Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark_H who wrote (1652)	2/11/2004 7:03:04 PM
From: American Spirit	Respond to of 81568

Probably with money. Kerry put every dime he has on this election. He made a good bet. Now that he's going to win he'll be able to raise 200 million bucks. He won't need any personal money. Theresa can pay for the kids, bills and groceries. She can support him until he gets back on his feet financially in 2012 by writing his memoirs.

To: Mark_H who wrote (1652)	2/11/2004 8:33:42 PM
From: PROLIFE	Respond to of 81568

Mortgage payments to bury Kerry? Senator doesn't seem to have easy way to pay off $6.4 million loan Gannett News Service The Associated Press Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry with his wife, Heinz condiments heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry. Kerry's wife has assets valued at more than $500 million, but federal laws prohibit her from contributing more than $2,000 to her husband's campaign. WASHINGTON - Once written off as a Democratic presidential contender, John Kerry survived to become the front-runner, thanks to a $6.4 million Christmas Eve loan he made to his campaign. The loan allowed Kerry's campaign, which was struggling to raise money, to put ads on the air and pay staff until victories in Iowa and New Hampshire produced new funds. But now the loan, which he got using his home in Boston's exclusive Beacon Hill neighborhood as collateral, places a financial burden on the Massachusetts senator, with no easy way to pay it off: Kerry's financial disclosures show no assets sufficient to pay the loan or even to keep up with the interest payments. Aides say he has assets that aren't listed on the forms but decline to reveal them. His wife, heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry, has a fortune estimated at more than $500 million. But the law forbids her from paying off a campaign loan for her husband. If he wins the nomination, Kerry could pay himself back from campaign contributions made before the Democratic convention in late July. But doing so would siphon off money at a time when he would be running against President Bush, who will have a projected $200 million to spend. "There are a limited number of ways he can pay off that loan, and it's a fair question to ask what he intends to do," says Larry Noble, director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which studies money in politics. Kerry borrowed the money Dec. 24 from the Mellon Trust of New England. It is payable over 30 years, with interest-only payments for the first 10 years, at a variable interest rate beginning at 3.125 percent. Kerry's campaign says he intends to pay off the 30-year mortgage, which carries annual interest payments of about $200,000. But that is more than his $158,000 Senate salary and all his other income put together, according to his financial disclosure statement. "Sen. Kerry is a man who has considerable assets," says Michael Meehan, a campaign spokesman. Kerry's government disclosure form, covering 2002, gives no hint of what those assets might be. The form doesn't require disclosure of property that is not held for investment purposes, such as the house in question - a $13 million Boston house Kerry owns jointly with his wife and mortgaged to finance his campaign. Aides hint that Kerry may own other noninvestment property that could be sold to satisfy the debt, but they won't provide details. "He has disclosed what he needs to disclose" under the law, Meehan says. advertisement Kerry's wife has assets valued at more than $500 million, but campaign-finance law bars her from paying off the campaign loan. That would be an illegal contribution; an individual is allowed to give no more than $2,000. If she bought her husband's share of the house back from the bank, "that raises thorny legal issues," Noble says. It would arguably be a back-door evasion of the campaign contribution limits. Before he was married in 1995, Kerry's disclosure forms ranked him as one of the least wealthy members of the Senate. His 1994 form showed a trust fund worth no more than $100,000 and debts of at least $20,000. Since then, he has inherited other trust funds from his mother. Kerry and his wife bought the house together after they were married. It is not clear whether Kerry used his assets to acquire his share of the town house, or whether it was a gift from his wife, whose wealth comes from the Heinz ketchup fortune. The Kerry campaign declines to say. Since his marriage in 1995, Kerry has repeatedly refused to fill in the missing details of his financial holdings. When he renegotiated terms of a divorce from his first wife that year, he took the unusual step of having the court records on his finances sealed. tucsoncitizen.com