Yesterday the Clintons finally released their tax records for their time since leaving the White House, only they neglected to disclose their records for last year, and there seem to be more questions than answers:
It should be noted that this $10 million in charitable donations that the Clintons are now touting were actually tax deductible donations to their own foundation!! This means that as a way to not pay as much in income tax they put their money into their tax exempt foundation, which they can then use however they see fit. Tricky huh? Shines a new light on their "charitable contributions".
Here is some more on the unanswered questions of favors to corporate friends and conflicts of interest from the Washington Post:
A common thread running through the couple's personal finances is the presence of many of the same figures who helped bankroll the presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton, and now that of his wife.
Major donors to both Clintons' White House bids hired the former president as a consultant, joined him in lucrative investment ventures and paid him six-figure sums to speak at corporate gatherings.
The considerable crossover between the couple's decades of political fundraising and their personal profit also extended at times to the former president's charity work and his presidential library, though many records related to those remain secret. What is clear is that numerous financial patrons -- individuals as well as large corporations -- repeatedly emerge in the Clintons' circle.
Chief among them is Burkle, the founder of the Yucaipa investment firm, who not only has provided Bill Clinton with a hefty source of income during his post-presidency but also ranks as one of Sen. Clinton's "Hillraisers," a title given to those who raise more than $100,000 for her presidential bid. Burkle has held fundraisers for her at his Beverly Hills estate, and also made six-figure donations to independent political groups, such as Emily's List, that are supporting her.
The tax returns show Bill Clinton's partnership with Burkle, at various arms of his Yucaipa firm, yielding in excess of $1 million a year, starting in 2003. In 2005, Clinton collected $5 million from those investments, and more than $2.5 million in each of the past two years. The former president served as a senior adviser to the private firm, helping Burkle land investors and identify business opportunities. The Wall Street Journal reported that Clinton started to unwind the relationship earlier this year and could ultimately receive a payout worth about $20 million.
Another recurring character is InfoUSA founder Vinod Gupta, who has contributed to the Clinton library, donated money to Sen. Clinton's White House bid and hired the former president as a consultant. Last year, InfoUSA paid Bill Clinton $400,000. Legal papers that surfaced last year showed that he earned more than $3 million from the firm, which sells consumer data to telemarketers and other businesses.
All I know is that 8 years of corporate-sponsored government has been more than enough. The Clinton administration was marked by the same pro-corporate, pro-privatization, anti-regulation policies of the Reagan-Bush years, which are now wrecking havoc on our economy, our environment and our safety as consumers. And all that was before the Clintons were rich and in bed with their corporate friends and flush with their money.
I'd hate to see what they would do if they got back to the White House, and what favors these people would expect in return for all of their "support" over the years. This just further illustrates how the Clinton years were just more of the same, and that we need to put an end to the Clinton dynasty if we really want to move forward with the kind of change our country desperately needs.
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