Finance reports show Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign owes about $2.5 million to Mark J. Penn, who quit as chief strategist after embarrassing the campaign and leaving a leadership shake-up in his wake.
The debt persists despite more than $3 million in payments to Mr. Penn’s polling firm in February, according to monthly campaign-finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Mr. Penn, who has long been a source of internal strife at the campaign, stepped down Sunday after revelations he worked to promote a trade deal opposed by the senator from New York.
The money he is owed is just a slice of the campaign’s $8.7 million in debts, according to finance reports filed last month.
The campaign, which pays Mr. Penn through his business, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, doled out at least $10 million to the firm since the race started last year. Mr. Penn will continue to collect paychecks — and payments on the debt — as an adviser and pollster for Mrs. Clinton, the campaign said.
Clinton campaign pollster Geoff Garin and spokesman Howard Wolfson took over the campaign’s strategic message team, said campaign manager Maggie Williams.
Mr. Penn’s exit rattled the campaign as Mrs. Clinton fights for a big win in Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary, which she needs to close the gap with rival Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois heading into the final stretch of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The strategist’s downfall began with a Wall Street Journal report Friday that Mr. Penn, who is chief executive of public relations heavyweight Burson-Marsteller, met with Colombian officials to advise the lobbying push for the Colombian free-trade agreement.
Mrs. Clinton, who is courting union voters with a protectionist platform, has called for a freeze on trade deals.
Mr. Penn called the Colombian meeting an “error in judgment,” but his apologies ultimately were not enough to satisfy the campaign.
The explanation by Mr. Penn also angered the Colombians, who fired Burson-Marsteller and said the comment showed a lock of respect for their country.
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