Who had $479,000 in the Townhall pool? Whoever you are, you’re in for a big payday, because that’s how much John Edwards got paid for his part time consulting gig at the gigantic Fortress hedge fund.

It would be unfair to single out Edwards for claiming his share of the hedge fund loot. After all, a lot of politicians find their gifts in demand from the hedge fund world. Former treasury secretaries Lawrence Summers and John Snow consult for hedge funds. Unlike Edwards, however, the two erstwhile treasury secretaries (especially Summers) actually know something about economics. So, you might wonder, what would a giant hedge fund like Fortress want with a guy who spent most of his career as an ambulance chasing trial lawyer? Was Fortress planning on building a portfolio of tort suits against obstetricians?

Obviously not. There are a couple of reasons why a washed up political figure like Edwards who by his own admission doesn’t know anything about “markets” would still have great appeal to the hedge fund world. First, the government has been rumbling about getting its grubby regulating mitts on hedge funds. That means in-house lobbyists, the kind that can instantly get any Senator or congressman on the phone, have a certain intrinsic value in the industry.

The second common role is a more substantive if still not altogether dignified one. Hedge funds, especially ones that are determined to get bigger like Fortress, have to seek out qualified investors to grow. (By federal decree, you have to have certain financial qualifications to be legally allowed to invest in most hedge funds. Generally speaking, you have to be extremely rich or an institution. It’s your government looking out for you, telling you where you can and can’t put your money. Your government has to do this, because your government thinks you’re an idiot who would give your entire life savings to some guy from Nigeria who sends you an email telling you he’s the son of a deposed king and wants to be your friend unless the government clutched you to its teat and saved you from your own foolishness.)

But I digress. Because qualified investors pony up a good deal of money, a politician/celebrity can be very helpful in closing the deal. So there you have John Edwards’ roles – a mixture of lobbyist and salesman working on what was likely an extremely part-time basis. One wonders if the Fortress people considered the lessons they gave him regarding how the markets interact with poverty as part of his compensation. I’ll be checking his filings for that data.

HERE I FEEL THE NEED TO SET SOMETHING STRAIGHT. I have no problem with John Edwards consulting for Fortress and getting paid a mint to do so. That’s how the American economy works. You take your talents to market, and get paid as much as you can for them.

The issue is that in part of his disingenuous crusade against poverty, Edwards had selected hedge funds as one of his bogeymen. To then take nearly a half million dollars from a hedge fund in some nebulous consulting arrangement is rank hypocrisy.

But wait. There’s more! You don’t really have to do a lot of sniffing around Fortress’ website to see that the outfit engages in a kind of practice that Edwards typically fulminates against. Reads the website:

(Our) hedge fund business is comprised of two business segments: (i) hybrid hedge funds – which include two sets of funds, one set that makes highly diversified investments globally in undervalued and distressed assets, including loans, assets and corporate securities…

Hmmm...distressed assets? You know, that’s French for what some demagogic politicians might refer to as predatory lending. Again, I have no problem with these things. Unless the “predatory” practices include holding a gun to the borrower’s head, I think they should be legal. I think people should be able to make up their own minds in regards to not only how they spend money but also to how they borrow it. Obviously, I differ from many politicians in this regard. Like John Edwards.

SO WHERE DOES THE SILKY ONE go from here? Is this the final nail in his coffin? Has he finally been outed for the chickenhawk in the war on poverty that he is? The Nutroots that so adore Edwards have been predictably silent on the story. Hilariously, the MyDD site is currently featuring a dairy titled “John Edwards is the Working Man’s Candidate.”

Assuming the working man in question is a shady used car salesman, I guess that might be true.

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