Edwards Flattens Coif Controversy
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ABC News’ Raelyn Johnson Reports: You can tell it’s political season when people are putting a fine tooth comb to, well hair. A report filed with the Federal Election Commission last weekend revealed that former Sen. John Edwards’ D-N.C., presidential campaign twice shelled out $400 for haircuts he received from a Beverly Hills salon.
Just as fast as gossip spreads in the fashion salon, ABC News has learned the money will be returned. "As for the haircuts, the bill was sent to the campaign, it was paid in error, and Edwards will be reimbursing the campaign," says campaign spokesperson Eric Schultz.
The hair cut revelation did little to minimize what some call Edwards’ ‘Breck Girl’ image. Earlier this year, YouTube showcased a video of Edwards fixing his hair before a televised interview, demonstrating the unforgiving power of the site
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Of course he wants this to go away. The crazy thing is not that he paid for this with campaign funds but that he got a $400 haircut at all (let alone multiple ones). How does a man that suggests two Americas as a central campaign theme in good conscience spend that much money on a haircut? I am a Democrat and admired Edwards for his stand on poverty. I believe it is the most under talked about issues (because it is not politically expedient and does not win votes). However, despite Edwards talking the talk… this makes it all seem like lip service.
Posted by: Doug Crimm | April 18, 2007, 9:37 pm 9:37 pm
If this is the best way to challenge Edwards’ legitimacy as a leader then he is bound to succeed.
Posted by: gerkin | April 19, 2007, 1:07 am 1:07 am
That’s good that he’s paying for it and not the campaign. Of course he can spend his money however he likes. The campaign on the other hand is another story.
Posted by: Dave | April 19, 2007, 3:13 am 3:13 am
I was going to vote for him, but now I won’t. He’s just like the rest of them.
Posted by: Rachel | April 19, 2007, 8:23 am 8:23 am
The size of his house and the price of his haircuts have nothing whatsoever to do with the genuineness of John Edwards’ message and his commitment to issues affecting working class people.
The concentration of self centered people and wealthy people in the Republican Party has effectively made those two characteristics synonomous. They are not.
Posted by: sps | April 19, 2007, 10:36 am 10:36 am
I was a little concerned there for a while, but I trusted the man’s integrity to clarify and set it right.
I’m not sure what the standard is, though. I thought I remembered reading that Hillary has a stylist on the campaign payroll.
Posted by: Darrell | April 19, 2007, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
Jesus also got similar complaints when his feet were washed with an expensive oil. Haircuts are a non-issue. Medication for senior citizens (vetoed by Bush), Stem Cell Research (vetoed by Bush), and end to the quagmire that is Iraq (started and perpetuated by Bush)…those are the issues.
Posted by: Ron | April 19, 2007, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm
It’s understandable to me that someone could have recommended a hair stylist to John Edwards and he had no idea what the eventual price tag would be. Hair stylists (in Beverly Hills) are much more “pricey” than most places.
I doubt he realized how much he was being “charged” since the bill was not presented to him.
Actually, I would like to know the name of the salon so that I can be sure and not go there.
Why did they charge him at all? The publicity they gain by listing him as their “client” should be worth quite a lot.
Posted by: Elsbeth | April 19, 2007, 12:23 pm 12:23 pm
For Goodness Sake. Instead of hanging him for the haircut. Let’s examine where he got the haircut. I’m sure a haircut in Beverly Hills does not cost the same as getting a haircut in say Brooklyn, NY. Is it so bad to have a Presidential candidate that cares about how he looks? Do you remember Reagan’s bad
hair dye job? The one he would not admit to having?
Posted by: Allison | April 19, 2007, 12:34 pm 12:34 pm
let’s not get our hair in an uproar (pun intended) over this! if someone (Rachel) won’t vote for Edwards because he got a $200 haircut then you were never going to vote for him. There is a war going on (Edwards has a plan). There are students & faculty being gunned down by a mentally ill student in VA (Edwards has a plan). There are SO many people living in poverty in the USA with no health insurance (Edwards has a plan). I could go on…but please…this hair thing is just STUPID at this point. Let’s concentrate on the problems in this country and I can assure you this is not one of them.
Posted by: cherie | April 19, 2007, 12:49 pm 12:49 pm
absolutely hard to believe that someone would NOT vote for John Edwards because of this. (Rachel) We have serious issues in this country and John Edwards is the only candidate with plans to actually fix the country…he just had a couple of haircuts for petes sake and if this is all the other side has on him…it’s going to be an easy path to the White House.
Posted by: cherie | April 19, 2007, 1:14 pm 1:14 pm
Man, they are getting desperate now! A guy can’t even get a haircut. Maybe if he wore jeans, a cowboy hat, a cocky sneer, swaggered a little and shot first and aswered no questions later, they would think he was a “man’s man”. Sound familiar? Look what that image cost us. Can someone tell me, what is a “man’s man” anyway?
Ron
Posted by: Ron | April 19, 2007, 1:25 pm 1:25 pm
I would agree with some of the more sympathetic comments if the money was spent under different circumstances. I have donated more money to the Edwards campaign than I should have. I did not do so thinking he would spend 400 dollars of my money on his haircut. Of course, that does not mean I will not vote for him. It does mean that I was not happy with him when I heard about it.
The issue is not that he likes to groom himself. The issue is that he took 400 dollars out of the campaign pot to groom himself.
Posted by: Lewis Brown | April 19, 2007, 2:48 pm 2:48 pm
George Bush would blame Bill Clinton because he was charged for a haircut, Dick Cheney would have shot the barber, and Karl Rove and Roberto Gonzalez would have lied about it.
Snap out of it! Don’t hate on Edwards because you can’t afford a pricey hair stylist. I’ll bet if you were going to appear on television, you’d pay whatever the price for a nice hair-do.
Posted by: Laura | April 19, 2007, 4:11 pm 4:11 pm
Cherie states that Edwards has a “plan” to get us out of the war. Well he should, since he co-authored the resolution to get us there in the first place. No amount of contrition will bring back the lives lost because he cheer-led these brave men and women to their deaths. No, with his vanity, I’m not surprised that he would use hard-earned money from people with modest means to pay for his hair cuts.
Posted by: loraine | April 19, 2007, 6:39 pm 6:39 pm
Bush’s horrible unnecessary war goes on with more dying every day and this is what we focus on? Unbelievable. Edwards can spend however much he wants on his hair, I’d still vote for him, or Obama, or Hillary as opposed to any of the possible GOP candidates.
Posted by: jude | April 19, 2007, 7:10 pm 7:10 pm
OK, ABC news where is your story about John McCain singing “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran.”! This is far more scary than a 400.00 haircut. It is a shame that the media is reporting more on looks than substance of the candidates.
Posted by: Lisa | April 19, 2007, 7:35 pm 7:35 pm
Lewis,
The bill was sent to the campaign, and they paid it by mistake. The money was returned to the campaign by Edwards himself, so, he did pay for his haircut with his own money, and remember, he has donated millions of his own money to his campaign, People wonder if this guy is for real, lets think about this for just a second. He has enough money to not work another day in his life, should he so desire, his wife has been rediagnosed with Cancer, He has worked long and hard on many of the campaign issues that are central to America’s future, and has a well thought out plan, ready to be implemented should he be elected. Why on earth, would anyone think that this guy is in it for the power? prestige? money? What does he truly have to gain? With Bush, its easy, he owes alot of people, and has for years, he was terrible in business, and good at swindling, he swindled his way into the white house, that much is for certain. Rachael, its my considered opinion, that if your so shallow as to change your vote over something so trivial, that you really shouldn’t vote at all, this isn’t a popularity, or beauty contest, its about whom we are going to pick to run the greatest country on the planet. You’d evidently pick the one with frizzy hair.
Posted by: Tim | April 19, 2007, 8:29 pm 8:29 pm
Uh, Tim…they call it VANITY!!!
Posted by: loraine | April 19, 2007, 9:24 pm 9:24 pm
The Salon sent the bill to campaign headquarters and an inexperienced accounts payable person paid it without questioning what it was for and or why it was so much. Since it was then listed as a campaign expense
Posted by: GBS | April 19, 2007, 10:41 pm 10:41 pm
The price charged was because the sylist came to Edwards. John did not go to his salon. The money was also for travel expenses.
Posted by: davem | April 19, 2007, 11:42 pm 11:42 pm
The haircut is just a smokescreen. Why not focus on the enormous house? Or the fact that he didn’t give to charity before he started his political campaigns? Or the fact that he never did pro bono work as a lawyer? Basically the evidence that he didn’t care about the poor at all before it became his political mantra?
Posted by: Jon | April 24, 2007, 9:48 am 9:48 am
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Posted by: Hair Coloring | April 24, 2007, 8:20 pm 8:20 pm
DID HE GVE HIM A TIP
Posted by: ROSE | June 3, 2007, 7:29 pm 7:29 pm
If Edwards did not know he was getting a $ 400 clipping, how can we expect him to manage a 2 trillion federal budget ?
America –its citizens–do not care to be impovershied by a sea of federal debt. However is the political class so oblivious: TALK is CHEAP. Merely talking about poverty, when getting a
$ 400 Beverly Hills Hair cut shows John Edwards is disconnected with average Americans. This $ 400 hair cut my have derailed his campaign. A bad HAIR TRIP–. He seems unable to explain matters. The cost to Edwards will be more than $ 400, it will be his total lost of crediblity with voters. In the end, his own ego, clipped his Presidental run–his advisors are out to lunch, the NET clque, who are unplugged from reality–out their, the corn fieds, the mains streets, the place where people have work had for their money, something Edwards seems to be in the dark on. The Edwards CLIP— it will be his WATERLOO
Posted by: Mitch | June 11, 2007, 11:30 am 11:30 am