Hillary pays off 3.7 million dollars campaign debt

Washington, Apr 16 (ANI): Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid off 3.7 million dollars in bills left over from her failed presidential campaign, according to a report her campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The report shows that Clinton has only one vendor left to pay off: Pollster Mark Penn. Her campaign paid his firm three million dollars in the first quarter, but still owes it 2.3 million dollars.

The filing also reveals that the campaign brought in 5.6 million dollars between January 1 and March 31, an impressive sum given that Clinton has relied on surrogates to raise money to pay off her debts since January, when she was confirmed as Secretary of State, Politico.com reported.

Ethics rules and tradition restrict diplomats from engaging in partisan political activity, including raising cash to pay off the debt.

Though Clinton had 2.6 million dollars in the bank at the end of March, she couldn't use that to pay off the remainder of the Penn debt because her campaign operation still has overhead costs it needs to pay.

For instance, in the first quarter, the campaign paid 9,400 dollars in salary to staffers in New York and Washington, plus 2,300 dollars in phone services, 7,000 dollars for website maintenance and 30,000 dollars in travel costs. (ANI)