We haven’t had Rudy Giuliani to kick around for a while. But Rudy seems intent on throwing us a bone.
The Times reports that with the GOP for once running seriously behind Democrats in campaign fundraising, Giuliani is offering to hold fundraisers for down-ticket Republicans. But with an important catch — he gets to keep part of the haul for himself.
Rudy has $3.6 million in campaign debt from his historically catastrophic campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. And while the precise modalities aren’t completely clear, Giuliani is telling Republicans candidates that for him to come to headline a fundraiser to raise money for them — some of the cash has to be set aside to help him retire his campaign debt.
The article contains quotes from various Republicans operatives who seem to think Giuliani is a self-serving schmuck. But the kicker comes in this passage toward the end of the piece …
The fact that Mr. Giuliani — who had an estimated net worth of at least $30 million in 2006, according to financial disclosure forms filed last year — has loaned his campaign money gives the fund-raising a particular urgency. Candidates generally have unlimited time to pay off campaign debt. But if any portion of a personal loan to a campaign is unpaid by the end of an election cycle, the maximum amount that can be repaid with money raised after that is $250,000, according to Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission.
That means that Mr. Giuliani could have to forgive all or part of his $500,000 loan if he does not raise the funds to pay it back before September, when Senator John McCain is formally chosen as the Republican presidential nominee, officially ending the primary elections
That is tough, isn’t it? $30 million Rudy is faced with the prospect of having to take a loss of as much as $250,000 unless he can find local Republican givers who’ll give him a chunk of the money they’ve set aside for funding the party’s candidates.
