What about Bill’s Funny Money?

Lest you think the only fishy money these days is the money raised by Hillary fundraiser extraordinarie Norman Hsu, it bears noting that husband Bill has been earning and raising some pretty hefty sums and in some questionable ways.

Note this Wall Street Journal story on Bill’s aide Douglas Band:

Mr. Band, a Florida native, joined the Clinton administration as an intern in 1995 and rose to become the president’s personal aide. In 1998, he was interviewed by investigators for independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who were looking into Mr. Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Mr. Band told them he got to know Ms. Lewinsky at the White House and, at her request, had accompanied her to the 1995 White House ball, according to an interview memorandum prepared by investigators.

[. . .]

When Mr. Clinton left office in 2001, Mr. Band stayed with him. Without his young aide, Mr. Clinton said in a 2003 speech, “I could not get through the day.” Adds one longtime Clinton associate: “When Doug calls up, it’s like having the president call up.”

Given the large sums of money involved, and the presidential campaign, it is only a matter of time before these funds and relationships come under some scrutiny:

As he embarked on his post-presidency life, Mr. Clinton and his wife had relatively few assets and millions of dollars in legal bills. Over the next half decade, he hopscotched the globe, often with Mr. Band at his side, giving speeches at up to $450,000 a pop. He raised large sums for his library and his foundation and snagged nearly $10 billion in commitments through the Clinton Global Initiative.

To help keep Mr. Band from accepting job offers in the private sector, arrangements were made to supplement his income, people familiar with the matter say. Mr. Burkle’s Yucaipa operation, for example, paid Mr. Band through a company called SGRD, these people say. In 2001, Mr. Band and a family member set up two entities in Florida using the SGRD name, public records indicate. Mr. Clinton’s spokesman didn’t respond to questions about Mr. Band’s financial relationships, other than the one with Mr. Follieri.

Do we really want the Clinton’s back in the White House with even more funny money and who knows how many promised payoffs? Bill and Hillary have brought scandal and questionable ethics wherever they have gone. Don’t look for that to magically change just because Hillary is the candidate and Bill the loyal spouse.

What Role for Bill?

David Broder offers his thoughts on the the frontrunning Hillary Clinton based on his reading of the recent Carl Bernstein biography. His conclusion raises an important and interesting question:

But one thing is absolutely clear. Her marriage is the central fact in her life, and this partnership of Bill and Hillary Clinton is indissoluble. She cannot function without him, and he would not have been president without her. If she becomes president, he will play as central a role in her presidency as she did in his. And that is something the country will have to ponder.

This is related to the question I asked yesterday: is America willing to have four more years of Clinton’s in the White House? Broder is right that Bill and Hillary are in many ways an inseparable political unit. You simply can’t elect Hillary without getting Bill.

Hillary would clearly like to take advantage of Bill’s popularity and yet somehow avoid the connection with his less desirable traits. Hillary has talked about sending him around the world to build relationships with allies and potential allies, but the question remains: is the whole two-for-one bargain worth risking again? Hillary’s policy and staffing involvement in the first Clinton administration was a disaster. Is it likely that a role reversal between Bill and Hillary will lead to better results?

If he is a major policy adviser she can’t fire him. If he isn’t will she be able to keep him from being a gigantic distraction? How will elected officials and staff deal with a former president as first hubby? What happens when the inevitable – there has never been a period in their life when this wasn’t an issue – rumours of infidelity begin to circulate? This is really uncharted territory.

How can you view their history and expect anything but an endless series of conflicts, scandals, and drama. Broder is right, this is clearly something American voters need to contemplate.