The AJC’s front-page story Sunday about Bob Barr’s PAC was a great read and months overdue. Barr has been using the PAC to finance his own career as a speaker and political pundit, but raising the money from donors by telling them they’re advancing conservative causes. The normally media-friendly Barr’s testy answers to the AJC said it all: “I will not be cross-examined” and “next question!” This issue will short-circuit his already-hopeless Libertarian presidential campaign.
The AJC first broached the issue in a “Q&A In the News” brief, when a reader asked about the breakdown of Barr’s PAC. The AJC blandly reported that Barr kept the vast majority of the PAC’s proceeds to pay salary and office expenses. At that point, any news media outlet should have seen the red flag and uncovered what the AJC did Sunday.
Our only complaint is the AJC’s wimpy headline: “Does he spend it wisely?” The real question is whether Barr, a former AJC columnist, was duping contributors and lining his own pockets.
Posted by Steve Barton on May 19, 2008 at 10:01 am
Thanks for the summary of the article. I skipped right past reading it in the paper because of that vague headline. But did the AJC find an unhappy donor?
Posted by Barr’s has a slush fund? | Peach Pundit on May 19, 2008 at 3:15 pm
[...] Here’s the link to Richards’ post. [...]
Posted by Rodney Ho on May 19, 2008 at 9:35 pm
For folks who want to read the story, it’s right here:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2008/05/18/barr.html
And yes, the story quoted a few (very old) donors who plan never to give him a penny ever again.