Big Al Sharpton scores big in walking around money

"The Democratic National Committee paid Sharpton $86,715 in travel and consulting fees to compensate for his campaigning for Kerry and other Democratic candidates, according to reports to the Federal Election Commission."

It is traditional in democratic party politics to offer "walking around money" to encourage minority voters to vote the party ticket. Ususually, this is a few dollars, enough for a pack of cigarettes or a beer or two. But Al Sharpton apparently scored big in garnering almost $90,000 in what can fairly be characterized as walking around money from the democratic party.

When Sharpton was running himself (and even while his opponents (other than John Kerry) were pinching pennies, he was well known for spending his contributor's money (and federal matching funds) by staying at the best hotels and eating at the best restaurants. With his big score from the DNC, one can assume that Al continued to live the good life while exhorting minority voters to support Kerry.

It would be interesting to see how much in "travel and expenses" the "band of brothers" who butressed Kerry's Vietnam war claims were paid.