November 4, 2003
NOW HE'S STEALING FROM CHILDREN?:
Clinton event tab exceeds proceeds (J. Patrick Coolican, 11/04/03, Seattle Times)
A charity fund-raiser for Seattle Hebrew Academy and two local arts groups, which brought former President Clinton to town, was a financial bust - though not for the 42nd president.Posted by Orrin Judd at November 4, 2003 5:27 PMThe September event at Marion McCaw Hall cost organizers $290,000 but brought in just $288,000, according to organizers - a shortfall of $2,000 sponsors blamed on sluggish ticket sales.
It's not known how much Clinton was paid, but he did charge for his Seattle appearance, according to his office. Neither his spokeswoman nor Foolproof Performing Arts, which produced the event, are talking about his fee. But in 2002, he charged no less than $100,000 for all but one of his speaking appearances, earning $9.5 million for the year, according to Sen. Hillary Clinton's personal financial disclosure form filed in May. When organizers realized they would have about 800 unsold tickets to the Sept. 16 event, they gave them away to community groups.
The Schultz Family Foundation, an event co-sponsor, salvaged the night for the Seattle Hebrew Academy - one of the three beneficiaries - by pledging $20,000 to the school beginning in 2004, according to the foundation.
This very bad news for the Democrats. Jewish People were among Clinton's strongest supporters (don't ask me why, he makes my skin crawl) and the grapevine of the Jewish fundraising underground (which is very strong) was that he would draw a huge crowd.
If Clinton is losing his alure to those folks, the Dems may well be in real trouble with Jewish voters in '04 unless they nominate Lieberman, which seems very unlikly
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at November 4, 2003 9:32 PMIts all about him ... what's the fuss?
Posted by: genecis at November 4, 2003 11:10 PM