apply.

NBachers

(17,149 posts)
11. Curious, I looked her up; found a hoax site stating she's the highest paid singer in the world.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 02:45 AM
Sep 2015

I was able to determine it was a satire site before I posted the link and information. But, she's still performing in significant venues, and has continued to put out songs. She seems to have a solid fan base, and to put on good shows.

pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
12. I don't doubt it
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 02:52 AM
Sep 2015

I always hated 'Brand New Key,' but there's no question that Melanie has a lot of devoted fans. I think even my medic still likes her.

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