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SALT LAKE CITY -- Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. has already contributed nearly $2 million to his budding presidential campaign, which he previously said he would not do.
Numbers released from the Huntsman camp have the former governor raising a total of $4.1 million since declaring his candidacy just over a week ago. However, about half of the money raised has come from Huntsman's personal fortune, which is a contradiction to previous statements he made about funding a campaign.
"If we were to get in the race -- no self-financing," Huntsman said. "Unless you can raise it legitimately, you're not going to win."
If we were to get in the race -- no self-financing. Unless you can raise it legitimately, you're not going to win.
–Jon Huntsman
Other political news:
- Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney met with Sen. Mike Lee on Capitol Hill Wednesday to discuss the Cut, Cap and Balance pledge, including the current state of the economy. Following Wednesday's meeting, Romney told reporters he would support the pledge. Sen. Lee said of the Republican presidential hopeful: "I appreciate Governor Romney taking the time to meet with me today. I expressed my view that we are currently dealing with the critical fiscal issues of this generation and that we need strong leadership on these issues. I was happy to hear that Gov. Romney supports the Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge including a Balanced Budget Amendment -- one of my top priorities -- and that his focus remains on growing the economy to create jobs for our country."
- Senator Orrin Hatch joined with Senate Republicans in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, asking to eliminate the government's plan of a taxpayer bailout of Greece and to provide "clarification on the administration's intentions regarding the debt crisis in Greece." In the letter, the Senators wrote: "If it is truly the case that taxpayer-funded bailouts have ended, as the President has stated, then American taxpayers deserve assurance that they are not being forced to assume risks and losses from foreign issuers of sovereign debt."
- Senators Mike Lee, Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and Rand Paul (R- Kentucky) introduced the Sound Money Promotion Act, which would remove tax burdens on gold and silver coins used as legal currency, as declared by the federal government. "Thanks to the government's reckless over-spending, continued bailouts, and the Federal Reserve's easy money policy, this year the purchasing power of the dollar hit an all-time low in the several decades since we went off the gold standard," DeMint said. "In order to rebuild strength and confidence in our economy, we need both the fiscal discipline to cut wasteful spending and the monetary discipline to restrain further destructive monetizing of our debt. This legislation would encourage wider adoption of sound money measures, and that's a step in the right direction." "Good monetary policy is an important part of a healthy and prosperous economy," Lee added. "Since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the dollar has lost approximately 98 percent of its value. This bill is an important step towards a stable and sound currency whose value is protected from the Fed's printing press."
Email: jfurlong@ksl.com
