NOW Took Clinton Cash Before Falling Silent on Sexgate

NewsMax ^ | 03/19/2002 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[Pokey78]

The National Organization for Women received a series of unprecedented federal grants from the Clinton administration totaling over $700,000 before the women's group fell silent on charges a sexual harassment, sexual assault and even rape in the Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky cases four years ago.

In an exclusive interview with NewsMax.com, Tammy Bruce, former head of the Los Angeles chapter of NOW and more recently the author of "The New Thought Police," said the federal windfall to the nation's premier feminist group came in 1997, just after the Supreme Court decided that Ms. Jones could sue President Clinton before he left office.

"NOW had never taken federal funds before," Bruce told NewsMax. "But as soon as Paula Jones won the ability in the Supreme Court to sue Bill Clinton" the federal dollars began flowing to NOW in a big way, she said.

"The California chapter was pretty close to bankruptcy. And suddenly there's this grant that was given to NOW through the Department of Health and Human Services, headed up at the time by Donna Shalala - from the Centers of Disease Control element of HHS through their Tobacco Control Office."

Bruce said that the initial payment to California NOW was over $500,000, even though neither it nor national NOW had ever done anything in the realm of smoking prevention to justify the funding.

"When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, that grant was then transferred to National NOW," Bruce said. Shortly after the Clinton administration began funneling money to the national organization, NOW's then-president Patricia Ireland participated in a press conference supporting Bill Clinton, the former L.A. NOW chief said.

"At that point, another $200,000 went into NOW's coffers," Bruce alleged. "All totaled it was $766,000."

"In the nonprofit world, $700,000 is an astronomical amount of money," the lesbian feminist leader explained. "I can safely say that half-a-million dollars at the California NOW level is monumental. It probably saved them from going under."

Bruce said that California NOW's fund-raising apparatus was so important that had the state chapter gone down, it would have taken the national organization with it.

After taking the Clinton administration cash, NOW "directly rebuked Paula Jones, and when it came to Monica Lewinsky, (the group) issued comments as to how this wasn't sexual harassment," Bruce said, despite the workplace power Clinton wielded over his then 22-year-old subordinate.

In fact, instead of coming to Jones' aid, then-NOW President Patricia Ireland was privately contemptuous of her legal fight, according to a behind-the-scenes account offered by Bruce.

"I remember being in NOW's national office in Washington, D.C. sometime in 1995 when I overheard a conversation between Patricia and others," she recalled. "I remember that Paula Jones' lawyers were trying to connect with NOW at the time and that their call was not taken."

Bruce said she heard Ireland "laughing about how she was managing to avoid those telephone calls."

[Slyfox]

Correct title:

NOW Took Clinton Cash Before Falling on Their Knees

[timestax]

sickening...

[Slyfox]

Whut...I thought my title was pretty funny.

[lentulusgracchus]

This is so abysmally bad -- and you'll never hear Katie Couric read a story about it on the morning news. Or Diane Sawyer.

Trollops. Tramps. Hookers. They ought to have made their entire D.C. staff available to Clinton by the hour, for that kind of money.

[Fish out of Water]

index bump

[over3Owithabrain]

Well, at least they're not CHEAP whores!

[Post Toasties]

More characteristic behavior from the rotten, hypocritical, despicable Lefty whackjobs and, of course, the WH Rapist.

[exit82]

I want a refund.

And I want an indictment of a former Cabinet official for an illegal and improper transfer of funds and an indictment of NOW officials for accepting a fraudulent grant.

[Young Rhino]

This is so abysmally bad -- and you'll never hear Katie Couric read a story about it on the morning news. Or Diane Sawyer.

I suspect that it is hard to read with one's mouth full. Lewinsky could probably confirm this.

[THX 1138]

In Bernie Goldberg's book, he states how the liberal media runs to NOW when they want the "woman's" point of view.

One group of hypocrits talking to another group of hypocrits.

[The Schnoid from Sheboygan]

Kinda reminds one of "Kneepad Nina" Burleigh, the media whore who said she'd gladly give Klinton a BJ hust to thank him for keeping baby killings (abortions) legal.

[T'wit]

> rotten, hypocritical, despicable Lefty whackjobs and, of course, the WH Rapist.

You're so sweet and polite! Don't mince words, let us know your true feelings.

[meadsjn]

Winston Churchill: "...Madam, we've already established what you are -- now we're just haggling about the price."

[Michael.SF.]

They ought to have made their entire D.C. staff available to Clinton by the hour, for that kind of money.

Your assuming that they did not.

$700K can get you a lot of lewinsky's. These womyn are shameless and hold no real moral or ethical principles.

It is this type of behavior, rampant amongst the Dems that drove me away from them. Plus the fact that I wised up.

[nickcarraway]

Shows how dumb Clinton is: NOW would have done this anyway!

[Salman]

I was so naive, I thought NOW were merely hypocrites.
They were actually for sale!

[Jewels1091]

There is a word for selling yourself for money and it isn't nice, but what else can you call this group?

[SkyPilot]

Gee, this is surprising.