Baron, wife and firm gave nearly $7 million, analysis shows

Dallas attorney and Democratic campaign rainmaker Fred Baron has burst into the news this month, caught in a media maelstrom after he admitted making secret payouts to a pregnant woman who was one-time Presidential hopeful John Edwards’ mistress.

Now, some Republicans hope to get Democratic candidates to return what they say is Baron’s tainted money – just like many GOP candidates did with Enron CEO and chairman Ken Lay’s campaign cash when challenged by Democrats in the wake of the Enron collapse and Lay’s indictment.

The call to return campaign contributions will be done through a Web site, www.givethemoneyback.com, which launched this week.

It’s easy to see why Republicans want to shut off the Baron campaign-finance spigot.

Baron, his wife and his law firm have written checks to campaigns totaling nearly $6.9 million, according to a TexasWatchdog ongoing analysis of state and federal campaign disclosure records from the Texas Ethics Commission and the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics and Center for Public Integrity. (Readers can see and do their own analysis of Baron-related political donations via this Texas Watchdog Google spreadsheet.)





This appears to be the first time that campaign contributions connected to Baron have been tallied as a whole. The vast majority of that money went to Democrats or to like-minded causes and candidates. This total may, however, be a drop in the bucket. It does not include Baron’s donations to nonprofit groups that advocate for political changes, such as the progressive group MoveOn.org.

And the almost $7 million doesn't include campaign contributions Baron influenced as president and member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, now renamed as the American Association for Justice. This organization – dominated by plaintiffs’ attorneys – is one the largest donors to federal candidates, almost all of them Democrats.

Another reason Republicans may want opposing candidates to return Baron’s money is that he’s shown a certain swagger with his giving. In 2002, a Wall Street Journal columnist reported that Baron told a seminar of the trial lawyers' group that he objected to an editorial in the paper claiming that “‘the plaintiffs bar is all but running the Senate.’ Baron pointed to the editorial and said, ‘Now I really, strongly disagree with that. Particularly the ‘all but.’”

When contacted at his home, an assistant said Baron was out of town. Messages left at his home and at his law firm have not been returned.

Baron's reach



It’s difficult to overstate Baron’s importance to Democrats in Texas and to those in Washington. In addition to serving as John Edwards’ 2004 and2008 presidential campaign finance chairman, he’s thrown jaw-dropping sums of money into other political races.

He’s credited with helping the Democrats take over the U.S. Senate two years ago, as well as transforming Dallas County government to a Democratic-controlled body, wresting it away from the GOP.

“I credit Fred and Fred's energy with helping get the state Democratic Party back on the road to revival,” said Ken Molberg, a senior member of the state Democratic executive committee and a former Dallas County party chairman. “It's something he did not have to do and, most certainly in my view, he did it based on his own belief system that they needed to be a viable state party.”

Baron wasn’t really known outside Texas circles until the Edwards’ affair blowup.

But he's well known here in Texas: He was in the center of controversy in 2001 when the Dallas Observer broke a story about a memorandum that in 1997 was mistakenly handed over to opposing counsel: “The 20-page memo instructed these mostly elderly workers never to testify that they saw warning labels on asbestos packages or knew it was dangerous and gave firm directions on how to testify about their exposure to asbestos products in ways to make their cases better.”

Baron claimed the memo was the handiwork of a paralegal with an axe to grind.

And Baron doesn’t just sue those he believes expose folks to asbestos.

He and his wife sued Baron & Budd, his law firm. Baron sold his interest in the firm in 2002 and filed suit saying, essentially, that the firm short-changed him.

And he’s sued his own son. Baron is trying to get a $810,000 loan back from his son who used it to launch rocketboom.com, an Internet news and video channel based in New York.

In the national spotlight

After Edwards admitted to the affair with Rielle Hunter, Baron told The Dallas Morning News that he paid for Hunter to leave Chapel Hill – where Baron also has a home, according to Orange County, N.C., property records.

Hunter’s daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, was born Feb. 27 this year, and no father's name is given on the birth certificate filed in California. Edwards, in an interview with ABC News, offered to betested to prove that he isn't the father. Edwards also said his wife's cancer -- widely reported in the media -- was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter.

Baron also said he paid for the relocation of a top Edwards aide, Andrew Young, who says he is the father of the child.

The reason for Baron shelling out money for the relocation? Young and Hunter were being dogged by tabloid reporters chasing rumors of the affair and pregnancy, according to the initial interview.

"I made a decision on my own, without talking to Edwards or anybody, to try to help them move to a community to try to get away from those folks," Baron told the DMN. He said he used his own money –not campaign funds – but did not disclose how much he provided. Both Hunter, who now lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Young worked under Baron for the campaign.

Critics say this raises all kinds of questions.

“John Edwards' affair on his cancer-stricken wife and Fred Baron’s apparent attempt to silence Edwards' mistress by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on her reeks of the arrogance of two multimillionaire plaintiffs attorneys trying to buy the White House,” said Anthony Holm, an Austin-based GOP political consultant and creator of GivetheMoneyBack.com.

Indeed, Baron initially described the help as a payout from his own pocket. That turned into a “loan” in a later New York Times interview. Some news reports put Hunter's monthly maintenance fees at $15,000 per month. Baron denied the amount is that much but has notdisclosed how much it is.

These payouts could raise serious tax questions for Baron and Edwards. Some legal experts also say this might amount to possible campaign finance violations.

In 2006, Edwards' political action committee paid $100,000 in a four-month span to a newly formed firm run by Hunter, who directed the production offour Web videos showing Edwards in supposedly candid moments, as well as in a speech talking about morality.

Edwards' PAC followed the six-figure payment with two smaller payments totaling $14,461, the last on April 1, 2007.

The relocation payments to Hunter and Young came in late 2007 or very early 2008, according to Baron’s own timeline.

Time will tell whether candidates will return Baron campaign cash. As of now, Baron is still beloved in Democratic circles.

“I do understand, like any other Democratic junkie in Texas, that Mr. Fred Baron is responsible for rebuilding the state Democratic Party with his ideas and financial help," said Jesse Garcia, the president of the Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, an influential gay organization. “And for that, I'm grateful. I have nothing but respect for him.”

Got tips or feedback? Contact Matt Pulle at 615-957-4470 or atmatt@texaswatchdog.org or Trent Seibert at trent@texaswatchdog.org or713-366-3974.

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	With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Fred Baron and Monday, 08/25/2008 - 02:56PM [...] behind the relocation and support of Rielle Hunter, John Edwards’ mistress, and her child. Texas Watchdog reports Baron says he moved both Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young, the man who says he is the father of Hunter’s [...]
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