An Open Letter to MSNBC’s Phil Griffin on Trump’s Taxes and Rev. Al Sharpton’s Debt

Mr. Griffin,

I was Rev. Al Sharpton’s Campaign Manager for his 2004 presicdential campaign until I wasn’t being paid.  I’m not a rich person who was able to personally survive without being paid.  I think Rev. Al Sharpton does a FANTASTIC job on television.  I almost always agree with what he says and he say it well.  However, yesterday on Morning Joe, in commenting on Donald Trump’s tax problems he said that he too had had tax problems.  Then he said something like this, “But what real leaders do is acknowledge them and correct them and that’s what I did.”  When MSNBC interviews him about his book and promotes it, keep in mind the list below and what he said about Donald Trump’s tax problems.  My good friend and the first person I hired in 2003 – because he had run South Carolina and won it twice for Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988 – was Kevin Gray.  Kevin Gray is near the top of the list at $38,000 and I’m near the bottom at almost $58,000.  Why hasn’t Rev. Sharpton owned up to THESE debts?  Because, unlike the IRS, there is no ENFORCEMENT MECHANISM?  Does paying these debts only require MORAL INTEGRITY?  Sharpton’s argumets all the time on MSNBC, especially with respect to Donald Trump is, we must be MORALLY CONSISTENT – and I agree!  I sent a similar text to Joy Ann Reid who knows me fairly well.

Frank E. Watkins
Former Sharpton National Campaign Manager