Hillary Clinton reportedly received a cash infusion after winning the Pennsylvania Primary by 9 points. Within a day after winning, Hillary Clinton reported taking in donations of $10 million.
Looking at the Hillary Clinton Debt by Vendor report from the FEC, I was surprised to see Mark Penn’s company as the highest campaign expense, despite "being fired", or at least asked to step down as Chief Campaign Strategist.
After Mark Penn had been caught lobbying for the Columbian Free Trade Agreement, he thought that he could maintain his position in the Clinton campaign by saying that he had committed an error.
After stating that his support for the Columbian Free Trade Agreements was a mistake, the Columbians were then offended, and promptly fired Mark Penn. That was not exactly the best example of professional strategy and decision-making, despite that being his role in the Clinton camp.
Apparently to avoid further embarrassment to himself and the Clinton campaign, Penn stepped down as chief strategist for Hillary Clinton on the weekend of April 6, 2008.
Campaign manager Maggie Williams then issued a statement:
After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.
Geoff Garin and Howard Wolfson will coordinate the campaign's strategic message team going forward.
We were led to believe that Mark Penn's firm's role in the campaign would be diminished. However, looking at what his company is owed in April 2008, a whopping $4,577,820.61, it would seem otherwise.
You can follow the link below to the listings, but apparently, he is still more involved with her campaign than what we have been led to believe. I think it is possible that he is still acting as the chief campaign strategist, but is not doing any work that is publicly-facing.
Debts by Vendor for Hillary Clinton Campaign, April 2008
Cross-posted to my blog, Stop Hillary McClinton.com
Update: Just for the record, Mark Penn's firm charged $2,492,680.00 in March, 2008, and $2,106,900.00 in February, 2008.