This post first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 8, 2008 - Fred Baron - a well-known toxic torts trial lawyer from Dallas - told the Dallas Morning News that he had paid for housing and relocation expenses for Rielle Hunter, the videographer John Edwards admits was his mistress.
Baron says the money was his own and that he made the payments because Hunter and former Edwards' campaign aide Andrew Young were being hounded by tabloid reporters. Young says that Hunter's child - whom Edwards denies fathering - is his. (This is not the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.)
The newspaper quotes Baron saying: “The money was purely and simply to get them out of North Carolina and to get them into a stable place. They were unable to afford a second home. It was to give them the ability to live somewhere where they wouldn't be harassed."
Baron wouldn't say how much money he had spent, but did say that Edwards didn't know about the payments. Edwards also said he didn't know about the payments. News accounts, including one in the New York Times, report that Hunter and her baby live in a Santa Barbara, Ca. home worth $3 million and Young in a Santa Barbara home worth $5.4 million.
The Times story reports that Edwards borrowed Baron's jet during the campaign and received reimbursements from campaign funds. It reports that Baron received 128 payments from the campaign totaling $1.1 million. Edwards' political action committee also reportedly paid more than $100,000 in 2006 and 2007 to a firm run by Hunter. She was preparing videos that were supposed to be used in the campaign.
The Dallas Morning News describes Baron as one of the leading Democratic fundraisers in the country and a leading figure in the attempt to revive the party in Texas.
Baron helped build the law firm of Baron & Budd into a leader in the toxic tort field, specializing in asbestos cases. He and his wife, Lisa Blue, left the firm several years ago and ended in litigation in which their old partners accused them of breach of contract for joining with other trial lawyers in Vioxx litigation. Baron and Blue also formed the Baron & Blue Foundation focusing on housing issues.
There was much speculation that the Edwards admission was timed on a Friday night at the start of the Olympics in hopes it would soon be overtaken by other news. But, with the Democratic National Convention two weeks away, Barack Obama was under pressure to make a statement.
There is an interesting journalism angle to this story. The news of the affair was reported in the tabloid National Enquirer as early as last fall and it circulated on the Internet before it was reported in the mainstream press. The story took on new life when the Enquirer reported recently that Edwards had met with Hunter and the baby in a hotel room.