Re: [Dems2008] Newest story on NPR Clintons' InfoUSA Ties Scrutinized

Man

 She will do anything.... I mean anything to get money and get into that White House...

 

 

I had heard that she was  losing super delegates. Some are ready to go to Obama, because she has gotten so negative.

Tim Dickson <tadviv@yahoo.com> wrote:

All Things Considered, February 13, 2008 · Political
campaigns spend thousands, even millions of dollars to
acquire good mailing lists.

Last year, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton took the
unusual step of renting out some of her lists. The
transaction once again highlights the Clintons'
connections to a businessman who now faces questions
from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reports from Clinton's campaign show that on Dec. 3,
it collected payment for renting out three mailing
lists, the sale of which netted them $8,225.

It was an unusual transaction, according to Roger
Craver, a liberal guru of the political direct-mail
industry.

"As a general rule, a campaign will not let its donor
list out into the markets until the campaign is over,"
he said. "This is the mother's milk of small-gift
fundraising, and they use these lists frequently."

There are no records that any other presidential
candidates rented out mailing lists last year.

Several sources who work in political consulting and
in direct mail, who would not speak for attribution,
said they were surprised by the deal, as well as its
low price.

According to one direct-mail professional, $800,000
would have seemed like a more plausible price for a
quality list. A political consultant suggested that
the list broker's unidentified client could have
rented the list as a sample one — to do a test-run
mailing.

But most intriguing of all was the renter of the
Clinton list: a list brokerage company that is a
subsidiary of one of the data-collection industry
titans, Info U.S.A.

Info U.S.A.'s CEO is Vinod Gupta, a close ally of both
Clintons. Gupta's empire also includes the Opinion
Research Corporation, which conducts the political
polling for the television network CNN.

Vin Gupta has a long history of giving and raising
campaign money for the Clintons, and gave $1 million
for the 2000 Millennium Celebration, a New Year's
Party thrown by the Clintons.

When he was president, Bill Clinton named Gupta to the
Kennedy Center board of directors. Gupta also got to
sleep in the Lincoln bedroom. He gave another million
to the Clinton Presidential Library.

The library is run by the National Archives, but Bill
Clinton raised the money for its construction and
always refused to identify his major donors.

Last fall, ABC News reported that the library rented
out a portion of its donor list to a list broker — the
same one that rented Hillary Clinton's campaign lists.

Gupta spent $900,000 of corporate money flying the
Clintons to various destinations. The Clinton campaign
said in May that Info U.S.A. had been reimbursed to
comply with federal campaigning and ethics rules.

After the Clintons left the White House, Gupta hired
Bill Clinton as a consultant. It's one of two
continuing business relationships he has had since
leaving office, and it has been worth $3.3 million, in
addition to the options on 100,000 shares of stock.

When challenged about that outlay of cash to the
former president, Gupta has said Clinton is worth $40
million to the company.

Kevin Starke is a stock analyst in Connecticut who
follows Gupta's company.

"If it were me, and I had hired Bill Clinton to the
tune of $3 million, I think I would try to make a
fairly distinct case for why that was money well
spent, and I'm not entirely clear on why he hasn't
done so," Starke said.

The corporate spending on behalf of the Clintons
helped fuel a shareholder lawsuit against Gupta and 10
corporate directors.

There are plenty of other allegations in the suit
about homes, cars, and a yacht for Gupta. A Delaware
chancery court judge dismissed some of the allegations
involving the Clintons. But the case is still
proceeding. It has led to an informal inquiry by the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which is also
asking if Gupta misspent corporate funds.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18958566

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