Campaign Economics - Page A1
February 27, 1997 "Promptly ... get ... 100,000 or more ..."
by Staff Investigative Journalists, The Daily RepublicanRelated Document:
- Feb. 27 - Harold Ickes Big Surprise!
- Feb. 25 - The White House List of Who Were Feted There!
- Feb. 25 - It Was President Clinton's Excellent Lincoln Bedroom Idea!
- Oct. 21 - Why Bill Clinton Sold Out The American People!
- Oct. 22 - President Clinton Stonewalling Bribery Charges!
WASHINGTON DESK - The health and safety of the nation, its economy and the American people may have been at risk. The president was not attending to the people's business. He became so enthusiastic about selling access to White House coffees and the Lincoln Bedroom that he cancelled policy briefings on the State of the Nation that conflicted with fund-rasing activities carried out on government property.
Meanwhile he was attending to big time political donors to the Clinton-Gore Campaign who bought into White House coffees and nights in the Lincoln Bedroom in exchange for what the CNN news service estimates is $5.4 million paid to the Clinton-Gore Campaign funneled through the Democratic National Committee in the years 1995 and 1996.
The biggest donors were investor Dirk Ziff, who gave $411,000; movie producer Steven Spielberg, $336,000; retired businessman William Rollnick, $235,000; and Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman, $225,000. Meanwhile, on Wednesday night, the first lady, who is tone-deaf and cannot sing a note, was presented with a Hollywood Grammy for the book It Takes a Village which she hired someone else to write for her.
The CNN news service disclosed that it found 24 overnight White House guests who gave $100,000 or more to the DNC. The $5.4 million figure does not include money given to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or any state party committees.
On Tuesday, the Harold Ickes, former top Clinton Aide released Clinton White House records identifying the names of more than eight-hundred persons feted with an overnight sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom.
In a news conference on Wednesday, the president tried to side-step accusations of illegal use of government property for private gain when he said the practice of Lincoln Bedroom overnights was legal because the collection of the donations was not done on the White House premises.
The president said 'We got strict advice about what the rules were and everyone involved knew what the rules were.'
The American people aren't buying the president's explanations.
Congressman, David McIntosh (R), a member of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, said of the investigation into the president's conduct 'It changes it dramatically! We now know why the White House has been stalling and keeping a lot of this secret. The president himself was personally involved in authorizing the use of the Lincoln Bedroom ... for fund-raising purposes.
'Very clearly, it is wrong to use government property, government assets for political purposes' McIntosh said. 'You can't use the taxpayers' funds to help you raise money for your political campaigns.'
McIntosh said '... nothing of this magnitude ever happened in the Bush Administration. First of all, George Bush wouldn't have asked if it could happen, and then folks around him would have said, No, that's not appropriate.'
The New York Times reported Tuesday that some Democratic fund-raisers say they were engaged in selling invitations to White House coffees, and arranging invitations to meet with the president for $50,000 to $100,000.
Party leaders allowed officials to entice wealthy prospective donors by asking for contributions in exchange for putting their names on White House guest lists, the Times reported.
'I think it is fair to say that there was an understanding that if we became a trustee member [a member of the Democratic National Committee's managing trustees program], there was going to be an invitation to a White House coffee,' Thomas J.Tauke, a Nynex Corp. executive, told the newspaper.
The White House's coffees were a very improper but profitable use of government property by the Clinton-Gore Campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 1995-1996.
The American people picked-up all the costs of the electricity, heating, cooling, repainting, carpeting, the coffee, the food, the bed sheets, laundry, cooking, entertainment, maid service, shoe-shines, and security.
Documents released by the White House show that the campaign goal was to collect at least $500,000 each. In others they attempted to collect $350,000 each. These practices netted the president more than $5.4 millions at taxpayer's expense.
The illegal use of government property for private gain is one of the offenses called high crimes and misdemeanors that are included under the impeachment provisions of the U.S. Constitution Article III.
The White House and Clinton-Core Campaign related documentation thus far produced in response to the House Committee subpoena is convincing evidence that the president has misused the powers of the president consistently and massively as a means of lining his pockets with political and legal defense money and possibly for the purpose of punishing his political enemies.
This is a gross misuse of what is supposed to be a politically neutral branch of the federal government that tends to seriously undermine and to corrupt the political order of the nation.
Meanwhile, a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into foreign influence in Democrat Party fund raising caused FBI director Freeh to brief senior senators Wednesday on the investigation. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that FBI officials described the continuing FBI investigation as larger than previously reported and carried on outside the scope of White House influence.
The FBI has found serious evidence of Chinese involvement in steering money to the Clinton-Gore Campaign. That involvement appears to have been driven largely by business interests seeking influence Clinton on U.S. foreign policy issues.