Fun at Chappaqua.
Bill and Hillary hosted a high-powered gathering of supporters at their posh Chappaqua home the night that President Bush was on national TV making his case to the American people. More than 100 of Mrs. Clinton's most generous campaign contributors and top fund-raisers from the 2000 race schmoozed with Hill and Bill for 2 1/2 hours. Part of the evening focused on the distribution of funds from Sen. Clinton's personal fund raising committee and Hillary.com, her new cash-generating Web site. The discussion then turned to her recent activities in Washington, including her intention to wreak havoc with President Bush's appointments to the Environmental Protection Agency. According to some news reports, it wasn't specifically a fund raising meeting, but "some checks may have changed hands." Theoretically, the topic of the evening was Hillary's 2006 re-election campaign, but discussions about potential 2004 presidential aspirations abounded. For example, during cocktails in the back yard, one group heard Hillary's husband say that the national Democratic Party had "two stars": his wife and retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark. And according to a dozen people who were at the event, Hillary mentioned how important their support would be "for my next campaign, whatever that may be." Later, Mr. Clinton mentioned that "We might have another candidate or two jumping into the race." Whether or not these seemingly innocuous comments by the Clintons were made in jest or have been somehow misinterpreted remains to be seen.
PAC-Rat.
The vast majority of the funds from Sen. Clinton's political-action committee, HILLPAC, are being used to build her own political network rather than to boost other Democrats. In 2002, HILLPAC gave only 31% of what it raised to other candidates. This year, that figure is down to 20%. HILLPAC spent $589,000 in the first half of this year and of that, only $120,000 of that went to other Democrats. Roughly 80% went for Hillary's staff, fund-raising, legal fees and travel. Despite the fact that Mrs. Clinton says she is a strong supporter of campaign finance regulation, her personal PAC circumvents the spirit of such laws by allowing her to effectively exceed legal limits by raising cash for her own campaigns and for HILLPAC from the same source, and then spend both on her own priorities. In Hillary's case, it is difficult to distinguish between HILLPAC and "Friends of Hillary," her own campaign committee, because both have the same address, the same 16 staffers and pay the same communications consultant.
Name Dropping.
FOX News's Brit Hume recently reported that "Statistics from the Social Security Administration show that no name has gone out of style in the U.S. more than the name Hillary did after the Clintons moved into the White House."
Hillary had been one of the nation's most popular girls' names from the 1960's onward, It peaked at #136 in 1992, But the name dropped precipitously afterwards, and within a year the name stopped ranking altogether. According to Hume, "It took more than three times that long for Adolph, as in Hitler and Ebenezer, as in Scrooge, to fall off the charts." Hillary's spokesman responded that the "comparison to Adolph Hitler is hardly Fair and Balanced. Hope that doesn't get me sued. And for the record, Brit isn't even in the top 1,000-unless it's short for Brittany, which is #175."
Environmental Disaster.
Hillary says that she will prevent Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt from becoming the new Secretary for the Environmental Protection Agency unless the White House answers questions about why the EPA allegedly failed to tell New Yorkers there were health risks associated with the air quality around the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The EPA tried to mollify Sen. Clinton with a four-page letter addressing her concerns, but to no avail. Hillary will still place a "hold" on Gov. Leavitt's nomination, a procedural move that would prevent a full Senate vote on his confirmation. Said Hill: "This is a very big issue. . . . It not only has to do with the health and safety of the people I represent. It has to do with the credibility and trust of this entire government." The White House has said that the administration was disappointed "that Sen. Clinton would seek to politicize such a qualified nominee as Gov. Leavitt. He is a known consensus builder and has brought people together to work on solutions for environmental improvement."
