Posted on 05/10/2008 4:59:06 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
Loan ties Hillary's campaign to Bill's fundraising Some say use of joint assets skirts finance reform
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision to lend her presidential campaign $6.4 million from assets she holds jointly with her husband is rekindling questions about millions of dollars that special interests have paid Bill Clinton for speeches and other work since he left the White House.
In tapping some of that cash, "the Clintons have effectively bypassed campaign finance reform in a manner that's ingenious — using Bill Clinton effectively as a front for the fundraising," said Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political science professor.
Since 2001, the ex-president has spoken roughly 250 times on tours worldwide that brought him more than $40 million.
The sponsors have included investment banks that later suffered billions of dollars in losses in the subprime mortgage debacle and now have a big stake in regulatory changes; an insurance group with an interest in any overhaul of the health care system; a group that favors the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China; a Colombian business development group that backs a free-trade agreement; and more than two dozen Jewish groups, synagogues and museums.
Clinton campaign spokesman Jay Carson dismissed concerns, saying, "There are no conflicts of interest, and every dollar either of (the Clintons) have made is all publicly available."
However, said Jacobs, the director of the university's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, "There appear to be a number of prominent, wealthy corporations in the financial services sector, the health care sector and others that stand to gain considerably from the election of Hillary Clinton as president."
When Hillary Clinton lent her campaign $5 million in early February, she made it clear that those funds came from her own money. Her pre-tax earnings have totaled about $11 million from her salary as a New York senator and from advances and royalties for her book Living History.
But her last-ditch decision to tap joint funds to remain financially competitive with rival Barack Obama exposes her husband's financial dealings over the last seven years to greater scrutiny.
On Wednesday, when Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson disclosed that she'd lent her campaign $6.4 million more since April 11, he said that the funds came from their shared assets. Wolfson said that Clinton is legally entitled to use up to 50 percent of their jointly held assets for her campaign.
When Kerry loaned his campaign money he remortgaged his portion of the homes that he owned with Tereza.
Where did Hillary!s loan come from?
They pawned the stolen White House furniture.
It’s nice to see the Clintons flushing their own money down the campaign toilet.
By the way, how do you loan a losing campaign money?
Who pays it back?
Do you later go out fund-raising, saying “please donate to my campaign, which no longer exists, but needs to pay its debts”?
Who’s going to donate to that?
My, how the time flies.
It seems like it was just yesterday that Hillary was campaigning for her Senate seat in New York, and assuring New Yorkers that the job wasn’t just a stepping stone in a run for the Presidency.
I think even the Dems are getting tired of the Clinton Syndicate.
Campaign reform laws are a joke and the Clintons have played this act before. All that illegal fundraising in 1996 allowed them to crush Bob Dole in the spring and make him helpless in the general election. I’m sure the Clintons paid a few fines after the fact, but they had that illegal money for their use when they needed it. Like catching bank-robbers who give back the money to try and avoid prosecution.
We certainly do not have an "Ozzie and Harriet" pair here. Maybe the pants-suit lady will wear skirts the next time around.
According to Larry Nichols, they set up ADFA in Arkansas to laundry money.
Keep moving folks, nothing to see here. No one is investigating this.
Where did this money come from? Her checking account? 401K? What assets did she sell/pledge to get all this cash?
When Kerry loaned his campaign money he remortgaged his portion of the homes that he owned with Tereza.
Where did Hillary!s loan come from?
A lot of the funds WJC was paid over the last few years was from companies/interests who stood to gain if Hillary was elected president. Basically, she was selling promises before she was elected, and used Bill to collect the money in advance of the campaign cycle. This is the Clinton way, use the White House for personal gain, and the hell with the country’s best interest.
Once they had the money what assests that they owned did they use to collateralize the loans that she made to her campaign? Their houses,stocks,what exactly? Will we ever know?
Dubai says it isn’t over yet.
“Where did Hillary!s loan come from? “
The clear blue sky.
She’s not in the hole.
(well, that could be metaphorically argued)
See, there is a ton of money in the GENERAL FUND that she had to ‘qualify’ to have access to use.
If she ‘quits’, then that money is still usable to pay off any ‘loans’, and the ‘interest’.
Wouldn’t want to guess what that ‘interest rate’ might be, wuldya? Because it was a SHORT TERM/HIGH INTEREST loan, like you would get at a PAYDAY LOAN or PAWNSHOP.
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