Edwards to speak on poverty for $65K

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A University of Illinois student group will pay $65,000 to have scandal-tainted former Democratic Party presidential candidate John Edwards speak on campus.

The Illini Union Board, which arranges events for the students, signed the contract with Edwards before he admitted to a tryst and would be on the hook for the full amount if it canceled the contract, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"That's one reason not to cancel," said Robin Kaler, a spokeswoman for the university at Urbana-Champaign.

Kaler told the Tribune the university called Edwards' representative to give the former U.S. senator from North Carolina a chance to withdraw but was told Edwards had added the Oct. 14 speaking date to his calendar.

Edwards is expected to speak about poverty in America.

Edwards has come under fire in the past for his speaking fees, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. In 2006, he was paid $55,000 to speak at the University of California-Davis about poverty, the newspaper said.