Al Sharpton’s 2004 Presidential campaign still carries at least $888,713 in debt.
According to a Tuesday release from the Federal Election Commission, the racial activist — who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 — has failed to make payments on campaign expenses and civil penalties. Fox Business reports that the debt is as high as $925,713.
Fox Business also explains the complicated history of Sharpton’s campaign finances:
By the end of 2004, Sharpton’s campaign owed $567,096.28, only for that number to skyrocket years later when the FEC reached a settlement agreement with Sharpton, his campaign committee and its treasurer, and Sharpton’s National Action Network.
“Sharpton, his presidential campaign committee, Sharpton 2004, and Andrew Rivera, in his official capacity as treasurer, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $208,000 for failing to report accurately all receipts and expenditures, receiving excessive and prohibited in-kind contributions and accepting impermissible corporate contributions,” an April 2009 FEC press release said.
In addition to the $208,000 penalty, the settlement agreement called for Sharpton’s campaign to reimburse the National Action Network $181,115 or pay the U.S. Treasury Department. Sharpton and the National Action Network, which he founded, also agreed to pay a $77,000 penalty “for making prohibited contributions to Sharpton 2004.”
Other expenses listed by the FEC include $25,000 in press relations expenses, $2,400 for campaign video taping services, and salaries for a handful of employees.
Through his National Action Network, Sharpton frequently campaigns for Democratic causes.
As The Daily Wire reported in March, the activist was at the forefront of plans to accuse Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) of racism for refusing to end the filibuster — a Senate rule preventing Democratic lawmakers from enacting President Biden’s agenda.
“The pressure that we are going to put on Sinema and Manchin is calling [the filibuster] racist and saying that they are, in effect, supporting racism,” Sharpton told Politico. “Why would they be wedded to something that has those results? Their voters need to know that.”
Sharpton likewise said that the electoral victories of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) mean that “this country has really come back unto showing that we’re not going backwards to the days of legal apartheid or segregation and divisiveness.”
Last November, reports emerged that Sharpton had paid family members at least $80,000 to work for National Action Network. Roughly one-quarter of the organization’s expenses in 2019 came from travel and transportation — including $777,623 for a high-end car service that the group used to chauffeur employees and welcome conference guests.