Sunday, February 10, 2008

Questions over Hillary Clinton's Family Wealth

The Clintons can't seem to do anything without it being dishonest or crooked:

Hillary Clinton is coming under growing pressure to be more open about the sources of her family’s wealth after she revealed that she had been forced to loan her cash-strapped campaign $5 million.

Critics are claiming that her husband Bill Clinton’s lucrative financial dealings since leaving the White House may expose her campaign to conflicts of interest, and are calling for her to publish the full details of her earnings and assets.

Sen Clinton has made more than $9 million from her 2003 memoirs.

But the biggest earner in the family is the former president, who is finalising an estimated $20 million pay-out from a six-year stint as an investment fund advisor, and has raked in many millions more from consultancy deals, speeches and his writings.

The couple left the White House with $2 million in legal debts in 2001 but are now worth between $10 million and $50 million, according to her latest Senate financial disclosure filings, which allow candidates to list their assets in broad ranges.

Mrs Clinton can put half the funds held jointly with her husband towards her presidential bid under campaign finance laws.

By contrast, her rival Barack Obama emphasised last week that he released his annual tax returns, which break down earnings and assets in detail.

“I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from,” he said pointedly.

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