It’s routine for high-profile political figures to appear at fundraisers on behalf of congressional candidates nationwide. It tends to be pretty beneficial for everyone — the candidate benefits (he/she gets money and the credibility that comes with the association) and the VIP benefits (he/she helps the party, boosts his/her visibility, and knows that the candidate now owes him/her a favor).
But Rudy Giuliani, always the entrepreneur, has a twist on this old model.
With the Republican Party in need of money for the November elections, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has offered to appear at fund-raisers around the country for G.O.P. candidates. But there is a catch: He wants some cash out of the deal.
Mr. Giuliani’s aides have told the National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional candidates that if he makes an appearance, he wants the candidates to help him get rid of his presidential campaign debt.
The unusual request underscores the financial predicament Mr. Giuliani finds himself in, after he ended his presidential bid this year with roughly $3.6 million in campaign debt. Traditionally, prominent party figures help lower-tier candidates by headlining fund-raising events in return for good will and future political alliances, but do not receive funds themselves.
It’s quite a scheme Giuliani is pushing here. The former mayor will show up for your event, and help you raise money, but he expects a piece of the action for himself. Just a little something off the top.
Oddly enough, down-ballot Republicans are less than thrilled by the strings that come attached to a Giuliani fundraiser. “In a year when our candidates are struggling to raise money, this is just another burden,” a leading party strategist told the NYT. “This is not about helping the party. This is about helping Rudy Giuliani.”
You don’t say.
Giuliani’s greed, in this case, is prompted by a fairly straightforward problem — he invested heavily in his own humiliating presidential campaign, and his debts are considerable.
Mr. Giuliani’s debt includes a $500,000 personal loan that he made to the campaign, according to his latest campaign finance report. […]
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.
So, to summarize, Giuliani, the multi-millionaire, doesn’t want to get stuck taking a half-million dollar loss, so he expects the congressional candidates he helps to give him some of the money he helps them raise.
If Giuliani is planning another run for public office someday, this probably isn’t the most effective way of generating support from the Republican establishment.