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7A NEWS/tCte qwrlotte $iMit Thursday, February 26, 2004 Despite peer shewing, Shaimen vows to slay course Continued from page 1A haps the biggest critic has been University of Maryland political scientist Ron Walters, who has supported the idea of a Sharpton presi dential candidacy but rejects his association with Right wingers. “It damaged his credibility in the eyes of a lot of people,” Walters says of the Sharpton-Stone association. Walters says it appears that Sharpton is being used as a pawn by Republicans intent on disrupting a Democratic challenge to George W. Bush. Sharpton sharply dis agrees. “If the Republican Party was going to try to influence me, one, I wouldn’t need any money. They would be putting up the money,” he says. ‘Two, they would be trying to get me to run as an independent because then I would be taking votes from the Democrats. Why would they want me to run in the Democratic primary, com mitted to supporting the winner if I don’t win and helping to bring in new vot ers?” Sharpton says Stone and his associates did rvrite him campaign checks, but no more than four or five small contributions. “Tie and some people wrote $250 checks, yeah, but I raised $400,000. For him and four or five other people to write $250 checks, that’s like someone tinkling in the Hudson River. How does that finance my campaign?” he says. “Black people have got the sense to know that $250 ain’t gonna buy A1 Sharpton.” The latest Federal Election Commission report shows that Sharpton has campaign debts of $485,969, including $55,000 owed former cam paign manager Frank Watkins. As of Jan. 31, Sharpton’s campaign had just $1,039 in the bank, the FEC said. Sharpton says his primary fundraisers have been Black media moguls, Cathy Hughes, Earl Graves and Bob Johnson, all three of whom were listed as spon sors of a Washington, D.C. reception for Sharpton in the early months of his cam paign. However, Sharpton also acknowledged that Stone had a hand in raising money through business associates for his separate non-profit organization, the National Action Network. Those amormts vrill become public when the organization files its annual report. He argues that no one . questions the fimdraising of other candidates. “I guaran tee you that [presidential candidates] John Edwards and John Kerry gets more Republican money than I could ever coimt. Certainly a lot more than $250.” Walters scoffs that it’s not different standards - just dif ferent constituencies. “Forget about Kerry and Edwards. A1 Sharpton pre tends to represent the inter ests of the Black communi ty,” Walters says. “You can’t do that in this kind of a ball game and not expect to be questioned on it. Either he doesn’t know where he is or he simply does not get it.” Walters adds there is a dif ference between taking Republican money or advice and taking money and advice from Right-wing con servatives. “There are a lot of Republicans who don’t have a spear out for the Democratic Party,” Walters says. “Roger Stone is part of the conservative movement. And he’s a bona fide part of that movement. That move ment is not good for Black people and he is trying to kill the Democratic Party through A1 Sharpton.” Sharpton’s former cam paign manager, Frank Watkins, who quit the cam paign after seven months, agrees. “Roger Stone’s name came up only one time while I was there. And I indicated to Sharpton that I hope that he was not in any way involved in the campaign because he was basically an extreme Right-wing sleaze ball is what I said to him,” Watkins recalls. “I can’t remember whether it was before or after I had that conversation that I had one press inquiry asking me if Roger Stone was involved in the cam paign and I said he was absolutely not because I had been assured by A1 that he was not.” Watkins declined to com ment on the subsequent dis closure that Stone was more involved with the Sharpton campaign than he had been aware. “I still like Rev. Sharpton. I think he has made some pos itive contributions to the Democratic Party through the debates, through his speeches and sermons in churches,” he says. “I’m not trying to damage his cam paign in any way. And I wish him all the best.” Meanwhile, Sharpton is moving ahead with his cam paign, vowing to stay in until the Democratic National Convention in July. “I expect to be put in nomi nation because I have dele gates,” he says. At the beginning of this week, Sharpton had only 16 of the 2,162 delegates need ed to win the Democratic nomination. Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) had 613. John Edwards (N.C.) had 192 and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) had two. Sharpton says he expects to win more in the Super Tliesday primaries, which will include 10 states on March 2, including California and New York. ‘You still have Illinois. You stiU have Texas. You still have Alabama. Three-quar ters of Black America hasn’t even voted yet,” says Sharpton. African-Americans made up almost half of the elec torate in South Carolina yet Sharpton got only 18 percent of the Black vote there, according to exit polls. “We had hoped to get all we could. We didn’t get all we wanted, but we got a lot more than critics even thought we’d get,” Sharpton says. “We’re not comparing Keny with Bush yet, we’re comparing him to Sharpton,” he says, referring to himself in the third person. “And the issue is, does Black America want to now say. We do not want leverage at the conven tion. We will go with whatev er liberal we think is going to win?’ And if we are saying that, then we will say we no longer believe in empower ment. We would be saying we don’t need a Black Caucus. We don’t need noth ing. Let’s just let liberals run everything from now on.” “Count on us for Quality At A Low Price” KEZIAH FUNITURE Gee, mom says she may... Need Cash Til Pay Day! So, that’s easy:... She can go to... 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