Obama and NYC mayor Bill de Blasio helped Al Sharpton raise his profile and lots of money just by associating with him. Keep this in mind the next time income inequality comes up.
The New York Post reports:
Al Sharpton gives himself 71% raise thanks to de Blasio, Obama
It pays to have friends in high places.
Al Sharpton gave himself a 71 percent raise last year after his National Action Network group drew a record $6.9 million in donations — as the controversial cleric’s association with Mayor de Blasio and President Obama lent him a newfound air of legitimacy.
De Blasio’s election gave Sharpton a seat at City Hall, as the mayor treated him as an adviser and presented him at a press event next to Police Commissioner Bill Bratton after the death of Eric Garner.
Also in 2014, Obama addressed NAN’s annual convention, bringing along five of his Cabinet members.
The Harlem-based nonprofit collected $2 million more in 2014 than the year before, according to the latest financial records available.
Sharpton’s pay increased from $241,545 in 2013 to $412,644, including a bonus of $64,400, tax filings obtained by The Post show.
In April, four months after his pal de Blasio took office, some 5,000 people attended NAN’s 2014 conference headlined by Obama and attended by the mayor, Gov. Cuomo and then-US Attorney General Eric Holder. It was NAN’s biggest fund-raiser of the year.
Nice work if you can get it.
(Image:Source)
