"Husband's Charity Would Raise Issues for a Secretary Clinton"

[ProSense]

A Complex Knot of Conflicts

Husband's Charity Would Raise Issues for a Secretary Clinton

By Matthew Mosk and Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 22, 2008; A05

As President-elect Barack Obama moved closer to making Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton his choice for secretary of state, independent legal experts said unwinding some of the most nettlesome conflicts involving her husband's global fundraising would prove extraordinarily complicated.

Perhaps the best evidence of this is a perpetual donation to the William J. Clinton Foundation from Canadian tycoon Frank Giustra, in which Giustra has promised to give the charity half of the future profits from his global mining empire for the rest of his life.

The unorthodox arrangement could present ethical concerns for Sen. Clinton if foreign governments believe they can curry favor with her by helping Giustra's far-flung mining operations, or if they fear that restricting his activities would damage their relations with her.

"It presents a really serious problem because the decisions a Secretary Clinton might make could be perceived as affecting the cash flow," said Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University School of Law.

The situation underscores the complexity of the negotiations in which top aides to Obama and Clinton engaged over the past week. Those familiar with the talks said they covered a range of concerns, including the former president's profitable public speaking, his global investment work and a mostly secret network of donors to Clinton initiatives.

<...>

Bill Clinton's dealings with Giustra already have posed a public relations problem for his wife, in large part because, by accompanying Giustra on foreign business trips, the former president may have appeared to lend his stature to Giustra's mining ventures.

In 2005, Clinton flew with Giustra to Kazakhstan, where the two dined with the president of the former Soviet republic just as Giustra was preparing to buy into uranium mining projects controlled by a state-owned company. The same year, they traveled to Colombia as one of Giustra's firms brokered a coal mining venture there.

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[SwampG8r]

1. this is what will

send them back to full time moneygrubbing for their corporatist asshat buddies
and i will expect to see more and more like this as time passes

the extent of the strange money coming in is what will sink it once and for all

[ProSense]

4. It's a mess. n/t

[Whisp]

23. gawd I hope it sinks, stinks so much like cheney/halliburton in a lot of ways.

ugh!

[politicasista]

2. It doesn't matter. Clinton people here will find ways to rub it in by smearing others n/t

[IndianaJones]

3. you're whining in the Clinton smear thread...bwaaaaahahahaha. nt.

[Cosmic Charlie]

16. nice avatar...

:puke:

[ProSense]

6. This post doesn't make sense. n/t

[politicasista]

21. Your last thread turned into a stupid flamewar

by a gleeful Clinton fan. It was a nice thread, nothing hateful about it. :)

[bedslave]

5. I had to turn down an offer for secretary of cosmopolitan commerce in the obama administration

mostly because my husband worked for a lobbying firm that tried to get puppies a new home.

[grantcart]

7. Since all of this is well known to President Elect Obama we have to assume that

the OP intends to indicate how incompetent and unintelligent the Obama transition is for giving Senator Clinton such high consideration or, as multiple sources now indicate, having offered the position to her.

[ProSense]

8. Does "OP" refer to the WaPo article? n/t

[grantcart]

9. No it refers to the person who sought out yet another Hillary as SOS

is going to be a disaster and posted it.

How many threads opposing Clinton for SOS have you posted, 20?


Obviously you think that the transistion team and the President-Elect are incompetent, as they know all of these facts, and hundreds more because of their exhaustive vetting but still seem intent as appointing Senator Clinton as Secretary of State.

[ProSense]

11. Use the ignore button, or have the will to exercise avoidance of threads you don't like n/t

[grantcart]

22. Quite the contrary I enjoy the give and take of a true obsessive

Are you uncomfortable being held account on your persistant Clinton bashing after she has become a person of serious interest in the Obama campaign.

Your continued sustained and repetitive threads on this issue are nothing less than a condemnation of Senator Obama's judgement and transition team. My opinion is that they are doing an excellent job - do you want only people who share your hatred and point of view to respond to your threads?

[jbnow]

20. I'm not sure this is opposing Clinton for position

but seeing what Obama requires for vetting it's a mystery that he could consider her. That's not a slam on her. Bill's connections and financial ties related to personal and foundation income that were known even before the vetting SEEMS like it would rule her out of consideration for this position. There are other positions it would hardly effect.

For instance remember when she talked about obliterating Iran and that umbrella of protection beyond just Israel? And she named Saudi Arabia, UAE and some other country...I sort of shuddered because it was a new policy suggestion and I had just read that the countries (or in Saudi Arabia the royal family) had given donations to foundation of 10 to 15 million each.

Now I didn't think those things were connected, that they were trying to buy that protection....but it is all about the appearance of impropriety.

I know she won't be setting policy and I think she'd do a great job but the standards being used are a mystery. I can only assume they put less weight on it because it's the spouse and not Hillary herself.
I hope the questioning in the confirmation doesn't get nasty. I've heard some republicans say she is a good choice so maybe that means they won't try to tear her apart

[Cosmic Charlie]

17. you really are a sad case.

Continually accusing others for attacking Obama, when all we're doing is asking the questions that need to be asked about Hillary.

[Mz Pip]

10. Why wasn't this an issue

when she ran for President? I certainly don't remember this level of concern when Hillary was a candidate for the leader of the free world. If it wasn't a big deal then, why should it be now?

[windbreeze]

26. Perhaps it should have been...

didn't Ferraro's old man sink her chances over money matters??or am I misremembering here?...what's the difference, really?...anyone going for these high positions should be able to pass a vetting process or they shouldn't get the job..by virtue of being married to him, one has to believe that she knows what he's been up too, and either approves, or if she cares about her political future, encourages him to make sure everything he does is on the up and up, and unquestionable..wb

[Tektonik]

12. Do you hate Clinton so much you'd question the president-elect on HIS choice?

[ProSense]

13. Do you "hate" other people's opinions so much that

you'd question the president-elect?

[Tektonik]

14. There's opinions, and then there are people like you who will never get over the Clintons

Most have gotten over the primary hysterics; you haven't.

[ProSense]

15. "Most have gotten over the primary hysterics; you haven't."

"Hysterics" are being created by people like you who are unable to make a valid point relevant to the articles posted in each thread, but who prefer instead to make their irrelevant opinions in the form of personal attacks knowns. I'm fairly certain that this forum wasn't set up as a place to debate your opinion of me or any other poster.




edited for clarity.

[Posteritatis]

18. That's an interesting arrangement

Are "perpetual donations" like that common? Not specifically in the Clintons' situation, I mean, but in general with charities or other organizations?

[AtomicKitten]

19. This dance in the press makes me inclined to think this isn't a done deal.

The Clintons elected to litigate this in the press, and from what I can ascertain a formal offer still has not be made. Clinton needs to either stop pissing around and provide all the info Obama requires or, if the light is green, she needs to accept or decline tout suite. It is the protracted Kabuki Theater that is annoying. We have bigger fish to fry.

[PBS Poll-435]

24. Back to "denial"

How are ever going to get past these 5 steps?

[ecstatic]

25. lol! nt