President Wyclef?
Hotsauce84
8,450 Posts
http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2010/07/30/22315089.aspx
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(AllHipHop News) Hip-Hop star Wyclef Jean will announce his bid for the President of Haiti, a source has confirmed with AllHipHop.com exclusively.
Sources close to Wyclef confirmed with AllHipHop.com that the rapper will announce his bid for the country???s highest office next Thursday, on August 5th.
The 37-year-old was born in Haiti, but immigrated to the United States at the age of 9-years-old, when he landed in Brooklyn, before settling in South Orange, New Jersey.
As a member of The Fugees and as a solo artist, Wyclef has sold millions of records, in addition to collaborating with artists like Paul Simon, Gloria Estefen, Destiny???s Child, Carlos Santana and others.
The rapper sprung into action on January 12th, when his native land was leveled by a 7.0 earthquake that left 300,000 people dead over a million others displaced.
Even prior to the earthquake, Wyclef Jean???s Yele Haiti organization raised funds for the country, but after the deadly earthquake, the rapper helped raise over $10 million dollars in less than three months.
The rapper will make his official announcement just two days prior to the country???s August 7th deadline to submit his plan for running for President.
Analysts are predicting that Wyclef Jean will easily win the race with his financial connections, influence among the Haitian youth and his political influence around the world.
The news of his candidacy has stoked fears in opponents planning to run for the head office in November.
"I think if Wyclef is allowed to run he will have a straight victory," political leader and former presidential candidate Himmler Rebu told Reuters yesterday.
Jean, who maintained his status as a citizen of Haiti, was in the country yesterday, where he was preparing for his upcoming campaign.
The rapper/musician also has political clout in the country.
His uncle, Raymond Alcide Joseph, has been the Haitian ambassador to the United States since 2005 and helped Wyclef???s drive to raise money and relief aid for victims of the massive earthquake.
Elections are slated for November 28th.
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Comments
1) He'd be elected on Friday
2) He'd be assassinated on Saturday
3) and he'd be buried on Sunday?
If he was president?
When y'all were bashing him on the heels of that pathetic smear campaign, who was saying that Haitians wouldn't be phased by the trumped-up negativity AT ALL?
Go on Harvey shine some light on that constitutional tricknology. Pfft fucking rule law gets the bozak.
The Rock?
Ridiculous--he can't even run a foundation.
For the thousandth time, that Smoking Gun bullshit was a blatant smear campaign, dropped at the worst possible time. It was sad in its own right. Even sadder is seeing folks since then still walking around with a rusty Smoking Gun fish hook pierced through their lip as they regurgitate said irresponsible propanganda.
Not just this year, but for years on end, Wyclef has built goodwill throughout Haiti according to the people of Haiti. I don't know if he's actually cut out to be an effective preident either...but Wyclef becoming president would immediately have a positive effect.
According to his track record, Wyclef would indeed be acting in the interests of Haitians, opposed to a Rene Preval who is just a puppet for US interests. And Wyclef won't be so easy to kidnap and put into excile the way the US did Aristide.
For a country that so badly needs international awareness raised to the actual truth of life within its realm...85% of what we hear about Haiti through mainstream media sources is tainted garbage aimed to have you forever look down upon Haiti and Haitians like Wyclef...this could very well be a monumental move toward what's right.
But hey, your cheap snickers are worth so much more to you than truth and justice, I know.
Presumed Haitian presidential candidate owes for 1040 returns
AUGUST 4--Wyclef Jean, who appears ready to announce his candidacy for Haiti???s presidency, owes the Internal Revenue Service more than $2.1 million, according to federal tax liens filed against the musician, The Smoking Gun has learned.
In May, the IRS filed a $724,332 tax lien against Jean. Last July, the agency filed a $599,167 lien against the performer. And a $792,269 lien was lodged against Jean in July 2007. The liens cover taxes due on Jean???s individual 1040 returns for 2006, 2007 and 2008. Copies of the liens, which were filed at the Bergen County clerk???s office in New Jersey, can be viewed at left.
In 1998, Jean--whose given name is Nel Wyclef Jean--purchased a $1.85 million home at 8 Cameron Road in Saddle River, where he lives with his wife Claudinette and their family. The three IRS liens were filed against Nel W. Jean at the Cameron Road address.
Other records show that Jean, 37, has previously been the subject of two smaller tax liens filed against him by the State of New Jersey and the New York State Tax Commission, both of which were eventually satisfied.
Following the Haitian earthquake, TSG reported on Jean???s questionable handling of the finances of his charitable foundation. Along with filing tax returns years late, Jean used his foundation to pay himself and a business partner more than $410,000 for rent, production services, and Jean's appearance at a benefit concert.
Though the Wyclef Jean Foundation had operated at a deficit and experienced cash flow problems, Jean actually paid himself and a partner (his cousin Jerry Duplessis) $65,000 in upfront rent payments for space at a Manhattan recording studio the duo owns. The prepaid 25 months worth of rent covered the foundation???s use of a caf?? table in the studio's kitchen. Jean???s foundation has received millions in donations since the Haiti tragedy, but it is unknown how the group has spent those funds.
Along with attempting to rebuild a devastated country, the next Haitian president will be in charge of handling foreign aid payments as well as the nation???s own limited financial resources. (3 pages)
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/irs-hits-wyclef-21-million-tax-liens
Because he has become a politician and thus subject to scrutiny?
Yeah, because the Smoking Gun stays scrutinizing Haitian politicians on the regular.
You're right, nobody should know or talk about this because it's entirely irrelevant to anything that's going on in the world.
for the country that is in most need of a great leader...let's elect the entertainer with no political experience. he's charitable!
That said...http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129024449
"You're fame and hype but Haiti needs sure and steady. You have an entourage of "yes" men but Haiti needs an army of yeomen. You're a uniquely talented music man but Haiti desperately needs a credible statesman"
If you're so knowledgeable why don't you explain it to then, instead of just making vague allusions to your superior understanding of all things, as usual.
I'm sure y'all fondly remember what a great leader he turned out to be.
Is there really an argument that can be made for Wyclef as president? If so, throw out being knowledgeable, learned and experienced as part of the criteria in electing government. I think that his running is an insult to his country. He is basically telling the world that there are so few qualified Haitians that a guy who probably couldn't get elected as a city councilman in the states is good enough to be president!
Have there ever been any unqualifiably effective entertainers-turned-national-leaders?
Explain this - you've said it twice now but I don't get how Wyclef would be more effective - than say, an existing Haitian politician - in shunting out American interventionism, especially if Haiti is still going to be dependent on economic aid that American interest help control.
vaclaz havel?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Bradley
Unlike Aristide, Wyclef has a voice outside of Haiti.