Audit: Sharpton campaign owes US nearly $500,000

By DEVLIN BARRETT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal auditors have concluded the Rev. Al Sharpton's 2004 campaign owes the government nearly $500,000 for illegal donations and other financial improprieties. Sharpton has been feuding with the Federal Election Commission for years over his accounting in his failed run for president, for which he received $100,000 in so-called government matching funds that authorities later concluded he did not deserve because he hadn't followed campaign laws.

The auditors have now determined that Sharpton owes $486,803 to the U.S. Treasury because of his campaign's taking improper donations, largely from the National Action Network, a not-for-profit corporation that Sharpton leads but is separate from his campaign committee.

Sharpton will appeal the finding, aides said Friday, which would extend an already years-long fight with the government over how he raised and spent money to run for president.

Audit: Sharpton campaign owes US nearly $500,000....

SHARPTON, MARCHERS PROTEST BELL ACQUITTALS IN NY: Rev. Al promised to 'close this city down' after cops go free.

Al Sharpton fired up a group of protesters in Harlem Saturday with promises to "close this city down" following the acquittals of three police detectives who shot and killed an unarmed groom on his wedding day.


"We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians," Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office. "This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell."


According to the AP, Sharpton's rally at his office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, where some bystanders yelled out "Kill the police!" Fifty of the marchers carried white placards bearing big black numbers for each of the 50 bullets police fired at Bell and his friends.


Also taking part in the rally was a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club.

"They never accused Sean Bell of doing anything. Then why is he dead?" Sharpton asked, his voice roaring with anger. Authorities "have shown now that they will not hold police accountable. Well, guess what? If you won't, we will!"

"Shut it down! Shut it down!" the crowd chanted, standing up and applauding wildly.

Sitting behind Sharpton as he spoke were Bell's parents, his sister and Nicole Paultre Bell, who took her fiance's name after his death.

"The justice system let me down," Paultre Bell told the crowd in a soft voice. "April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again. That's what it felt like to us."

THOUSANDS TO MARCH IN MEMPHIS WITH SHARPTON: Event to mark 40-year observance of MLK Jr's assassination.

New York - Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network (NAN) will lead a historic "Recommitment March" to the Lorraine Motel, the site where Dr. King lost his life 40 years-ago on Friday, April 4th.

Leading the march along with Reverend Sharpton will be Martin Luther King III and many other political, religious, and union leaders.

The "Recommitment March" will serve as an opportunity for people to recommit themselves to fighting for the ideals that Dr. King envisioned 40-years ago.

The march will bring thousands from across the country, young and old, to dedicate, and rededicate themselves to lead the fight for social justice for the next forty years.

According to Rev. Sharpton: "Just as the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty-years after Moses brought them across the Red Sea, Dr. King was our Moses, and forty years later, Martin Luther King, III, I, and many others will commit ourselves to making a better life and community."

The "Recommitment March" will cap a number of important events in Memphis as Reverend Sharpton and National Action Network hosts the 10th annual convention NAN at the Peabody Memphis from April 2nd to April 5th.

The historic gathering will be an impressive who's who in civil rights, business, politics, labor, entertainment and the religious community.

A complete schedule is detailed below:

National Action Network 2008 National Convention:
(April 2, 2008 - April 5, 2008)

Wednesday, April 2nd

10:00am
The State of the Economy: "An economy that works for all"
Chair: AFL-CIO

11:30am
Labor Luncheon (Tickets Required)
Keynote Speaker: John Sweeney, AFL-CIO
Dr. King was in Memphis 40-yrs ago to support a labor strike and Mr. Sweeney comes back 40-years later to assess the labor movement.

2:00pm
National Dialogue: Healthcare
Chair: Tony Wafford, National Action Network
Panel to include Danny Glover and others

3:30pm
National Dialogue: HIV/AIDS
Chair: Tony Wafford, National Action Network

3:30pm
Healthcare in America: "In American no one should go without healthcare"
Chair: AFL-CIO

6:00pm
Keepers of the Dream VIP Reception (tickets required)

7:00pm
Keepers of the Dream Awards Dinner (tickets required)
Host: Mo'Nique
Honorees:
Cicely Tyson, Academy-Award nominated Actress
Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller
Myrlie Evers Williams, Medgar Evers Institute
Earl Graves, Sr., Black Enterprise Magazine
William Lucy, Coalition of Black Trade Unionist
Wyatt Tee Walker, Civil Rights Pioneer
Colgate-Palmolive Company

Thursday, April 3rd
8:00am
Wall Street Breakfast
Special Guest: Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller

9:00am
National Dialogue: Financial Literacy

10:00am
Media Panel
Does the Media cover the issue of race fairly?
Chair: Roland Martin, CNN Correspondent & Host of the Roland S. Martin Show on WVON-AM

10:00am
Equal Justice under the Law: Forty Years Later Where Do We Go?
Chair: Attorney Michael Hardy, General Counsel, National Action Network

12pm-2pm
The Reverend Doctor William A. Jones Memorial Luncheon
Sponsored by the Social Justice Initiative (Invitation Only)

1:00pm
National Dialogue: Ancestry

2:00pm
Town Hall Meeting: Education as a 21st Century Civil Right Issue
New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein, the head of largest school system in America will lead a discussion on how education must become a civil rights campaign with the number of blacks that lag behind whites in educational equity.

2:30pm
National Dialogue: The Black Church
What is the role of the Black Church and what is the proper use of the pulpit in politics and advancing the cause of civil rights?
Chair: Rev. Boise Kimber, National Action Network Social Justice Initiative Director

3-6:00pm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Day Program

3:30pm
Corporate Panel
Despite the fact that many people feel we are beyond race, corporate leaders will talk about the continued challenge to bringing racial equality in the private sector where Blacks are still behind on jobs in executive positions
Chair: Butch Graves, Black Enterprise

8:00pm
Gospel Concert (Tickets Required)
Special Guest: Shirley Caesar & Timothy Wright
Note: Tickets can be purchased online at www.nationalactionnetwork.net

Friday, April 4th

8am-12pm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Day Program

9:00am
Civil Rights Leaders Panel
Major civil rights leaders will give an analysis of whether there has been real racial progress on racial equality in the last 40-yrs and what steps must be taken in the next 40-yrs to bring about true racial equality.
Chair: Marc Morial, National Urban League
Panelists to include: Charles Steele, SCLC, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow Push Coalition
Bill Lucy, Black Trade Unionists, and others

1:00pm
Pre-March rally at City Hall
Main speakers will speak between 3:15 - 4p.m.
Speakers will include: Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King, III, Michael Baisden, Tom Joyner,
Mayor Herenton and others. Pls note: there will be preliminary Speakers between 3:15 - 4p.m.

4:00p.m.
Recommitment March to the Lorraine Motel

5p.m.
Recommitment Ceremony at the Lorraine Motel begins

6:01 p.m.
Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King, III to speak
April 4th Memorial Program at the Lorraine Hotel/Civil Rights Museum

Saturday, April 5th

9:00am
National Action Network Rally featuring Rev. Al Sharpton

12:00pm
The Future of Black Politics

12-4pm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Day Program

2:00pm
National Dialogue: Decency
Chair: Tamika Mallory, Decency Initiative Directory, National Action Network


_________________

The National Action Network was founded as a direct outgrowth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s movement. Reverend Sharpton began his civil rights career as a local youth director for Dr. King's organization and the King family has worked closely with Reverend Sharpton for many years. The late Ms. Coretta Scott King attended the national convention along with members of the King family in previous years and Martin Luther King, III will Chair the convention this year. The National Action Network is a political, social, and activist-oriented organization that was conceived with a focus on action. NAN is headquartered in New York City, with more than 40 national chapters across the country. Please visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net for more

The National Action Network Convention
The Peabody Memphis - 149 Union Avenue

o Media check-in 8 a.m. daily and press identification is required

Join Rev. Sharpton and Martin Luther King, III, Friday, April 4th: "The Recommitment March" marking the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pls. visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net.

SHARPTON CAUGHT ON TAPE CUTTING CAMPAIGN DEAL

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Al Sharpton was caught on tape in 2003 offering to help a fund-raiser win a multimillion-dollar business deal in exchange for helping him raise $50,000 for his presidential campaign.


FBI agents tapping White's phones in 2003 recorded more than 20 conversations between Sharpton and Philadelphia fund-raiser Ronald A. White, most of them related to fund-raising for the presidential campaign and an effort to secure a $40 million pension-fund deal in New York.


Instead of offering to help raise the requested $50,000 for Sharpton's campaign, White offered $25,000, according to the Inquirer.

"If you bring my guys up on this hedge fund, and I have the right conversation," White said on the tape, "I'll give you what you need."

"Cool," Sharpton replied.

The Inquirer obtained an account of the May 9, 2003, conversation, which was recorded as part of the Philadelphia City Hall corruption case. The tape helped spark a separate inquiry into Sharpton's 2004 campaign and his civil-rights organization, the National Action Network. The FBI-IRS probe resurfaced publicly Wednesday, when Sharpton aides received subpoenas.


The video was recorded by an FBI camera hidden in a lamp inside Suite 34A at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan. Sharpton and White were introduced by La-Van Hawkins, a Detroit businessman.

At the time, FBI agents were investigating White and Hawkins, suspecting that they were involved in pay-to-play in Philadelphia - raising campaign funds for Mayor Street and others in order to win municipal contracts for favored donors.

About a year later, White, Hawkins and a dozen others, including former City Treasurer Corey Kemp, were indicted in Philadelphia on federal pay-to-play corruption charges. White died before trial. Hawkins was convicted of fraud and perjury and sentenced to 33 months. Kemp is serving a 10-year sentence for corruption, bribery and fraud.

No charges were brought related to Sharpton or the proposed New York pension-fund deal, which never materialized. However, as The Inquirer reported in 2005, the New York-based investigation of Sharpton has continued. Sources said agents in that case are examining whether Sharpton violated campaign-finance laws or used money donated to his National Action Network for personal use.