As Senator, Hillary Was Under Suspicion for Quid pro Quo Behavior

The New York Times February 1, 2001 Thursday

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/nyregion/01MATT.html


The Senator Doth Protest Too Little

By JOYCE PURNICK

LET us accept Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's contention that she was completely uninvolved in the presidential pardon of Marc Rich, a fugitive commodities trader accused of tax evasion. Ditto the former president's decision to reduce the sentences of four Hasidic men from New Square, N.Y., who were convicted of defrauding the government.

The facts argue for a more cynical interpretation, since Mr. Rich's former wife, Denise, is a prominent Democratic fund- raiser who pleaded her ex's case to Bill Clinton. She is so generous that she even gave the Clintons more than $7,000 worth of furniture for their new homes. And New Square, in Rockland County, is the only Hasidic community in the state (each votes as a bloc) to overwhelmingly support Mrs. Clinton. Then, after the election, Mrs. Clinton attended a White House meeting between the men's supporters and her husband; Mr. Clinton subsequently commuted the original sentences of 30 to 78 months to terms of 24 to 30 months.

So the facts do seem to undermine Mrs. Clinton's assertions of disinterest

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questions she was asked concerned the pardons, gifts and commutations. She had ample opportunity to thunder or at least show some indignation.

She could have seized the chance to send a strong message that she is not for sale and that nobody had dare get the wrong impression. She did not. She was cool, steely, contained. Her legalistic answers were reminiscent of her husband's infamously careful parsing of language when he was accused of infidelity. ("There is not a sexual relationship" -- emphasis added.)

The senator showed no anger, deflected questions with studied calm, never once drew herself up and said, "I don't make deals and I never will." Instead, Mrs. Clinton denied a connection between that White House meeting and the subsequent commutations of the Hasidic men, said she had no opinion about her husband's decisions, delivered a civics lecture about the powers of the executive branch and referred reporters to Mr. Clinton's transition office.

Asked about the Rich pardon and the reduced sentences of the Hasidic men, who were convicted of inventing a fictitious religious school to attract millions of dollars in government aid, she said: "I have no opinion. I had no opinion before, I had no opinion at the time, and I have no opinion now."

But, persisted a reporter, what about the perception of a quid pro quo?

Said the new senator: "I have to say, I've been around politics for so many years. I have no way of even guessing, let alone controlling, what anyone will say or think. I can only do the best job I can, and that's what I intend to do. There wasn't any connection and, you know, people will have to make their own judgments about it."

They have.