WASHINGTON — Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has used the White
House military to equip her New York campaign headquarters and staff
with phones and computers at taxpayer expense, claim reliable sources in
the White House.
Also, the White House office that processes orders for such equipment,
and determines which costs are billed to the first lady’s campaign, is
controlled by a former Democratic National Committee official who was
transferred to the White House as Hillary tested the waters for her
Senate bid.
The same office — known as “Room 1” – handles reimbursements for her
political travel aboard military aircraft.
“Government assets are being used there” in New York, one White House
employee told WorldNetDaily. “They got them through the military.”
The worker, who requested anonymity, says the White House Communications
Agency, which is staffed by the military but controlled by the
president, has provided palm-sized cell phones and other equipment.
Some two dozen staffers work in Hillary’s 5,500-square-foot Manhattan
office alone. Some have been working there with computers and phones
since July 1999. She has just one special assistant who travels with her
in her role as first lady, a spokeswoman says. She also maintains a
Secret Service detail, as well as military advance people.
A White House computer operator says WHCA (pronounced “woka”) also has
supplied Compaq Pressario laptops.
“They handled laptops for the New York headquarters,” said the employee,
who wished to go unnamed. “But they are not allowed to use those laptops
for campaign purposes.”
“She’s got White House equipment in New York being paid for by the White
House. That can be proven,” said another source close to White House
computer operations.
A White House spokeswoman for the first lady insists such expenses have
been billed to the campaign.
“Anything that’s campaign-related is paid for by her campaign, and
anything that’s official is paid for by the government,” said Erika
Batcheller in the first lady’s press office.
She also said she “would be shocked” if WHCA provided equipment to
Hillary’s New York operations.
Asked to check with WHCA, Batcheller said she would, but didn’t get
back. Calls to WHCA were steered back to the first lady’s press office.
Hillary’s Senate campaign marks a first for a first lady, and it has
raised questions about how her bills are broken out between her official
duties and her political activities. She has already drawn fire from
Congress for shorting the treasury $779,465 in travel expenses.
Her dual-hatting has frustrated GOP foe Rick Lazio, who’s complained she
has taken advantage of White House resources.
The White House is “100 percent” behind Hillary’s campaign, Lazio’s
chief strategist Mike Murphy has charged, and it’s “using your money” to
help her get elected. Hillary has lagged Lazio in fund-raising
throughout the campaign.
It wouldn’t be the first time that White House equipment and staff have
been used by the first couple — or the vice president — for personal
or political purposes, White House sources say.
- Just recently, Vice President Al Gore asked a Northrop Grumman
contractor to work on his personal laptop, an IBM Think Pad. Gore had
the contractor configure it so he could interact with his White House
Lotus Notes e-mail, according to the White House computer employee.
“The EOP (Executive Office of the President) load wasn’t for a
government computer,” the employee said. “It was for a personal
computer.”
- He also says aides to President Clinton have twice
sent a White House computer worker to Little Rock,
Ark., to set up loads on computers at his presidential
library, so employees there can get back into the EOP
system. - In 1993, moreover, White House computer operators were asked to
install a computer for Chelsea Clinton in the residence. “We said no —
she’s a child, not an official,” the source said.
Sources also contend the first lady is taking advantage of security and
intelligence personnel at her disposal.
A White House employee who works on security matters says that some 85
Secret Service and CIA agents have been assigned to New York since
Hillary launched her
campaign.
CIA spokeswoman Anya Guilsher says she was “not able to validate” that
agents have been reassigned there.
Any equipment issued to Hillary is processed through Room 1 in the Old
Executive Office Building.
“They’ve ordered equipment in Mrs. Clinton’s name or her staff’s name
and they just say they are using it for things related to her function
as first lady,” a White House staffer said. “But it’s ended up being
used by campaign workers.”
“Her people have dealt directly with Room 1 for getting things for up
there in New York,” the source added.
Brad Kiley, the ex-DNC official, oversees Room 1, and is deputy to Mark
Lindsay, assistant to the president for management and administration.
Both work above Room 1 in Room 145 of the Old Executive Office Building.
Together, they control Room 1, which is the central processing office
for all White House operations. But Kiley is the “immediate boss over
Room 1,” a source said.
Lindsay, a lawyer, found himself in hot political
water recently. Testifying before Congress earlier
this year, several computer contractors accused
Lindsay of threatening them with jail if they talked
about a stash of subpoenaed e-mail denied prosecutors
during the Lewinsky scandal. Lindsay has denied the
charges.
Before joining the White House, Kiley was the DNC’s director of
operations. He was revenue director for the 1997 Presidential Inaugural
Committee and was the director of finance and administration at the 1996
Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Lindsay also had to answer to Congress this July when it found out that
Hillary, who flies on military aircraft, has billed only $145,611, or 16
percent of her total $925,076 in campaign travel costs, to her campaign.
It’s Lindsay’s job, as well as Kiley’s, to see to it that her campaign
repays the government.
A staffer said Kiley “went ballistic” when Congress revealed how much of
Hillary’s political travel taxpayers have been underwriting.
Col. Jake Simmons heads the White House Military Office that runs the
White House Communications Agency. He also is a deputy to Lindsay and
works out of OEOB.
“With him in that position and Lindsay being his boss, it’s not hard to
see how Mrs. Clinton was able to get that equipment up there,” a staffer
said.
Simmons also had a recent run-in with Congress.
A 1996 audit of WHCA turned up mismanagement in the agency. It found it
has been providing the White House services and equipment that are
outside the scope of its mission. Services provided to the first lady
and her staff, for example, include photo development and framing and
news wire services, such as Associated Press and Reuters. WHCA, which
provides advance for the first lady’s trips, also handles
telecommunications for the first lady and Secret Service.
The audit also found that WHCA, under Simmons, couldn’t account for
equipment, and failed to submit spending requests. It had acquired a
great deal of equipment, but hadn’t properly accounted for it. For
example, $555,000 worth of computers hadn’t been recorded in its unit
property book.
The report also said the agency has been controlled by White House
political appointees and not the military, and they’ve gotten used to
using WHCA for non-military jobs because they are not held accountable
for the expense.
There’s also other evidence WHCA has been politicized by the White
House.
In 1997, the Senate accused White House lawyers of being behind a
six-month delay in turning over subpoenaed WHCA videos of fund-raising
coffees. WHCA videotapes the president.
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