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Money, money, money!
Maureen
Dowd
WASHINGTON Clinton nostalgia is be-
ing replaced by Clinton neuralgia.
Why is it that America's roil family
always seems better in abstract than in
concrete? The closer it gets to running
the world once more, the more you are
reminded of all the things that bugged
you the last time around.
The Clintons' neediness, their sense
of what they are owed in material
terms for their public service, their as-
sumption that they're entitled to every-
one's money.
Are we about to put the "For Rent"
sign back on the Lincoln Bedroom?
If Americans are worried about
money in politics, there is no larger
concern than the Clintons, who are cos-
seted in a world where rich people end-
lessly scratch the backs of rich people.
They have a Wile E. Coyote problem;
something is always blowing up. Just
when the Clintons are supposed to be
floating above it all, on a dignified cloud
of do-gooding leading into 2016, pop-pop-
pop, little explosions go off everywhere,
reminding us of the troubling connec-
tions and values they drag around.
There's the continuing grotesque
spectacle of Anthony Weiner and Huma
Abedin. And there's the sketchy in-
volvement of the Clintons' most prolific
fund-raiser, Terry McAuliffe, and Hil-
lary's brother Tony Rodham in a ven-
ture, GreenTech Automotive; it's under
federal investigation and causing fire-
works in Virginia, where McAuliffe is
running for governor.
Many Israelis were disgusted to learn
that Bill Clinton was originally sched-
uled to scarf up $500,000 to speak at the
Israeli president Shimon Peres's 90th
be-
ingbirthday friends
with PerestiwesinJune d b
. nguesrso
ing the accord that won Peres e Nobel
g gthe
Peace Prize were not reasons enough
tofoofrtdhBoenil jla ett oew chi sea 1111 ef Nba ramat n. t Toa iht the
eul am. he tlaoi dbn aragnr e ch
foun-
dation. Isn't the J.N.F. "supposed to
plant trees with donor cash?" Haaretz
chided before the fund pulled back. "l
guess money does grow on trees."
I never thought I'd have to read the
words Ira Magaziner again. But the
man who helped Hillary torpedo her
own health care plan is back.
In an article in this newspaper last
week headlined "Unease at Clinton
Foundation," Nicholas Confessore and
Amy Chozick offered a compelling
chronicle about an internal review of
the rechristened Bill, Hillary & Chelsea
Clinton Foundation that illuminated the
fungible finances and tensions between
Clinton loyalists and the foundation ar-
chitects Magaziner and Doug Band,
former bag carrier for President Clin-
ton.
You never hear about problems with
Jimmy Carter's foundation; he just
quietly goes around the world eradicat-
ing Guinea worm disease. But
Magaziner continues to be a Gyro
Gearloose, the inept inventor of Donald
Duck's Duckburg.
"On one occasion, Mr. Magaziner dis-
patched a team of employees to fly
around the world for months gathering
ideas for a climate change proposal that
never got off the grouhd," Oonfessore
and Chozick said.
We are supposed to believe that every
dollar given to a Clinton is a dollar that
improves the world. But is it? Clinton-
world is a galaxy where personal en-
richment and political advancement
blend seamlessly, and where a cast of
jarringly familiar characters pad their
pockets every which way to Sunday.
"Efforts to insulate the foundation
from potential conflicts have high-
lighted just how difficult it can be to dis-
entangle the Clintons' charity work
from Mr. Clinton's moneymaking ven-
tures and Mrs. Clinton's political fu-
ture," Confessore and Chozick wrote.
The most_ evripous :seat el MOMS
was a firm founded by Doug sad
called Teneo, a saunmy blond at cow rate consulting. public rib:loos and merchant banking. Band. a surrogate
son to Bill. put Hume, a surrogate
daughter to Hillary. on the payroll.
Even Big Daddy Bill was a paid adviset
As this newspaper reported,Teneo
worked on retainer charging monthly
fees up to $250,000 and recruiung clients
from among Clinton Foundation donors.
while encouraging others to become
foundation donors. The Clintons dis-
tanced themselves from Teneo when
they got scorched
with had publicity
after the collapse of
its client MF
the international
brokerage firm led by
the former New Jer:
sey governor Jon
Corzine.
And Chelsea is now t
shaping the founda-
tion's future, and her
political future. So
there may not be as much oxygen for
her troublesome surrogate siblings.
As George Packer wrote in The New
Yorker, Bill Clinton earned $17 million
last year giving speeches, including one
to a Lagos company for $700,000. Hil-
lary gets $200,000 a speech.
Until Harry Truman wrote his mem-
oirs, the ex-president struggled on an
Army pension of $112.56 a month. "1
copid never letnimitelf anyctrxesac-
uoa, howeNertaspect able," he4a1sli 4
"that Would commercialize on the
prestige and dignity of the office of the
presidency."
So quaint, Packer wrote, observing,
"The top of American life has become a
very cozy and lucrative place, where the
social capital of who you are and who
you know brings unimaginable returns."
The Clintons want to do big worthy
things, but they also want to squeeze
money from rich people wherever they
live on planet Earth, insatiably gob-
bling up cash for politics and charity
and themselves from the same incestu-
ous swirl.
Clintonworld
is a galaxy
where
personal
enrichment
and political
advancement
blend seam-
lessly.
Si
St
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