A federal grand jury is reportedly winding down its investigation into whether former senator John Edwards broke any laws when his political committees made payments to his former mistress, Rielle Hunter. But here’s a random question: why is Edwards, who quit the 2008 Democratic primary almost two years ago, still spending money from his presidential fund-raising accounts? Since January, the John Edwards for President committee along with a separate account, Edwards for President, have spent more than $625,000, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. That’s not much compared to compared to usual Washington standards (A House race, on average, costs $1 million these days). But it’s a significant amount of money when you consider that Edwards hasn’t actively been in the political spotlight for more than a year. He hasn’t been making political appearances on his own or on behalf of other Democrats since August 2008 when he publicly fessed up to an affair with Hunter after months of public denials. So what is he up to?
Edwards had two committees─one, the Edwards for President committee, dates back to his 2004 run, and lists $333,586 in debts from that race, including $65,000 owed to Obama adviser David Axelrod, who worked for Edwards back then. According to FEC reports filed this year, the 2004 committee listed no major receipts or expenditures─just debts. That's not the case with Edwards's other committee, John Edwards for President, which was set up for his 2008 race. It began the year debt-free, but it's still spending money on stuff like staff salaries ($72,000), office supplies and other random costs, including Lexis-Nexis searches ($1,315), Web hosting ($20,645) and cell-phone bills ($10,960). In May, the committee reported spending nearly $5,000 in moving expenses. And that's not all: according to FEC reports, the 2008 committee has spent more than $22,000 in travel costs since January, including $3,800 in stays at the Tabard Inn hotel in Washington last winter. The reports do not list who traveled or why. An Edwards spokesperson did not return calls seeking comment.
It’s not unusual for a former presidential candidate’s FEC committee to remain in business long after a candidate has quit the race. Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign was still registered as an active committee when the former president died in 2004, but it hadn’t listed any major debts or receipts in years. Presumably, Edwards's committees are around, in part, to wrap up final business but some of its payouts are a little unusual for a guy whose personal dramas have presumably put his political career at risk. No doubt some of the committee funds have gone to costs related to the ongoing grand jury investigation into Edwards’s campaign spending. According to filings, Edwards has paid almost $200,000 to the D.C. law firm Utrecht & Phillips this year—most of the money paid out beginning this spring when the grand jury probe began. Luckily for Edwards, there's more money where that came from. According to the FEC, his two committees ended August with more than $3.7 million in the bank.
