AP News, November 15th, 2007
Former President Clinton's nonprofit foundation raised more than $135 million last year as his wife ramped up her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to tax forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service.
Donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation jumped by nearly 70 percent since 2005, when the nonprofit raised more than $80 million. Contributions to the library have tripled since 2003, the year before Clinton's museum and archives opened in downtown Little Rock, Ark.
The foundation on Thursday reported more than $208 million in assets in its annual tax return and $91.8 million in expenses. The Little Rock-based foundation raised more than $80 million in 2005, past returns show.
The nonprofit funds Clinton's efforts on HIV/AIDS prevention and environmental policy as well as programs at his presidential library in Little Rock. The $165 million glass and steel library complex opened in November 2004.
The foundation is not required by law to release donor information and the tax forms did not identify contributors by name. Officials said when Clinton's presidential library opened in 2004 that it would include a wall recognizing contributors. So far, that wall has not been installed.
Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has faced questions about her husband's foundation and whether it should reveal the names of donors as she seeks the Democratic Party's nomination.
Massie Ritsch, a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, said presidential library foundation's like Clinton's could be used by donors as an end-run around federal campaign finance laws. Unlike presidential campaigns, the Clinton Foundation and other presidential library foundations can accept donations from corporations and foreign countries.
"This creates potential conflicts of interest because donors to the presidential libraries may be giving so they can curry favor and get access with the relative of the person whose name is on the library," Ritsch said. "The rules for donations that presidential libraries can accept are much looser than what candidates can accept for their campaigns."
The foundation's board of directors includes Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic Party boss who is chairman of Sen. Clinton's campaign. McAuliffe did not receive any pay for his post with the foundation.
Bruce Lindsey, a longtime adviser to the former president and the chief executive of the foundation, was paid $254,000 last year while foundation executive director Stephanie Streett was paid $112,000. Deepak Verma, chief operating officer of Clinton's HIV/AIDS initiative, was paid $138,542 last year.
More than $85 million of the foundation's expenses went toward program services, while the foundation spent $3.7 million on fundraising. The foundation raised $12.6 million through a fundraiser honoring the former president's 60th birthday.
The foundation reported $7.6 million in liabilities, including a $1.8 million mortgage from Metropolitan National Bank for the museum store. The foundation paid off the $14.9 million remaining on a $26.5 million loan it took from the Bank of America for library construction.
The library raised $1.5 million from its museum store, which sells Clinton-related souvenirs and books about the 42nd president.
The foundation also reported paying $30 million in grants to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, an organization formed by former presidents George H.W. Bush and Clinton to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
___
On the Net:
Clinton Foundation: http://www.clintonfoundation.org
