From the NY Times:

Mr. Edwards, who reported this year that he had assets of nearly $30 million, came up with a novel solution, creating a nonprofit organization with the stated mission of fighting poverty. The organization, the Center for Promise and Opportunity, raised $1.3 million in 2005, and — unlike a sister charity he created to raise scholarship money for poor students — the main beneficiary of the center’s fund-raising was Mr. Edwards himself, tax filings show.

Does this really surprise anybody (other than the Nutroots)?

The Silk Pony is the poster boy (along with Al “Hot Air” Gore) for Do-As-I-Say_and_Not-As-I-Do politics.

The organization became a big part of a shadow political apparatus for Mr. Edwards after his defeat as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 and before the start of his presidential bid this time around. Its officers were members of his political staff, and it helped pay for his nearly constant travel, including to early primary states.

While Mr. Edwards said the organization’s purpose was “making the eradication of poverty the cause of this generation,” its federal filings say it financed “retreats and seminars” with foreign policy experts on Iraq and national security issues. Unlike the scholarship charity, donations to it were not tax deductible, and, significantly, it did not have to disclose its donors — as political action committees and other political fund-raising vehicles do — and there were no limits on the size of individual donations.

This shady stunt amounts to little more than stealing from the poor whom he pays lip service to helping.

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Tom Bevan at Real Clear Politics defends Edwards:

Okay, fine. But Edwards’ establishment of the non-profit was clearly within the law, and neither the Times nor anyone else provides proof that Edwards has violated any laws with respect to the running of the organization – no matter how complex or arcane those laws might be.

Something doesn’t have to be illegal to be unethical and immoral. This one just doesn’t pass the smell test.

Captain Ed gets it:

Edwards used the poor as a Trojan horse to rake in an untold amount of money away from the prying eyes of the FEC. Instead of spending it on those he champions from the stump, he spent it on foreign-policy retreats. That has the obvious intention of bolstering his gravitas for another presidential run — and doing so in a sneaky, underhanded manner.

Not only did he do that, but he also used the organization to keep his political team together between elections.

Glenn Reynolds:

I think there are two Americas: Those who manage to enrich themselves by exploiting legal technicalities, and those who do not.

Once a shifty lawyer, always a shifty lawyer (not Glenn, who’s  a Law Prof from Tennessee).