Superdelegates Turned Down $1 Million Offer From Clinton Donor

[NYCGirl]

I realize that this is probably the way things are done in Washington, but it's still shocking to see it. Good for the YDA!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/19/superdelegates-turned-dow_n_102450.html


One of Sen. Hillary Clinton's top financial supporters offered $1 million to the Young Democrats of America during a phone conversation in which he also pressed for the organization's two uncommitted superdelegates to endorse the New York Democrat, a high-ranking official with YDA told The Huffington Post.

Haim Saban, the billionaire entertainment magnate and longtime Clinton supporter, denied the allegation. But four independent sources said that just before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, Saban called YDA President David Hardt and offered what was perceived as a lucrative proposal: $1 million would be made available for the group if Hardt and the organization's other uncommitted superdelegate backed Clinton.

Contacted about the report, Saban, initially very friendly, became curt. "Not true," he said, "it's simply not true." He declined to elaborate. Did he talk to the YDA superdelegate? "I talk to many, many superdelegates. Some I don't even remember their names." Did he propose any financial transaction? "I have never offered them or anybody any money" in exchange for support or a vote, he said. The Clinton campaign did not return a request for comment.

-snipped-

"I said I thought that the appropriate response was to call Haim back and say thank you but we are not interested," said the source. "I also said that it was surely the case that this story would get out because it is too interesting not to and they should think about how to deal with it. It was a day or two . They felt afraid. They were like, 'Holy shit, this is Haim Saban.'"

Nevertheless, the group declined the overture. A YDA official cited moral reservations as well as the overwhelming consensus of its members to back Sen. Barack Obama.

MORE AT LINK

[BattyDem]

1. Um ... isn't it illegal to buy votes?

:shrug:

[Texas Hill Country]

3. yes, but this sounds like bullshit.

[dionysus]

4. sounds like clinton machine MO

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

32. Where I come from, it's called bribary. I guess Hillary calls it the cost of doing business . . .

It sickens me when Democrats start acting more like Republicans. Why doesn't Hillary just change parties already!

[sfaprog]

11. "Four independent sources" sounds like bullshit?

This is hugely damning. Wow - couldn't come at a worse time, either, for her, it's like a punch on the way down, only someone from within her own circle has delivered it.


I wonder if Saban played any official role in her campaign

[Skidmore]

19. Sounds believable to me. Wasn't this guy one of that

bunch of moneyed Clinton backers who wrote the letter trying to extort the DNC recently?

[Tatiana]

21. Yep. Pelosi had to lay the smackdown on them. n/t

[AllentownJake]

5. I don't think

the Young Democrats are under the same rules as the party I think they maybe a 527 so I think that making a large contribution would be legal.

However its terrible. Shame on Senator Clinton.

[Texas Hill Country]

23. 1. you cant blame this on Clinton, 2. i still call bullshit.

[AllentownJake]

25. Watch me

I blame Senator Clinton for this horrible action.

[Texas Hill Country]

26. great... how grown up of you.

[AllentownJake]

36. If Obama is connected to

Bill Ayers and Wright than Clinton's ties to this man must be investigated. How long has she known him. How many times did he stay at the whitehouse.

The people need to know...she obviously hasn't been properly vetted yet.

[dailykoff]

37. Something tells me Fox and CNN won't be running this story 24/7

or at all.

[dionysus]

50. oh snap...

:)

[movonne]

47. Did you blame Obama for Rev.Wright's comments???

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

34. Hillary has no shame. That's the problem.

[Cha]

41. And yet, they still turned it down..how

admirable is that!

[BigDaddy44]

24. Immoral, but not illegal

What law would be broken?

[movonne]

49. maybe vote buying...

[Renew Deal]

29. Votes in a voting booth? Yes. Superdelegates? Probably not

This is more informative than anything.

[AllentownJake]

2. Buying Superdelegates?

Shame on you Senator Clinton.

[ErinBerin84]

8. I don't think we can really blame Senator Clinton on this

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. But what an awkward and transparent thing for the Clinton donor to do! He deserves to be made fun of. This, along with that "letter" to Nancy Pelosi, is so not helping Hillary.

[AllentownJake]

10. Nope

I blame her. This stinks of her type of tactics.

[ErinBerin84]

12. ( I secretly want to too. shhhhhhh. )

[AllentownJake]

13. I'll do it for you

:-)

Some of us have to continue to bang the pots and pans you can publicly renounce and reject me ;-)

[ErinBerin84]

30. several of my attempts to be verrry diplomatic and generous

to the Hillary campaign over the last couple of days (I am really really making an effort) have gotten CRAZY responses from some Hillary supporters here (again, these supporters are exceptions to the normal, loyal Clinton supporters who are reasonable and intelligent)that are completely out of the blue, so I am getting kind of tired of it.

[AllentownJake]

39. I was called a wife beater last night

by one post. I enjoyed that one.

[Cha]

43. It'll be awesome when that

ilk is gone from DU.

[Cha]

42. Right..she's the ringleader who set the bar

..actually threw the bar way down into the abyss.

[ecstatic]

60. Bribes...blackmail... nothing appears to be beneath them

:puke:

[dailykoff]

6. This is the guy who got caught bribing Olmert?

They'd have to be completely clueless to take his money at this point.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. I don't think everyone should jump on an annonymously sourced claim

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. SourceWatch: Haim Saban

Haim Saban is an Israeli-American media-mogul, one of the biggest contributors to the campaigns of pro-Israel politicans in the U.S. and has been described by a New York Times reporter as a "tireless cheerleader for Israel."

He has also founded various centers and institutions to produce policy research favorable to Israel. He is a financial donor and founder of the Saban Institute for the Study of the American Political System at the University of Tel Aviv.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees at the Brookings Institution. In 2002 he pledged $13 million to found the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution."

According to Ha'aretz reporter Ari Shavit:

Since he lost the hold he had in the White House through his good friends Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution and the Saban Forum have become his levers of influence on political Washington and on Jerusalem...the ability of the colorful Israeli-American billionaire to bring together Ariel Sharon and Bill Clinton, Shimon Peres and Henry Kissinger, Tzipi Livni and Condoleezza Rice has become one of the achievements of which he is proud

New York Times reporter, Andrew Ross Sorkin, noted that:

He and his wife, Cheryl…, slept in the White House several times during President Clinton’s two terms.

Mr. Saban has not been shy about calling on his political friends to help sell advertising, too. This year, he invited Germany’s most prominent advertising executives to his home in Los Angeles for dinner with Mr. Clinton. The executives, he said, were stunned…

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Haim_Saban

[dailykoff]

14. I'm sure he's deeply interested in Roe vs Wade.

:rofl:

[Ichingcarpenter]

22. I love it that Bill Clinton was a dinner guest to help him sell advertisers

I'm willing to bet, Bill didn't go to LA, without getting paid for that.

[bicentennial_baby]

31. He also unleashed the f'n PowerRangers on us

x(




:P

[Ichingcarpenter]

40. That's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

My son in 93 hated the show and he would watch almost anything.

[ProgressiveMuslim]

35. Should dual-nationals be allowed to be involved in our process in this way? nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

45. My kids are dual Nationals

and can vote so I hope not, but I don't know the limits of the FEC's rules are for duals.

This guy has tons of money, so a million dollars is nothing to him.

[Cha]

44. How sweet...Do ya think he wants to do it again?

"He and his wife, Cheryl…, slept in the White House several times during President Clinton’s two terms."

He's thinking Obama won't let him?

[mod mom]

15. The youth of this country gives me hope toward defeating the corporate hold

on this country. I applaud them for sticking to principles over the almighty dollar!

[knixphan]

28. more applause!

:applause:

[Zachstar]

56. Hell ya!

[FredScuttle]

16. $1 million for 2 SDs?

Well, another $109.5 million to sweep up the remaining SDs.....and she still won't win.

[dailykoff]

18. $1 million for McCain.

a.k.a. Senator Bombbombbombbomb Iran.

[WeDidIt]

17. What a buffoon

If he thought it wouldn't come out he's a moron.

[Laughing Mirror]

20. "moral reservations"?

Didn't see that elaborated upon in the article. Wonder what it means.

[anigbrowl]

46. Not liking the feeling of being bribed.

IF this story is true, it makes you wonder why these big-money people are so anxious. With all Hillary's political problems - her own baggage, and the fact that she is both losing this race and becoming the butt of jokes over her ongoing denial of the fact - why is it worth a MILLION dollars to someone to try and sway the outcome? I don't really buy the idea that he's doing it because she's the only chance to stop the Republicans.

[Colobo]

27. Very sad, but good for the YDA.

[mystieus]

33. This is bad news if it's true at all, this is not going to go over well in the media.

[Cha]

38. He knew it was wrong..that's why he denied it.

And clinton supporters have no qualms about lying to get what they want just like their goddess of war.

[NYCGirl]

48. UPDATE: Comment by Ezra Klein at The American Prospect

POWER POLITICS.

To be honest, I'm rather surprised that we're not hearing more stories of superdelegates having their arms twisted or being bribed. Still, it's worth noting that Haim Saban, the founder of Brookings' Saban Center for the Invasion of Middle Eastern Nations, tried to bring the financial hammer down on the Young Democrats of America. They stood tall behind the pro-Obama consensus of their membership, but as Sam Stein and Nico Pitney report, they were scared shitless. Way to cultivate the youth, guys!

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=05&year=2008&base_name=power_politics

[Ichingcarpenter]

58. thanks for the update

Did you read where Bill showed up at his LA residence
to help Saban sell a deal to TV advertisers from Germany?

[NorthernSpy]

51. Saban was one of the Clintonite billionaires who tried to pressure Pelosi...

Clinton's strong-arm billionaire brigade:


Marc Aronchick

Clarence Avant

Susie Tompkins Buell

Sim Farar

Robert L. Johnson

Chris Korge

Marc and Cathy Lasry

Hassan Nemazee

Alan and Susan Patricof

JB Pritzker

Amy Rao

Lynn de Rothschild

Haim Saban

Bernard Schwartz

Stanley S. Shuman

Jay Snyder

Maureen White and Steven Rattner

[marions ghost]

52. I don't doubt it...

just a little bizness offer (that can always be denied if it doesn't go through)

[flpoljunkie]

53. Haim "I'm a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel" Saban? Interesting.

[mystieus]

54. It sounds to me like the money was offered as a contribution to the YDA.

If it had be offered to an individual we would probably have a different story.

[Zachstar]

55. I think the YDA needs to contact the FEC and the FBI

[Unbowed]

57. So is this why her campaign's so broke? n/t

[dailykoff]

59. I think this might explain why some superdelegates are still shilly-shallying.

Million dollar bribes don't grow on trees.

[ecstatic]

61. I really would like to know who the Clintons are beholden to

They sound like a scary bunch. :scared:

[Lord Helmet]

62. she can't even pay people to support her