Why Some Companies Are Warning Others About Doing Business With the Hillary Clinton Campaign

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Questionable Questionnaire

Barack Obama, it turns out, had a lot to do with a 1996 campaign questionnaire his campaign has since disavowed as the erroneous work of staffers.

On it, Obama — then running for the Illinois senate — took ultraliberal positions on abortion, the death penalty and gun control. His aides now say Obama never saw or approved the questionnaire.

But the Politico newspaper reports he was actually interviewed by the questionnaire's sponsors and even sent them an amended copy with his own handwritten notes on it. Current Obama aide Tommy Vietor concedes the notes were Obama’s, but still insists the form was filled out by staff and did not reflect the candidate's views.

Cash Strapped

There is further evidence that the Hillary Clinton campaign has hit hard times. According to the Federal Elections Commission, Clinton owes $8.7 million in unpaid bills — some dating back months.

Related

A pair of Ohio companies are owed more than $25,000 each for staging Clinton campaign events and are warning other event producers to get cash up front when doing business with her. An employee of one of the companies told the Politico, "Senator Clinton talks about helping working families... but when it comes down to actually doing something that shows that she can back up her words with action, she fails."

The campaign says it is in the process of paying nearly $300,000 in overdue heath insurance premiums for its staff.

"Peace Has Come"

Remember the little Bosnian girl who read Clinton a poem during her 1996 visit to the country? Well, she says she is dismayed that the former first lady claimed to have dodged sniper fire that day.

Emina Bicakcic — now a 20-year-old student — told the New York Post, "I was surprised when I heard this... she was really listening. She was drinking in every word of my poem."

When asked if she feared any threat of violence that day Bicakcic said, "No. I was just excited. I wanted to look her in the eye and say 'thank you.'"

Bicakcic says she was reluctant to criticize Clinton because of the deep appreciation for the U.S. role in ending the violence in Bosnia. Ironically, her poem to Clinton began with the words "peace has come."

Ruffled Reporter

Former "Nightline" reporter David Marash has quit Al Jazeera English saying that his exit is due to a "reflexive adversarial editorial stance" against Americans at the channel.

Marash left the English-speaking wing of Al Jazeera on March 21 and his wife Amy left the week before. He said of the bias, "given the global feelings about the Bush administration, it's not surprising," but that he found it "became so stereotypical."

Marash — who is Jewish — says he was warned that he was being used as a propaganda tool. But he said, "I don't think anti-Semitism is a charge that Al Jazeera English should plead guilty to." Instead he says the problem "was more with my American accent and my American point of view."

FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.

See Political Grapevine Archive

ADVERTISEMENT

FOX NEWS VIDEOS



uASK|uREPORT

INTERVIEW

Blog Postings


  • Reversals, EPA, coups and the latest on Iran
    In a 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court ruled that a group of white firefighters from New Haven, CT were unfairly denied promotions because of their race—essentially, reverse discrimination.Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, was one of three appeals court judges who previously ruled against the firefighters. Now that the decision has been reversed what does [...]

    read post
  • Latest on climate bill, deadlines, apologies, and..affairs
    We’re expecting the Climate Change Bill to come up for afinal vote sometime between 6:15 and 6:30pm tonight and we will have it live. Republicans are saying the bill includes “the largest tax increase in American history,” but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has pledged to get the legislation passed before the July 4th recess. [...]

    read post
  • Climate change update
    The House has just started debating the climate change bill. They’ve allotted about three hours of debate for the issue. A final vote is expected about around 4:45pm-515pm EST. (We’ll have live coverage tonight) Republicans have decided against any “antics” to try to show the bill today. “We’re playing it straight,”said asenior Republican aide. “Either [...]

    read post
twitter
ADVERTISEMENT

VIDEO