As John F. Kerry tries to bounce out of Boston and into a decisive fall campaign lead, a skeleton from the past will slink out of jail - possibly looking to score headlines and undercut the new nominee. David Paul, a central figure in a 1980s savings and loan scandal, is set to be sprung from a halfway house in Miami Sunday - a decade after his conviction on 97 counts of banking fraud.
TV news outlets are scrambling to line up the first interview, hopeful the long-silent Paul might spill some beans about his close fund-raising ties to Kerry during the 1988 national campaigns. David Bossie, who interviewed Paul for a new book that is very critical of Kerry, titled ``The Many Faces of John Kerry [related, bio],'' said the former banker may have a lot more to say about Kerry. ``There's no question he's holding cards, there's no question there's more out there,'' Bossie said. Paul did not return calls. The Kerry campaign wouldn't comment on his release. Paul, who was chairman of the Miami-based CenTrust Savings, and Kerry came into closest contact while the Bay State senator was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1988. Kerry appointed Paul head of the Democratic Trust, a fund-raising arm of the DSCC. The senator was then chairman of the Senate subcommittee investigating the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and other S&Ls. Bank execs and associates gave more than $30,000 to the DSCC, earning Paul recognition at the `88 DNC in Atlanta. That year, Kerry attended a swank party at Paul's Miami mansion, where guests were fed by six of the top chefs of France. Paul was later charged with wrongful investment of his bank's funds in junk bonds and using bank money to finance his lavish lifestyle. |