Clinton Foundation Took Money From Firms Lobbying Hillary Clinton State Department, Paying Bill Clinton

Last Sunday the acting CEO of the Clinton Foundation, Maura Pally, posted a statement on the Clinton Foundation's blog that the organization was "committed to transparency," and was planning on refiling tax forms "for some years," after recent reports showed they were inaccurate. Unfortunately for Pally, more stories have come out since Sunday of how the Clinton Foundation operated - none of which paint a pretty picture.

More problematic than non-disclosure of donors is what those that donated received or may have been looking to receive in return. One estimate notes that at least 181 companies, individuals, and foreign governments gave money to the Clinton Foundation while lobbying the State Department when Hillary Clinton was in charge. Not all of which were disclosed despite an agreement between Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration to disclose them.

Perhaps more troubling is that Hillary Clinton's State Department reportedly gave out roughly $40 million in government contracts to firms that were lobbying her and paying money to former President Bill Clinton.
Under US corruption laws there has to be a clear quid pro quo which Hillary Clinton appears to have gotten awful close to.

Many of the companies that paid Bill Clinton for these speeches -- a roster of global giants that includes Microsoft, Oracle and Dell -- engaged him within the same three-month period in which they were also lobbying the State Department in pursuit of their policy aims, federal disclosure documents show. Several companies received millions of dollars in State Department contracts while Hillary Clinton led the institution. 

The disclosure that President Clinton received personal payments for speeches from the same corporate interests that were actively seeking to secure favorable policies from a federal department overseen by his wife underscores the vexing issue now confronting her presidential aspirations: The Clinton family is at the center of public suspicions over the extent of insider dealing in Washington, emblematic of concerns that corporate interests are able to influence government action by creatively funneling money to people in power.

You can say that again. In fact, that is surely one of the reasons these stories have caught on - they confirm something true about the Clintons even if they have not provided - as of yet - a smoking gun. The stories confirm the fear many have that a second Clinton Administration will be much like the first - an executive branch run by an incestuous elite of government and corporate bureaucrats that focuses entirely on their own interests while in power.

The experiment has been run and it gave us the crash of 2008 and record inequality and dampening opportunities. Should we do the same thing again and expect different results?

Clinton Foundation Dealings Become Headache For Hillary Clinton Campaign

Hillary Clinton's campaign for president had already gotten off to a rough start with the deleted email controversy, now the Clinton Foundation is back in the news after it was revealed that the non-profit took even more money from entities Hillary Clinton helped when she served as Secretary of State.

Foreign governments and businesses giving money to a foundation run by the family of the Secretary of State is, not surprisingly, a problem. Taking money from people, organizations, and governments makes it harder to treat them objectively. The Obama White House told Hillary Clinton to at least disclose the donations her family's organizations were receiving - an order she did not always follow.

The conflicts are beginning to add up, the Clinton Foundation had a financial relationship with:

• A Canadian agency promoting the Keystone XL pipeline; State Department ruled Keystone XL would not hurt the environment or adversely contribute to climate change.
• Business interests seeking support for the Colombian Free Trade Agreement, which was received.
• The Moroccan government which sought better relations with the Clinton family.
• Cisco which built censorship tools in China; State Department gave award to firm for "corporate citizenship, innovation and democratic principles.”
• Russian state company that bought a Canadian uranium mining concern after donation to Clinton Foundation.

And there is likely more to come as soon to be released book called "Clinton Cash" about the Clinton Foundation's dealings will be featured extensively in the New York Times and Fox News. 

The Clinton organizations will reportedly refile their taxes after the latest series of revelations, but that does not mean the Clinton's are planning a full disclosure any time soon. The perpetual calculators may still think it is worth the risk to withhold. 

Hillary Clinton Used Private Email When Secretary Of State Outside Federal Records Law

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton only used private email while holding her state department office according to a report in The New York Times.The report claims Clinton did not have a government email address during the four years she served as Secretary of State nor did her staff preserve her private email which puts Clinton arguably out of compliance with the Federal Records Act.

Under the Federal Records Act emails written and received by a federal official are considered government records and have to be preserved and archived. This archive provides the basis for review either by other parts of the federal government or the public at large. By not keeping accessible records Clinton's work can not be reviewed - a tempting proposition for any politician that is, in theory, neutralized by the need to be compliant with the Federal Records Act.

Two months ago, in response to a new records initiative from the State Department and years after she stepped down, former Secretary Clinton's staff submitted 55,000 pages to be part of the record. What criteria the staff used to rule which private communication should be submitted for the record - and which should not - is not clear.

Regulations from the National Archives and Records Administration at the time required that any emails sent or received from personal accounts be preserved as part of the agency’s records.But Mrs. Clinton and her aides failed to do so.

How many emails were in Mrs. Clinton’s account is not clear, and neither is the process her advisers used to determine which ones related to her work at the State Department before turning them over.

Given it was Secretary Clinton's private email account there were obviously numerous emails sent during her tenure as Secretary of State that had nothing to do with her government work making submitting the entirety of Clinton's private email records problematic - which, of course, is exactly the reason why government officials are supposed to have official government email accounts. This is a problem Clinton created by not following the rules.

It is no secret why Hillary Clinton is getting increased scrutiny now. She is reportedly preparing to openly announce her intentions to run for president in April though it will hardly come as a surprise to anyone. The Clinton machine has been gearing up for months and, despite some early stumbles, appears ready to grab the nomination or at least make a solid effort to do so.

The open records scandal comes after news broke about foreign governments making donations to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. A State Department spokesperson backed away from earlier claims that all donations have been reviewed by ethics lawyers to avoid conflicts of interest.