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| A Donor's Gift Soon Followed Clinton's Help |
| 2009-01-04 |
| An upstate New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton's foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman's mall project. Mrs. Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert J. Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse. Mrs. Clinton also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction. The bill with the tax-free bonds provision became law in October 2004, weeks before the donation, and the highway bill with the set-aside became law in August 2005, about nine months after the donation. Mr. Congel and Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, both said there was no connection between his donation and her legislative work on his project's behalf. Mr. Reines said Mrs. Clinton supported the expansion of Carousel mall "purely as part of her unwavering commitment to improving upstate New York's struggling economy, and nothing more." Mr. Clinton set up his foundation as he was leaving the White House and as his wife was transforming herself from first lady to United States senator from New York. The William J. Clinton Foundation finances Mr. Clinton's presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., as well as programs that work on AIDS, poverty, climate change and other causes worldwide. Donations to charities favored by lawmakers have been a recent ethics flashpoint in Congress, including the controversy over Representative Charles B. Rangel's fund-raising from businesses with interests before the House Ways and Means Committee, which he leads, for a center named after him at the City College of New York. In 2007, Congress enacted a law requiring companies and their lobbyists to disclose donations to charities associated with lawmakers. But there is no law requiring former presidents to disclose money they collect for their foundations. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Shocked, I am! Next you'll be telling me that Bill's charitable foundations foot the bills for him to travel the planet in style. The former head of United Way when to jail for 8 years for about the same thing, but he didn't have people in high places. |
| Posted by: hammerhead 2009-01-04 20:32 |
| #4 Shocked, I am! Next you'll be telling me that Bill's charitable foundations foot the bills for him to travel the planet in style. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2009-01-04 13:28 |
| #3 My oh my ! What a coincidence ! |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 2009-01-04 11:45 |
| #2 Why this is a stunning and blockbuster of a developtment. In related news. TALLAHASSEE Family pet Pit-bull Jawa Destroyed. 10 Times convicted of attacking hoomans. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-01-04 07:26 |
| #1 Pyramid mission statement. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-01-04 06:16 |