"Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House's efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."
Statement of Senator Hillary Clinton on President Bush's commutation of the prison term for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
The Scooter Libby commutation is a microcosm of the Culture of Corruption, a key issue in the Democratic party's takeover of Congress in 2006. It shows the disregard for judicial norms, the corruption, and the abuse of office that have come to characterize the Bush Era.
Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton is not a credible critic of this Culture of Corruption, and certainly not of this episode.#
In 2008, we need someone with credibility on the issue of corruption and abuse of office if we are to take on St. John McCain, whose reputation for ethical behavior is overstated, but whose track record still outshines that of the Clintons.
The full vetting below the fold.
So, let's talk about abuses of office and cronyism involving executive pardons and commutations.
In the Clinton administration.
There are many such abuses to focus on. In the interest of brevity, we'll focus on two.
I. The New Square Four
The New Squ--who?
About New Square, New York.
New Square (Hebrew: שיכון סקווירא) is an all-Hasidic village in the Town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Its inhabitants are predominantly members of the Skverer Hasidic movement who seek to maintain a lifestyle based on Hasidic teachings.
The village is administered by a Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and a Board of Trustees. Although elections take place, the officials generally run unopposed and actual voting is minimal. It is generally understood that officials running for office, are endorsed by Rabbi Twersky, the village's spiritual leader.
The upshot here, for external purposes, is that this community votes as a bloc in elections. People are told how to vote, and they comply.
So, what does this have to do with Hillary Clinton?
As it turns out, four men from New Square were convicted of fraud because they "
used a fictitious Jewish school to defraud the government of millions of dollars in education grants. "
Specifically, Pell grants that should go to needy students.
Okay, okay. But what does that have to do with Hillary Clinton!?!?!?!
As it turns out, the village elders had a number of meetings with Bill and Hillary. The first was in August 2000.
The first took place in the Rockland County village of New Square last August, while she was running for the Senate. State party operatives thought the tiny community--which had often voted in a bloc in the past--was a promising one for Hillary in her race against Republican Rick Lazio. Following Hasidic custom, Hillary covered her head and chatted about the village's health-care services from across a coffee table, on which a tall bouquet of flowers served as the traditional screen that Hasidim require between the sexes. As far as anyone knows, that was a campaign event only; no pardons were mentioned.
(emphasis added)
This is all rather curious, since New Square normally voted 90% Republican and in 2000 "nearby Hasidic communities voted just as overwhelmingly for her opponent, former Rep. Rick Lazio, R-N.Y."
So they have that meeting, and what is the final voting result in New Square for the Senate race?
Hillary Clinton: 1400
Rick Lazio: 12
Not 1200. 12. As in one short of a baker's dozen.
You can probably guess where this is going.
The next session came four months later, after the sect had delivered nearly 1,400 votes for Hillary and only 12 for Lazio. On the morning of Dec. 22, Grand Rabbi David Twersky and an associate went to the White House and tearfully appealed to the President to pardon Benjamin Berger, David Goldstein, Jacob Elbaum and Kalman Stern. Hillary attended the meeting in the White House Map Room but insists she did not participate in the conversation. "I did not play any role whatsoever," she told the Associated Press. "I had no opinion about it."
Mmmmm hmmmmmm. Was Senator Clinton even there?
Why, yes!
But, despite the fact that Hillary had campaigned for their vote, and the fact that they had delivered 99% of their votes to get her elected, and the fact that she was Bill's closest advisor who sounded off on every policy decision, she "knew nothing. Nothing!"
Because, of course, the two meetings and the town delivering its votes en masse for her Senatorial campaign had "nothing. Nothing!" to do with what happened a few weeks later:
Bill's commutation of the sentences of the four convicted fraudsters during his last days in office.
But, I'm sure that was based solely on the merits and had "nothing. Nothing!" to do with the town's voting for his wife. And if it was discussed, she knew "nothing. Nothing!" about it.
For the record, there was an investigation by the US Attorney (Clinton appointee), and no hard evidence or paper trail was discovered.
II. Marc Rich.
This one is pretty straightforward.
Marc Rich (born Marc David Reich on December 18, 1934) is an international commodities trader. He fled the United States in 1983 to live in Switzerland while being prosecuted on charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis.[citation needed]
The exact kind of poor, oppressed person for whom the scales of justice demand executive intervention.
Of course, the fact that Marc Rich's ex-wife Denise had donated
$450,000 dollars to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library and tens of thousands of dollars in soft money to the DNC and to Hillary's Senate campaign had "nothing. Nothing!" to do with this.
As in the case of the New Square Four, there were no receipts or other forms of paper trail, so there was no evidence to support a prosecution.
In justifying this pardon, Clinton pointed to the fact that Rich's pardon had been sought by a 'distinguished Republican attorney'.
The name of that 'distinguished Republican attorney?'
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Notes:
#Query: Does Senator Clinton believe that perjurors should do prison time?