Rowley turns to eBay to help pay off campaign debt
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(AP) - Coleen Rowley's campaign buttons and bumper stickers weren't enough to get her into Congress, but she's hoping that selling them on eBay will get her campaign out of debt.
The Democrat and former FBI whistleblower is selling autographed yard signs for $20 each, and buttons or packs of campaign literature for $19.95 each. She said she has roughly $35,000 to $40,000 in campaign debt, but has been trying to avoid asking supporters to pay it off.
The former FBI attorney was named one of Time magazine's Persons of the Year for 2002 after she criticized the agency for ignoring her calls to aggressively investigate terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She lost to Republican incumbent John Kline in November.
"I'm not terribly proficient at asking for money anyway, even in the best of times, let alone after the campaign," she said on Monday.
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She said she had entertained the idea of using the old yard signs as insulation. But former campaign staffer Russell Simmons suggested the eBay store, and set it up about two weeks ago.
"I have never ever been to the eBay Web site before this," Rowley said.
Sales have been slow, although Rowley said she has now sold at least one of piece of campaign material offered on the site.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
