Clinton confirmation: Bill's charity still a problem for Hillary?
Is Bill Clinton’s charity going to be a problem for Hillary as the new secretary of State?
Didn’t the Obama team dispense with this issue already?
Apparently Sen. Richard Lugar, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, doesn’t think so.
"The core of the problem is that foreign governments and entities may perceive the Clinton Foundation as a means to gain favor with the secretary of state," Senator Lugar said in his opening statement at Hillary Rodham Clinton’s confirmation hearing Tuesday.
The Republican senator from Indiana wants the foundation to refuse any foreign donations in the future – and he wants more transparency.
Sheikhs and ordinary donors
The William J. Clinton Foundation has already disclosed a list of 200,000 donors that have contributed a total of more than $490 million since 2001.
Ninety percent of the donors gave $250 or less. But Lugar’s worried about the other 10 percent. Those big donors include the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the government of Norway, assorted Middle Eastern sheikhs, and foreign government-linked aid and development groups.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the Clinton foundation successfully raising funds to do good – what foundation doesn’t? No one questions the validity of the good being done by the foundation in 40 nations.
But both Clintons now want to avoid even a whiff of influence-buying from here on out.
