DAYTON River project raises $3.8M

River Run nearly funded, backers look to public for remaining $200K.

Backers of the project DAYTON — to remake the Great Miami River downtown into a water recreation attraction say they’ve raised $3.8 million and will now seek cash contributions from the public to raise the remaining $200,000.

So far, commitments have come largely from the private sector, foundations and public institutions.

The public portion of the fundraising campaign begins today, said Michael Ervin, cochair of the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan and Downtown Dayton Partnership. The project remains on schedule with construction expected to begin some time in 2013.

“While I do not believe I did anything illegal, or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong and there is no one else responsible for my sins,” Edwards said on the courthouse steps.

He also said he had hope for his future.

“I don’t think God’s through with me. I really believe he thinks there’s still some good things I can do.”

Edwards would have faced up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges. He did not testify, along with his mistress, Rielle Hunter, and the two donors whose money was at issue.

Jurors acquitted him on a charge of accepting illegal campaign contributions, involving $375,000 from elderly heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon in 2008. He had also been charged with illegally accepting $350,000 from Mellon in 2007, other donations from wealthy Texas attorney Fred Baron, filing a false campaign finance report and conspiracy.

The jurors, who deliberated nine days, did not talk to the media as they left the courthouse.

The case was thrown into confusion earlier Thursday after observers filled the courtroom expecting to hear a verdict on all six counts. Jurors had sent a note to U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles, reading, “we have finished our deliberations and have arrived at our decision on counts one through six.”

But when the jury came into court, the foreman said jurors only had a decision on one count. Eagles sent jurors back to deliberate. About an hour later, the jury sent another note saying it had exhausted its discussions.

When the not guilty verdict was read, Edwards choked up, put a single finger to his lip and took a moment to compose himself. He turned to his daughter, Cate, in the first row and smiled.

After Eagles declared a mistrial and discharged the jury, Edwards hugged his daughter, his parents and his attorneys. Later, he thanked the jury and his family, even choking up when talking about the daughter he had with his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

He called Frances Quinn Hunter precious “whom I love, more than any of you can ever imagine and I am so close to and so, so grateful for. I am grateful for all of my children.”

The trial recounted the most intimate details of Edwards’ affair with Hunter, including reference to a sex tape of the twothat was later destroyed and the drama of Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, tearing off her shirt in front of her husband in a rage about a tabloid report of the affair.

It also featured testimony that sometimes read like political thriller, as aide Andrew Young described meeting Edwards on a secluded road, and Edwards warning him, “you can’t hurt me.”

Prosecutors said Edwards knew of the roughly $1 million being funneled to former aide Andrew Young and Hunter and was well aware of the $2,300 legal limit on campaign donations.

Edwards’ attorneys said prosecutors didn’t prove that Edwards knew that taking the money violated campaign finance law. They said he shouldn’t be convicted for being a liar, and even if he did know about some of the money, it was a gift, not a campaign contribution.

“This is a case that should define the difference between a wrong and a crime ... between a sin and a felony,” attorney Abbe Lowell said. “John Edwards has confessed his sins. He will serve a life sentence for those.”

They also said the money was used to keep the affair hidden from his wife, not to influence his presidential bid.

Baron died in 2008 and Mellon, who is 101 years old, did not testify.

Edwards met Hunter in a New York hotel bar in 2006 and they spent the night together. She soon joined his campaign, and despite a lack of filmmaking experience, the politician arranged a $250,000 contract for her to make a series of behindthe-scenes documentaries from the campaign trail.

Word of the affair eventually got back to Edwards’ wife. On Dec. 30, 2006, the day Edwards officially announced his bid for president at an event in his hometown of Chapel Hill, Elizabeth Edwards bumped into Hunter. She told her husband to get rid of her, and while Hunter officially left the campaign, John Edwards continued to meet with her on the road.

Hunter became pregnant in the summer of 2007. The Youngs set up Hunter in a $2,700-amonth rental home not far from the Edwards estate in Chapel Hill, using the donated money.

The jurors, whose identities were withheld throughout the trial, asked to see dozens of trial exhibits during deliberations, relating to Mellon and Baron’s donations. Some jurors raised eyebrows in recent days by wearing matching colored shirts to court, and one alternate juror was said to be flirting with Edwards.