If you thought the Tuzla story was embarrassing, this one really ought to cause the Clinton campaign to hang its collective head in shame:
According to a story published today at Politico.com, among the many bills not being paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign are the premiums for her staff's health care coverage:
Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out.
Clinton, who is being pressured to end her campaign against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, has made her plan for universal health care a centerpiece of her agenda.
Now, there isn't any direct video to go along with this story, so maybe the media won't take the bait -- but on the other hand, how about the zillion soundbites of Clinton portraying herself as the strongest candidate on health care?
The spin from the Clinton camp is that they have now paid those outstanding $292,000 bills -- but Politico provides important, and damning context:
[Spokesman Jay Carson] said the campaign this month paid off all outstanding bills to Aetna Healthcare and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. [...] But the unpaid bills to Aetna were at least two months old, according to FEC filings.
They show the campaign ended last year owing Aetna more than $213,000 for "employee benefits."
During the first two months of the year, the campaign did not pay down any of that debt. In fact, it accrued another $16,000 in unpaid bills last month, and it finished the month owing Aetna $229,000.
Sounds like CYA to me -- Is this a case of "the check is in the mail"? Did these bills really get paid in the normal course of things, or because of the breaking story?
This story continues the current media narrative, post-Tuzla, of Clinton's lack of credibility. It provides another simple means of portraying her as a self-aggrandizer who has one standard for others, and a different standard for herself -- saying one thing, and doing another.
In my view, the Clinton campaign should have been done weeks ago, given the stark reality of the numbers. Will this story be the final straw?