By Tom Kuiper
Two different stories regarding Hillary Clinton’s finances caught my eye this past week. The big news was that Hillary had loaned her presidential campaign $5 million due to “overspending” in Iowa (which of course leads to the question, “If she can’t manage her Iowa campaign budget, how can we trust her to manage the nation’s budget?”) The second, related story was that her campaign staff skipped off from a small town in New Hampshire without paying the rent for their headquarters. The landlord told local media that Hillary’s staffers had agreed to pay a total of $500 in rent. Although he didn’t get the rent up front, he gave them the benefit of the doubt. “But they packed up and left,” he said, leaving the place a shambles, much the same way the Clintons left the White House in January 2001.
These stories of Hillary’s campaign money troubles remind me of an encounter I had in 1994 with someone whom I’ll call “Rick.” It turns out Rick had provided security services and air transportation to many famous people over the years. Of course, I asked about celebrities. What was Eddie Van Halen like? Sam Kinison? Rod Stewart? Rick’s answers were fascinating.
Along the way Rick mentioned he had worked with various politicians. He said Dan Quayle was not the idiot the media made him out to be, and that Al Gore tended to lose his cool if there was bad weather and the flight was delayed (same thing with the then-Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican). He also mentioned that he had worked on the charter plane used by Bill Clinton during his 1992 campaign. So I asked the obvious question: “Are the stories about Bill Clinton true; you know, his reputation with women?”
Rick’s response stunned me. He said, “If the media had reported a quarter of the stuff that occurred on that plane, Clinton would never have been elected president.” Apparently, everyone working on his campaign knew what Bill Clinton was like and what he was up to. (When the Monica Lewinsky scandal became public four years later, my first reaction was surprise. Not that Bill Clinton had been fooling around with a young female staff member, but that the mainstream media had finally reported it).
It was not the confirmation of Clinton’s womanizing, however, that held my attention. Rick went on to say that he was to be paid in two installments; one due in the middle of the campaign, and second at the end of it. When the time for his first payment came and went, he kept getting the runaround. They were sorry, but they just didn’t have the money. “Be patient,” he was told. Finally, after weeks of delay, Rick said that if he didn’t get paid, and soon, he was going to Rush Limbaugh and telling America exactly what was going on during those charter flights. He got his money that same day. Unfortunately, when it came time for the balance due, Clinton had already been elected president. Without leverage, Rick got stiffed.
Flash forward to 2008, and here are the Clintons still up to their old tricks, including stiffing people. Of course, I’m sure that Hillary justifies it in her own mind. Surely the landlord in New Hampshire must know that Hillary is too busy trying to save the world – or at least, her place in it – to trifle with such an insignificant amount. After all, paying bills is for little people, and to quote an article written in 1994 that I quote in “Yankees Fan,” “I can’t … save every undercapitalized entrepreneur in America!” We can only hope that the entrepreneurs of America, whatever their financial status, are saved from her.
Related special offers:
“I’ve Always Been a Yankees Fan: Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words”
“Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton”
“Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton”
Tom Kuiper is author of the Hillary quotebook “I’ve Always Been a Yankees Fan: Hillary Clinton In Her Own Words,” and is following the primaries with interest.
