Can anyone tell me why?!

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Washington Times - Friday, March 1, 2013

DNC won’t repay Duke Energy for Charlotte convention costs

The Democratic National Committee has no plans to repay Duke Energy for an unprecedented $10 million line of credit it guaranteed to help the Democratic convention’s local host committee put on President Obama’s three-day nominating convention in Charlotte, N.C., last September.

A Duke company official said the company was claiming the money as a business expense for tax purposes, meaning shareholders will foot $6 million of the cost, according to a report in the Charlotte Observer.

The large loan and the secrecy surrounding it have government watchdog groups deeply concerned. They say the arrangement raises serious conflict-of-interest issues for Mr. Obama and challenges his claim to be committed to disclosure and transparency.

Since guaranteeing the loan, Duke Energy previously had refused to disclose the payment terms or when it would come due. At the end of January a Duke Energy spokesman referred all questions about the loan to Dan Murrey, a surgeon in Charlotte who was chairman of the convention host committee.

Mr. Murrey told The Washington Times only that the line of credit was with two banks — Bank of America and Mechanics & Farmers Bank, which is headquartered in Charlotte. Duke Energy had guaranteed the line of credit.

“We are still finishing up some collections and disbursements related to the convention, and the account is still open,” Mr. Murrey wrote in an emailed response.

He did not respond to questions about the terms of the loan, how much had been paid off, or whether the host committee must make monthly payments with a deadline for full repayment.

A follow-up email restating the questions went unanswered.

The Charlotte host committee is a separate organization that is affiliated with the DNC.

The White House originally had banned any corporate donations to the convention, but with Democratic donors focused on giving to the most expensive presidential campaign in history, the Charlotte host committee organizing the convention struggled to raise money and reversed course.

Duke Energy is based in Charlotte and its CEO, Jim Rogers, has said supporting the convention helped promote the city before an international audience, and in turn, was good for Duke. He said he would have done the same for a Republican convention.

“At the end of the day, we’ll do our best to get our money back,” he told the Charlotte Observer in a January interview. “But if we don’t, it’s just a contribution we’re making I think for the greater good of our community.”

More > > >

I'm reserving judgment until we learn the rest of the story ~ the Washington Times has a VERY "iffy" reputation, and I wouldn't take anything it published at face value ~

Sooz

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/0 ... 91867.html

New York Times:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013 ... ns-unpaid/

Charlotte Observer:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/0 ... -from.html

Free Beacon:
http://freebeacon.com/duke-energy-loan- ... ft-to-dnc/

National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/34 ... rew-stiles

What a difference a headline makes.
From Huff Po: Duke Energy To Forgive $10 Million Line Of Credit To DNC

They're forgiving the loan because the Democrats won't pay them back.

Why won't the Democrats pay them back? Do you think it's right that the Democrats won't pay them back?

From Washington Times article:

Seems like a very noble gesture.

I was disappointed when the DNC accepted corporate sponsorship ~ I'm guessing the DNC doesn't have the money to repay the loan, but we still don't have the DNC side of the story ~ the HuffPo link says the loan is forgiven ~ the NYT link says the loan is not expiring for another month ~ why "forgive" a loan before expiration? ~ every time anyone "guarantees" a loan, it's a gamble ~ obviously, Duke Energy felt the rewards [beyond repayment] of the gamble were worth the gamble itself ~

I pay my debts and I believe everyone should pay their debts ~ but the tax write-off to Duke is likely worth more than the $10M ~ for all we know, the "forgiveness" may have been part of the original deal ~

Sooz

P.S. Scifi, you might want to edit the thread title to reflect $10M, not $10 ~

We don't know the whole story. The OP and a couple of other articles make it sound like the DNC was asked to pay it back and outright refused to do so.

For all we know, the DNC talked with Duke Energy and worked out a deal that was beneficial to both.That would explain the "forgiven" part. Or, as sooz said, it was part of the deal to begin with.

I'd like to hear the story from the DNC.

LOL! I WOULD be pissed if they refused to pay a $10 debt!

It wasn't Obama's three- day "nominating convention." It was the DNC's three day nominating convention, and for as long as I can remember, there has always been fierce competition between various cities to get the major political parties to hold the conventions in THEIR cities.

Like major sports events and major religious events, major political events bring into the location licensing fees for vendors, plus the need for additional help in restaurants, hotels, brothels, bars, etc. The city that hosts such events makes a great deal of money off of licensing and taxes due to the influx off participants, and the service personnel who come into the city.

It is not the first time a city accepts to debt as absorbable due to the huge increase in revenue the event brings to their city and State.

I think it is absolutely absurd to pull the simpering, tissue wiping at the eyes and nose, whining about "Obama's three day nominating convention." Sounds like the "church lady" on SNL. This is business as usual, and some jackasses have decided to scrape some of the excess bullshit off their shoe soles, or from between their toes and start throwing it around, hoping some of it will stick.

Fer chrissake, we have much more important things to worry about than some little twaddle that is obviously being overplayed for political purposes.

Spend some time worrying about how we are going to be eating and keeping warm next winter. Spend some time wondering how we're going to have more than half our population having to worry about losing jobs, or income, or health insurance, or parents, or sick children, or an entire schoolhouse full of kids to some overzealous "saviour." This country is freakin' nuts. This kind of assinine hyping of completely boring, non-newsworthy, revved up nothing news, is disgusting.

Oh, yeah? Well, I don't think a whole hell of a lot more of your qualifications either.

jd

BAM!

yeah. jd is the shit.

Sorry about the double posting. I have tried to delete the first one, which was not visible last night, so I thought it hadn't posted. Sooz, I would appreciate it if you would delete one of these posts as they are obviously duplicates. Thank you very much. Bye, bye.

Thanks, Mac. I'm actually the shinola. Surprised you can't tell the difference. lol

jd