For those who were wondering -- yes, Hillary repaid herself the loan

[Yael]

Someone challenged me in another thread last week that Hillary may not pay back the loan with donations and just keep it in the campaign funds as opposed to replenishing her savings. Just saw this today.

LA Times:

Clinton has raised about $130 million, but she was recently compelled to loan her campaign $5 million out of her personal funds. (The campaign has since paid it back.)

Emphasis mine

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-hillary11feb11,0,7562049.story

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. Yup, my donation was meant to pay HRC back. It's not just her campaign n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. So why not just send her money?

:shrug:

[Fredda Weinberg]

14. Because together, we make a powerful political statement

My relationship w/HRC isn't personal ... I don't need a role model. I accept her political leadership because she's willing to assume responsiblity. Sending her a personal gift doesn't mean anything to those who need social services.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Indeed.

Clinton's money problems realyl do make a powerful political statement.

[Fredda Weinberg]

17. And so does the public response. All she had to do was ask n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. I'll say.

Just look at that response in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana and the Virgin Islands.

[Fredda Weinberg]

19. and California and New York. Let's wait for Texas and Pennsylvania n/t

[Yael]

4. Roger that!

:thumbsup:

Wasn't meaning to pick at scabs. I was asked to prove she was planning to pay it and just now saw a reference to that.

[Kittycat]

2. No surprise, I read early after this came out, that was her intention.

I can't believe someone was challenging you on that?!?!

[JPZenger]

8. They need to pay Mark Penn another $1.5 million

The Clinton campaign is paying Mark Penn's company $5.3 million so far. Last I read, they still owed him about $1.5 million out of that total. Keep sending those donations so Penn can collect all of his cash.

[Yael]

9. I was maintaining that it was on the books as campaign debt

and the argument was that no one knew whether she would pay it back or write it off.

We have the answer.

[thereismore]

5. Well it's her money, but did she tell her supporters she will stuff their

donations into her own bank account? She said it was a loan, but I did not think she would put it back so fast.

[Yael]

6. Lost interest

[pnwmom]

21. Show me a donator to her campaign who cares about this. This is all

just a trumped up issue of Obama's supporters.

She didn't stuff donations into her bank account. She had a cash-flow problem that she solved by donating her own funds to her campaign, then accepting repayment when her campaign could do so.

Not a big deal or uncommon at all.

[DS1]

7. with interest?

:hide:

[pnwmom]

23. Turns out she hasn't paid herself back after all. The OP was wrong. n/t

[Big Blue Marble]

10. Actually, the article has been edited to say the loan was not paid back.

"FOR THE RECORD:
Clinton's campaign: An article in Monday's Section A about changes that Hillary Rodham Clinton is making amid a tight Democratic presidential race said the campaign had repaid a $5-million loan from the candidate. The loan has not been repaid. —"

That makes more sense. She needs every dime she can scrap together right now.

Also, paying herself back would look like she is quitting sooner rather than later.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-hillary11feb11,0,7562049.story

[Yael]

12. I thought it was kind of harsh that it would be paid off that quickly

[pnwmom]

22. Thank you for your sharp eyes. Unfortunately, the false rumors will

continue to propagate, here on DU and elsewhere.

[hedda_foil]

11. That's not the way it's usually done.

Candidates who loan their campaigns money don't repay those loans until the end of the campaign -- if ever. More often than not, they forgive the loan in the end. The fact that Hillary used the $10 million she received from small donors to repay herself first, rather than using all of the money to campaign in the states she ignored, makes me throw up in my mouth a little. Maybe the people who donated small amounts to keep the campaign going don't mind that they were paying Hillary back instead of contributing to the campaign, but with all the money Bill and Hillary have made since he left the presidency, you'd think she'd keep her money in the campaign just for the sake of appearances.

[Yael]

13. See post 10 -- that may be the case

They don't have to report again until the end of March -- so who knows.

Someone told the Times that she paid it back.

[COFoothills]

16. So what...

...the damage was done by the fact that she had to make the loan in the first place.

[pnwmom]

20. What difference does it make WHEN she paid it back? It was a loan, not a gift.

Of course it had to be paid back sooner or later. Federal campaign laws require this. And I've yet to hear a Hillary donator object to this -- only Obama people who are looking for a way to criticize her.

I absolutely don't understand this whole ruckus, unless it's coming from naive people who've never watched a campaign before, or Obama supporters who are trying to mislead the naive.

Candidates with assets frequently lend their campaigns money to get over cash-flow problems. And their campaigns pay them back. Big deal.