From Julian Bond to Harry Huge, 9 Feb 1972

February 9, 1972

Dear Harry,

Following our conversation Tuesday, what I need is several things:-

- a good staff person, like a Congressman's AA who can put information on issues together for me, who can direct the answering of some of my mail, a politically minded person who can help me judge what is what and where I ought to be going.

- another secretary. My offices simply cannot keep up with volume of mail I have now. I am this month answering some letters from November, 1971, simply because the answers required personal attention from me and I wasn't able to give it until now.

- the kind of group you mentioned, preferably here, to cut down on the expected expense of trips to Washington.

I could have the third if I had the first two. As I think I've mentioned earlier, the VEP simply isn't equipped to supply such needs, and really should not.

Ideally, some rich body would give me a slush fund of around $15,000 a year; $10,000 for the AA and $5000 for the secretary and expenses.

This delegate race, for example, is being put together by me and my brother with no assistance from anyone else. My secretary-office manager-bookkeeper (who is typing this letter) cannot add extra duties to her already crowded portfolio; she is behind in answering simple

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bread and butter letters already.

My feelings are summed up thusly: I want to be a force in American politics for some years to come. I can't do it without some help in my office. No foundation or 'regular' funding source is going to supply it, so I must look elsewhere. In short, I need a sugar daddy who will float me for a few years, at least until I get my own tangled financial affairs in order.

I make a good living from speeches, but don't retain most of it. I am slowly straightening myself out of that morass, and should be on an even keel (how's that for mixed metaphors) in two years, but until then, I'm suffering.

I know all sorts of rich people, Stewart Mott being the latest, but none of them seem really interested in anything like this.

If you have any ideas in this vein, I'd love to have them.

Sincerely,

Julian Bond

Harry Huge, Esquire Arnold & Porter 1229 19th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20036