Clinton foundation’s global network overlaps with family’s political base
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Source: Washington Post
February 18 at 9:30 PM
Since its creation in 2001, the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation has raised close to $2 billion from a vast global network that includes corporate titans, political donors, foreign governments and other wealthy interests, according to a Washington Post review of public records and newly released contribution data.
The total, representing cash and pledges reported in tax filings, includes $262 million that was raised in 2013 the year Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped down as secretary of state and began to devote her energies to the foundation and to a likely second run for president.
The financial success of the foundation, which funds charitable work around the world, underscores the highly unusual nature of another Clinton candidacy. The organization has given contributors entree, outside the traditional political arena, to a possible president. Foreign donors and countries that are likely to have interests before a potential Clinton administration and yet are ineligible to give to U.S. political campaigns have affirmed their support for the familys work through the charitable giving.
The Post review of foundation data, updated this month on the groups Web site to reflect giving through 2014, found substantial overlap between the Clinton political machinery and the foundation. Nearly half of the major donors who are backing Ready for Hillary, a group promoting her 2016 presidential bid, as well as nearly half of the bundlers from her 2008 campaign, have given at least $10,000 to the foundation, either on their own or through foundations or companies they run.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clintons-raised-nearly-2-billion-for-foundation-since-2001/2015/02/18/b8425d88-a7cd-11e4-a7c2-03d37af98440_story.html?hpid=z3
Mere coincidence, I'm sure.
silverweb
(16,402 posts)[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]People with money who admire the Clintons' charitable work donate to it... and many of the same people admire Hillary and think she would be a good president. How is that a bad thing?
As long as the finances are clean, legal, and completely separate for both the foundation and the campaign, what's the problem?
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)From the article.
Divernan
(15,480 posts)The picture at this link says it all - 5 Haitian women working, while Clinton and a bunch of aid workers are standing around.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/datablog/2014/jan/10/haiti-earthquake-us-aid-funding-data
But worst, over 300 farmers family-plots in the Northeast of Haiti were converted into the industrial zone for Korean textile giant Sae-A Trading. The Korean factory is built on good agricultural lands taken from Haiti peasants farmers without their approval and further destroys Haiti food sovereignty. ( Video: A Brief History of Haiti that Every American Should Know.)
US citizens are the projects biggest investor and main owners, not Haiti. The Korean cover is useful to deflect the Clinton and US oligarchs intentions. The US one percent, make it a practice to use subcontractors, such as the Korean conglomerate, to deflect and preempt decent US consumer complaints of human rights abuses and unfair labor practices against the giant American companies the complex will service, such as GAP, Wal-Mart, Target and other major US retailers
http://www.ezilidanto.com/zili/2012/03/haiti-red-cross-misuse-quake-monies/
Instead of replacing housing for Haitians, the Clinton Foundation "facilitated" building a luxury hotel for business investors. http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/world/americas/haiti-hotel-clinton/index.html
Divernan
(15,480 posts)http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2013/07/clintons-pushed-most-wasteful-of-u-s-funded-haiti-projects/
Clintons Pushed Most Wasteful of U.S.-Funded Haiti Projects
JULY 02, 2013
Roughly half of the $1.14 billion that the U.S. government allocated to help Haiti recover from the 2010 earthquake has gone to wasteful projects with the single largest chunk$170.3 milliongoing to a failed port and power plant adventure heavily promoted by Bill Clinton and the State Department under the leadership if his beloved wife.
Can you say scandal? The former president, who has been heavily involved in distributing Haiti earthquake reconstruction funds, pushed hard for the power plant and port for an industrial park in northern Haiti billed as the centerpiece of the United States effort to help the ravaged island nation rebuild. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined her husband in the effort, making several trips to Haiti to promote the project and encourage foreigners to invest in it.
In fact, Bill and Hillary Clinton led a star-studded delegation last year to inaugurate the industrial park, located about 100 miles from Port-au-Prince, tied to the power plant and port. Hollywood actors, a famous fashion designer and a British business magnate joined the Clintons as did high-ranking Obama administration officials such as then Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
Hillary delivered a heart-felt speech saying we have been united behind a single goal making investments in this countrys people and your infrastructure that help put Haiti finally on the path to broad-based economic growth with a more vibrant private sector and less dependence on foreign assistance. And we believe that our work here in Haiti and here in the north is beginning to show results.
Not really, according to a federal audit of the $1.14 billion that Congress approved to help Haiti recover from the powerful earthquake that killed more than 200,000 and left over 1 million homeless. The probe was requested by a Florida congresswoman who chairs the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee because hundreds of millions have been spent in Haiti with virtually no accountability.
The Clinton-backed power and port venture is the biggest and most expensive failure mentioned in the report. An astounding $170.3 million later, it is years behind schedule, lacks a qualified engineer and has unrealistic timeframes. As a result, planning has been hindered, the report says, and funding will be insufficient to cover a majority of projected costs. It will take an additional $117 to $189 million to complete it and its unclear whether the Haitian government will be able to find a private sector company willing to finance the remainder of the project.
That means Uncle Sam must come to the rescue or the $170.3 million already wasted on the project will be lost. Either way, U.S. taxpayers get screwed. Besides the scandalous, Clinton-backed power and port experiment, congressional investigators found mismanagement of a crucial housing plan that was supposed to accommodate up to 90,000 Haitians. USAID claims it will only be able to handle 3,200 to 15,900 people at nearly double the original cost of $59 million. That means the cost per house is nearly triple the original estimate, according to the report.
Back to the Clinton prominence in all things Haiti; the United Nations named the former commander-in-chief as a special envoy to the island and his Clinton Foundation has raised $34 million for Haiti since the catastrophic earthquake hit. Additionally, the former president has distributed $54.4 million from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which was launched shortly after the earthquake. The fund closed in December after distributing the last of the money and claims that it has helped Haitians create a better future through smart, sustainable economic development though it acknowledges that much work remains to be done in Haiti.
Combined with the U.S. government money and other charities that have raised huge sums for Haiti earthquake recovery, the island has received billions to rebuild. Yet three years later, news report after news report reveals that a large number of Haitians still live in deplorable, shanty town tent cities and an ongoing epidemic of cholera has claimed thousands of lives. Makes you wonder if someone is pocketing the money.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)desperate
Divernan
(15,480 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)With the exception that OKNancy's response included only one assertion which most definitely is a fact, and just isn't that hard to figure out. YMMV.
http://www.thenation.com/article/klayman-watch#
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Sienna86
(2,148 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)OKNancy
(41,832 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)I'm pointing out the post by someone using Judicial Watch to slam the CLintons... just as I posted.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)... think Saudi Arabia wants as a quid pro quo for donating to the Clinton Foundation? Women's Rights?
Divernan
(15,480 posts)Tons of facts about how the Clintons exploited the Haitian tragedy, leaving the U.S. taxpayers on the hook for their bungled, "non-profit", pro-corporate meddling, and leaving thousands of Haitians living in mud and shacks years after the tragedy. You got nuthin', and your posts are ample proof of that.
Imagine Hillary in charge of FEMA and taking this exploitative, profiteering approach to national disasters in the U.S.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)This post does not meet the SOP for this forum:
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