Hillary still in bed with ‘96 scandal

Nearly one in five “HillRaisers,” the elite big-money fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, have ties to the 1990s fundraising scandal that tarnished her husband’s presidency by offering Democratic donors sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom and other perks inside the White House.

Forty-nine of the Clintons’ Lincoln Bedroom guests are among the 250 HillRaisers listed on Mrs. Clinton’s campaign Web page, who have pledged to gather, or “bundle,” at least $100,000 in donations. Some have promised to raise $1 million or more for the 2008 campaign, the most costly in U.S. history.

Some of the HillRaisers are longtime friends who have given millions to the Clintons over the years, including Washington socialite Beth Dozoretz, who played a key role in the controversial, last-minute 2000 pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

A Lincoln Bedroom visitor, Mrs. Dozoretz, raised $2 million for Mr. Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, $1 million for the Clinton presidential library and hosted a “rally-around-the-president party” that raised $1 million for Mr. Clinton’s legal defense in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Mrs. Dozoretz dismissed concerns about the overnight visits — raised by Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic primary rivals, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina — saying the Clintons had simply opened up the White House to friends.

“It is an experience that can be extraordinary, and Bill and Hillary Clinton sought to share it with a great number of people,” she told The Washington Times. “They believed the White House was the people’s house, and they shared it with as many people and in as many ways as possible.

“Having friends stay at the White House was in no way a quid pro quo for those who had contributed. No way,” she said.

So far in the 2008 campaign, Mrs. Dozoretz has given $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), $2,300 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, $12,650 to other Democrats and $4,200 to Mrs. Clinton, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer did not answer questions e-mailed to the campaign this week about the overnight visits and the HillRaisers. Instead, he responded with an e-mail saying, “The only commitment Hillary Clinton has made is to be the best president she can be for the American people.”

Mrs. Clinton, who has raised more than $118 million so far for her 2008 race, has acknowledged that campaign donors were invited to spend the night in the second-floor Lincoln Bedroom but denied that the visits were in exchange for campaign donations.

“There’s certainly no basis for believing that they are anything other than what they are, which is friends and supporters,” she told reporters in 1996. “There just really isn’t any reason for anybody to raise any questions about it. The Lincoln Bedroom was never sold.”

Broken system

According to a study by the Committee for Responsive Politics (CRP), a bipartisan watchdog group, 15 of the Lincoln Bedroom guests in 1996 who are now HillRaisers also contributed $130,000 to Mrs. Clinton’s 2000 Senate race. Those same high rollers forked over $1.4 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and to other Democratic candidates.

The donations flowed despite complaints that the Lincoln Bedroom mattress was lumpy.

Collectively, according to the records, the Lincoln Bedroom guests, which totaled 938 including spouses and children, contributed $10.2 million to Democrats, including Mr. Clinton, an average of $10,847 each.

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