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Those owed by Ken Baker aren't swallowing their debts quietly. We've seen Ken, the west coast exec editor of Us Weekly, go down this road before. Just this month we told you exclusively about Ken's dealings with Kitson boutique owner Fraser Ross and how he and the magazine's alleged blacklisting of the L.A. shop have resulted in a lawsuit from Ross.
Now we've got Fingerprint PR looking to collect on a Baker debt. This one is for work that Fingerprint partner (and former Lizzie Grubman slag-cum-power player) Jessica Meisels did for Baker's Head To Hollywood charity – a non-profit that's landed Baker in trouble again and again (i.e. securing positive coverage in Us Weekly of charity co-founder Carmen Electra). Fingerprint handled H2H's charity poker tourney on June 3, 2006, at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel. Now, five months since Meisels submitted an invoice, there's yet to be payment made — and the bill, we're told, is a measly three-figure sum.
Meisels was responsible for finding event sponsors and the not-so-glamorous job of rounding up celebs for the event, including David Spade, Krista Allen, Montell Williams, and Shannon Elizabeth. (Though, to be fair, Elizabeth will show up for the opening of an eye.) But knowing this was charity work, Fingerprint didn't bill Baker for the majority of the costs such legwork would've accrued a regular client; only phone, fax, and courier services were invoiced. And speaking of telecommunications, it's safe to say Baker doesn't understand how that tricky technology works. How else to explain his consistent dodging of Fingerprint's phones and emails inquiring about their dollars owed?
Meanwhile, according to Head To Hollywood's website, the June 3 poker event raised "close to $100,000" for brain tumor charity. No cash in the coffer to cover the minor expenses, Ken?
In true Baker fashion, the Us Weekly ed is handling the situation like he would any other: By banning Fingerprint clients from the magazine and purposefully not inviting the PR firm to its Sept. 20 Hot Hollywood Awards (where Carmen Electra received award No. 43378) — where it had been welcome in years past. If history tells us anything, we should expect Baker to continue to withhold funds, then wait for either Jann Wenner's check book or crack squad of crisis management PR gurus to take on the case. In the meantime, Meisels is still waiting for that check.
(Photos, L to R: Ken Baker and Carmen Electra at the June 3 poker event; Jessica Meisels at her birthday party with Nicky and Paris Hilton)

You don't have to have suffered under his hand directly to see how smarmy he is; the big mystery is, why doesn't the magazine cut him off?
Maybe the IRS should look into where the money is REALLY going!
We here at Us Weekly have put so many Fingerprint clients into the magazine over the years, we should give them a bill, and believe me, it would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I'm getting out an egg timer to clock how fast Ken Baker gets canned. One questionable incident is excusable, but a second one in less than 6 months? Come on!
OMG Jossip is hardcore!