Hillary Clinton Resume: 8 Years With Bill 'Good Enough'

Part Two of the Hillary Clinton 'Experience'

Patrick Healy in the New York Times has written a terrific piece on Hillary Clinton's "experience" as Bill Clinton's wife during his two terms as President.

Titled Resume Factor: Those 8 Years as First Lady, Healy writes how Hillary had extensive travel time abroad, meeting with heads of state and other luminaries. According to Hillary travel time translates into a someone who has the necessary qualifications to handle matters of national security as our next President.

Healy wrote that while Hillary did indeed have facetime with these people during her 8 years as First Lady she was never issued a security clearance. She never attended National Security Council Meetings nor was she ever given a copy of the President's daily intelligence briefing.

Since Hillary has insisted that her "experience" as First Lady should be part of her "resume" for considering her fit to be the next President, we decided to point out a few of Hillary's 'bona fide' experiences as First Lady.

During Bill Clinton’s first term as President, Hillary had been given or had requested the task of overhauling the healthcare system.

Hillary Healthcare

From WebMD:

Soon after President Clinton took office, Hillary became pilot of the infamous White House's healthcare reform task force, which crafted -- behind closed doors -- a major overhaul of the nation's health financing and delivery structure.

But not only did Congress fail to pass any health reform measure, a federal court also slapped several hundred thousand dollars in penalties on the Clinton White House for failing to keep the task force's meetings and records public.

Jane Orient, MD, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which successfully sued the task force for its lack of openness, tells WebMD, "Her plan would have potentially either outlawed private medicine or made it virtually impossible to obtain it. She would have had the government dictating everything about what care could be offered, who could get it, and how much could be spent on it.

Travelgate:

Travelgate, the first major scandal of the Clinton administration, erupted on May 19, 1993 when the White House Travel Office staff of seven were told they would be terminated on June 5. The director, Billy Dale, and his deputy had been with the Travel Office for nearly 30 years. The other five had worked there from 8 to 26 years. Except for two who were out of town, they were all escorted out of their offices and expelled from the White House grounds.   

Their treatment shocked the White House reporters, who knew them well because they made the travel arrangements for the reporters to cover the President when he went on trips. The media coverage was so negative that the White House was forced to revoke the dismissals and to acknowledge that they were “insensitive and unnecessary.”   

Dale and his deputy were allowed to put in for retirement and the other five were put on administrative leave while efforts were made to find other jobs for them in government agencies. Dale was subjected to an FBI investigation instigated by the White House to find an excuse for the firings.

Source - Hillary Clinton Revealed

“Factually” False Versus “Knowingly” False

Final Report of the Independent Counsel (In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association) of Matters Related to the White House Travel office

With respect to Mrs. Clinton, the overwhelming evidence establishes that she played a role in the decision to fire the employees and provided input into that decision to Watkins,

McLarty, Foster, and Thomason. Thus, her statement to the contrary under oath to this Office was factually false.

The evidence, however, is insufficient to show that Mrs. Clinton knowingly intended to influence the Travel Office decision or was aware that she had such influence at this early stage of the Administration. To a real degree, her interest in the matter was first generated by Thomason's intervention, and then overstated by him to others. Thus, absent persuasive, corroborated, and admissible evidence to the contrary, there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mrs. Clinton's statements to this Office or to Congress were knowingly false.
Source - GPO Access

Pardongate: Hillary's Clan Caught With Fingers in Pie

On his final morning in the White House, President Clinton grants 140 presidential pardons and 36 commutations. Marc Rich, who has been living as a fugitive in Switzerland since his 1983 indictment on tax evasion and fraud, is among those receiving pardons. The voluminous list also names several other controversial figures, including convicted drug trafficker Carlos Vignali and notorious snake oil salesman Glenn Braswell.

PAYBACK TIME (2/22/01): Press reports link lobbying by Hugh Rodham, Hillary Clinton's brother, to successful pardons for well-connected drug trafficker Carlos Vignali and mail-order scam merchant Glenn Braswell. Rodham was paid a reported $400,000 (including a $200,000 "success fee") for his work. Bill and Hillary express "disappointment" and ask Hugh to return the money. He says he will.
Source – Time

Yesterday, US Bankruptcy Court Judge Marian Harrison of Nashville ordered Tony Rodham to respond by March 16 to the allegation that he failed to repay a loan of $107,000 from the couple pardoned by Clinton, according to attorneys involved in the case.

President Clinton's pardons have been a political issue for Hillary Clinton because of her ties to a number of the cases. In addition to the people who paid her brothers, those receiving pardons included commodities trader Marc Rich, a fugitive who was prosecuted for tax evasion by then-US Attorney Rudolph Giuliani and fled to Switzerland. Rich was pardoned after his former wife, Denise Rich, contributed heavily to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.
Source – Boston Globe

Less than Six Degrees of Separation:

February 28, 2007

Hillary Rodham Clinton's brothers, Hugh and Tony, have received payments from four people who obtained pardons or commutations from President Bill Clinton.

Carlos Vignali Jr. (Commutation of sentence)
1995 Convicted in Minneapolis for moving 800 pounds of cocaine.
2001 Commutation granted for time served with a special condition of drug testing during supervised release.

Almon Glenn Braswell (Pardon)
1983 Convicted of mail fraud and perjury about a baldness treatment.
2001 Pardoned.
Hugh Rodham returned the $400,000 he received from Vignali and Braswell, after being asked to do so by his family.

Edgar and Vonna Jo Gregory (Pardons)
1982 Bank fraud convictions. Reversed by an appeals court in 1984, largely on technical grounds, and then both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and misapplication of bank funds. Both received probationary sentences.
2000 Pardoned.

Tony Rodham allegedly received $107,000 in loans as compensation for securing the pardons.
Source - Boston Globe

Lincoln Bedroom: Hillary's Hotel for Campaign Bucks

Top Hillary Clinton campaign aides did not dispute that many of those on the list had contributed either to the first lady's campaign or to Democratic committees that are supporting her candidacy. Roughly one in four names on the list donated money, the campaign said.

But campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said, "If the question is whether people were offered stays in exchange for contributions, the answer is no."
One high-ranking campaign aide said an internal campaign analysis indicated that roughly 100 of those who stayed overnight had made "hard money" contributions directly to the first lady's campaign.

Of those, the campaign analysis found that roughly 65 to 70 contributed the maximum hard money contribution of $2,000. By law, contributors can give $1,000 for the primary and another $1,000 for the general election.

The campaign was still attempting to match those who stayed overnight with a list of the larger, unregulated "soft money" contributions to Democratic committees that support the first lady's campaign.

But a CNN review found that many on the list had made such contributions, including former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and his wife, who gave a combined $52,000 in hard and soft money; and Slim Fast CEO S. Daniel Abraham and his wife, who also contributed a combined $52,000 in hard and soft money.

The Associated Press said guests Norman Pattiz, chairman of the Westwood One radio network, gave $300,000; while Vinod Gupta, president of InfoUSA, gave $100,000.

Other guests included longtime Democratic donors who contributed more than $150,000 to President Clinton's legal defense fund, including $30,000 from John Manning of Boston, chief executive officer of Boston Capital Corp.; $20,000 apiece from programming executive Haim Sabin and his wife, Cheryl; $5,000 from actor Chevy Chase; and $90 from Nancy Adkins, a friend from Arkansas.

Further, the guest list included veteran Democratic fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe and his family; and several New York political leaders, including former state Assembly Majority Leader Michael Bragman, Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields, former Rep. Floyd Flake and state Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, the Nassau County Democratic leader. Source - CNN

In summation, Hillary's Healthcare Fiasco, Travelgate, Pardongate and the Lincoln Bedroom Bed and Breakfast for Bucks are actual concrete Hillary experiences not the type of 'nebulous' "experience" Hillary is pointing to as a "qualification" to be the next President.

We perused Hillary's resume for the position of President and found where she had listed her 'experience' as First Lady as 'qualifications' to be the next President. She says she has "8 years of experience" but we can't find any specifics. None, zilch, nada.

Should we hire someone who claims they have "experience" but refuses to tell us what that experience consists of other than being married to someone who had the job.

If we use Hillary's definition of experience then Laura Bush should be running as well as Nancy Reagan, Betty Ford, or Barbara Bush.

By LBG
DBKP - The Hillary Experience: "I've Seen it Done"