Clinton Confirmation: Charity Divulging Overseas Donations
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WASHINGTON — Lawmakers want more details on an agreement between Hillary Rodham Clinton and President-elect Barack Obama intended to ensure that her husband's charitable work would not pose a conflict of interest if she is confirmed as secretary of state.
In a plan made public last year and outlined in a Jan. 5 letter by former President Bill Clinton's lawyer, ethics officials at the State Department will be allowed to review overseas contributions made to Bill Clinton's charity. The State Department also will be able to assess in advance the former president's consulting work and speaking engagements.
The plan is intended to ensure that Bill Clinton's work would not conflict with his wife's duties as the nation's top diplomat. Countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, as well as the State Department contractor Blackwater, have contributed to his charitable foundation, which financed his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., and efforts to reduce poverty and treat AIDS.
Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview Monday that he and other senators want to know whether any overseas contributions might be excluded from the oversight requirement and exactly how the disclosure process will work.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to testify before the panel on Tuesday.
Kerry said that while members want to ensure proper oversight, he does not see any sticking points that would prevent the Senate from eventually confirming Clinton.
"There's no stumbling block," he said.
Last month, the William J. Clinton Foundation opened its books for the first time, disclosing online the names of its 205,000 donors and the range of their contributions. Among the donations was between $10 million and $25 million from the Saudi Arabian government and between $10,001 and $25,000 from Blackwater Training Center.
A spokesman for Obama said at the time that an agreement had been reached with the foundation to continue to disclose its donors on an annual basis.
In his letter this month to State Department Deputy Legal Counsel James Thessin, David Kendall confirmed that the department's ethics officials will be able to assess contributions of countries "that elect to increase materially their commitments" to the foundation. The State Department also will be able to assess any plans Bill Clinton has for consulting work and review potential speaking engagements two weeks in advance.
Kendall called the steps voluntary and said they go "above and beyond" the law and ethics regulations. In a separate letter to Thessin, Hillary Clinton said she wanted to avoid "even the appearance of a conflict" and asked that she be advised on any further steps she can take to "avoid any actual or apparent conflicts of interest."
In advance of the hearing, Hillary Clinton has been reaching out to individual senators through telephone calls and lengthy sit-down meetings, including an hourlong meeting last month with Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Republicans are not expected to try to block Clinton's appointment and have even been generous in their praise of Clinton, who spent eight years as the junior senator from New York.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said she expresses herself well and won't make any "rookie mistakes." When asked what she wanted to discuss with Clinton, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said how to "build on America's role as an Arctic nation," as well as major issues like the crisis in the Middle East and nonproliferation efforts.
Likewise, Democrats said they want to probe Clinton on matters they believe should take precedence when she takes office.
"We've basically been talking ourselves around the world," said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who served with Clinton on the Armed Services Committee.
Webb said he has told Clinton in private discussions that the U.S. should establish diplomatic ties with Iran and that he thinks NATO expansion has gone too far. He also said the U.S. needs to pay more attention to Asian countries other than just China and that Afghanistan must take priority as the U.S. moves troops out of Iraq.
While Webb declined to say how Clinton responded, he said he is confident she'll handle the job.
"I think she's going to do a great job. I really mean that," Webb said. "She's got the intellect for it. She's been around the world. She's really anxious to do some good things."
The committee is expected to vote on Clinton's appointment on Thursday, before the start of a separate confirmation hearing for Susan Rice, Obama's pick for U.N. ambassador.
If approved by the panel, Clinton could be confirmed by the full Senate after Obama takes office on Jan. 20.
On Monday night, outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Stephen Hadley hosted a dinner for Clinton and Hadley's successor, retired Gen. James Jones at the State Department, officials said.
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ANNE FLAHERTY 01/12/09 06:53 PM ET Associated Press