NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Dirty money may taint Clinton campaign

By Peter Huck
NZ Herald·
4 Oct, 2013 07:07 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hillary Clinton has strong support among Democrats for a run at the 2016 presidency when President Obama leaves office. Photo / AP

Hillary Clinton has strong support among Democrats for a run at the 2016 presidency when President Obama leaves office. Photo / AP

The past may be another country, but in the ongoing political saga that is Hillary Clinton's life, the past is always lurking in the wings ready to spring a nasty surprise.

It came as no surprise this week when CNN axed a docudrama about the former Secretary of State, US Senator and First Lady - the prospect of a primetime TV show had ignited a firestorm of vitriol among Hillary haters - as she ponders a 2016 presidential run when Barack Obama leaves the Oval Office.

Her iconic status in US politics, fundraising clout, passionate support base and political skills, honed since her youth as a 1960s student activist, make her a formidable adversary.

A proposed NBC mini-series met the same fate. Democrats feared the films might tarnish Clinton before a 2016 challenge; Republicans feared a hagiography and threatened to boycott network presidential debates.

Charles Ferguson, the CNN director, venting on the Huffington Post, said the Clinton camp refused to talk. Even Republicans, in a backhanded nod to Hillary's prowess, swore omerta. "It's a victory for the Clintons, and for the money machines that both political parties have become," wrote Ferguson.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ah money. Presidential elections are big business. Clinton's 2008 White House bid raised US$229.4 million ($276.4 million). She was eclipsed by Obama whose take hit a record US$1.073 billion. But since 2010, when the Supreme Court Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision allowed individuals, unions and corporations to channel unlimited funds to candidates via super PACS [Political Action Committees], the floodgates have opened.

Beyond a few "guiding principles" super PACS are laxly regulated; money raised and spent must be reported to the FEC, and it is illegal to channel funds into personal use or coordinate super PAC and campaign spending.

Michael Beckel, a reporter with the Centre for Public Integrity, warns super PACs are "an easy tool" to hustle money using someone else's name. One such person appears to be John Gibson, a self-described "billionaire in training" behind the Time for Hillary super PAC. A CPI investigation suggests Gibson is a grifter who as "J.R. Worthington" exploited Clinton's fame for profit. "We have strong evidence to suggest John Gibson was using the alias J.R. Worthington and promising to register a million new voters when the website is little more than an online store," says Beckel.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Gibson is of peripheral concern to Clinton (there is no evidence she knew him or benefited from Time for Hillary), but an evolving Washington DC corruption scandal - revealing the dangers for political candidates on the money trail - may pose a threat.

It involves a DC accountancy firm, Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates, that US prosecutors call an "assembly line for illegal campaign contributions". This includes off-the-books contributions to various candidates - including almost US$50,000 to Clinton's 2008 campaign. The firm received over US$69 million in US and DC contracts in the last decade.

The man at the centre is the firm's ex-CEO Jeffrey Thompson who is being investigated by a grand jury. Other players include his publicist, Jeanne Clarke Harris, convicted in 2012 for making straw donations from a businessman to Troy White, convicted for failing to declare US$608,750 spent on "street teams" to promote Clinton in Texas.

There is no evidence Clinton - who attended a 2007 fundraiser at Thompson's DC firm - was aware of any wrongdoing and her 2008 team is co-operating with investigators. The danger is that Clinton's enemies - should she run in 2016 - may exploit such murky dealings to smear her.

Discover more

Entertainment

Hillary Clinton mini-series scrapped

01 Oct 03:00 AM
World

US Govt grinds to budget halt over impasse on healthcare

01 Oct 04:30 PM
World

Boehner's reputation on the line

01 Oct 06:28 PM
Entertainment

TV picks of the week: The host's gone west

03 Oct 02:33 AM

Tracking dubious money is increasingly a problem in US politics: Clinton had to return US$850,000 in 2008 after two schemes led to the conviction of Norman Hsu and William Danielczyk on campaign finance violations.

"Whenever a campaign has pressure to raise incredible amounts of money, you run the risk for developing associations you didn't know you have," says Bob Biersack, senior fellow with the Centre for Responsive Politics.

The key is due diligence to avoid time bombs that may explode at a crucial moment. "Whenever these allegations surface you have to deal with it. "

Meanwhile, her party's nomination is Clinton's for the asking. A recent CNN/ORC International poll gave her 65 per cent support among Democrats and Independents, with 10 per cent for Vice-President Joe Biden. A super-PAC, Ready for Hillary, had raised US$1.25 million by June's end. Clinton's silence on her intentions has not discouraged growing media speculation on a 2016 run - and what pitfalls lie in wait. Last week the New Yorker, a liberal magazine, asked if a "Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign is a good idea - for the Democratic Party, our collective sanity, even for her?" Would a Clinton campaign derail in a "train wreck".

One potential minefield is the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Could there be a conflict of interest, with rich donors expecting payback in a Hillary White House?

If she runs there are fears Republicans will resurrect the ghosts of her husband's tumultuous presidency. But would her demographic - youth, women and minorities - care about events that happened in the 1990s?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Then there's her legacy as Secretary of State. Part of this was damage control - she visited 112 nations - rolling out US soft power to repair the harm done to America's image by the George W. Bush neo-conservatives.

But there's always been a clenched fist inside the velvet glove. She backed sanctions against Iran - that arguably helped broker what may be a rapprochement with the US - and, last month, air strikes against Syria.

She also faced down Republican efforts to cripple her prospects, after US security flaws were exposed when four Americans, including the US ambassador, were killed by armed men in a 2012 raid in Benghazi, Libya. Besides meeting politicians and diplomats, Clinton touted a transformative "21st century diplomacy" that focused on using "smart power" to tackle grassroots issues.

In 1995, as First Lady, she led the US delegation to a United Nations conference in Beijing and stressed that "women's rights are human rights". This remains a core belief, linked to sustainable development and political stability.

"It's time for a full and clear-eyed look at how far we have come, how far we still have to go and what we plan to do together about the unfinished business of the 21st century - the full and equal participation of women," she told the Clinton Global Initiative last week in New York. It sounds like unfinished business and a potential 2016 presidential election plank.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Russia launches 400 drones, missile in latest Ukraine assault

World

US agents seize $16m in crypto tied to Sinaloa cartel in major busts

World

LA protests: Pentagon pulls back half of guard troops


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

Russia launches 400 drones, missile in latest Ukraine assault
World

Russia launches 400 drones, missile in latest Ukraine assault

The attacks left one woman dead and more than two dozen people wounded.

16 Jul 09:28 AM
US agents seize $16m in crypto tied to Sinaloa cartel in major busts
World

US agents seize $16m in crypto tied to Sinaloa cartel in major busts

16 Jul 08:33 AM
LA protests: Pentagon pulls back half of guard troops
World

LA protests: Pentagon pulls back half of guard troops

16 Jul 08:24 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP