-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Controversies Test Clinton in Senate Pardons Cloud Her Political Prospects Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she did not know her brother Hugh Rodham had lobbied her husband, former president Bill Clinton, for pardons. (Dennis Cook - AP) _____The Marc Rich File_____ • Letters to Bill Clinton: 21 prominent public figures beg pardon for the fugitive financier. _____From Saturday's Post_____ • 4 Pardons Probed for Ties to N.Y. Senate Bid(The Washington Post, Feb 24, 2001) • Controversies Test Clinton in Senate(The Washington Post, Feb 24, 2001) • Drug Felon's Powerful Supporters Retreat on Pardon(The Washington Post, Feb 24, 2001) • Clinton's Brother Promised Pardons(The Washington Post, Feb 24, 2001) _____Clinton Accused_____ • Background: Pardons and Gifts What's Your Opinion? E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Subscribe to The Post By John Lancaster Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, February 24, 2001; Page A06 Ever since her swearing-in last month, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has tried to play the dutiful freshman. She has plunged into the arcana of health care and taxes, tended to her New York constituents and done her best to shun publicity as she works to hammer out a political identity separate from that of her husband. It was never an easy task. This week it got even harder. As if she had not already absorbed her fill of criticism over gifts and presidential pardons, the former first lady now has to deal with the fallout from one of the most damaging revelations yet: That her brother, Hugh Rodham, accepted $400,000 to lobby the White House for pardons on behalf of two convicted felons. Though Clinton insisted at a news conference Thursday that she had never discussed pardons with her husband -- and proclaimed herself "heartbroken and shocked" by Rodham's involvement -- the disclosures dealt another blow to Clinton's standing on Capitol Hill and squelched any talk among Democrats of her presidential prospects for 2004. Yesterday came more bad news. According to a law enforcement source, the U.S. attorney's office in New York is examining whether former president Bill Clinton commuted the sentences of four Hasidic Jews convicted of fraud in exchange for Hasidic votes for his wife's Senate race. Even Democrats who hold Sen. Clinton blameless for what they perceive as Rodham's -- and her husband's -- ethical missteps complain that the continuing furor over pardons is drowning out their message on major policy issues, such as tax cuts, on which they have differences with the Bush administration. "This is all a fairly large distraction," said a senior Democratic leadership aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Now that the other party is in the White House, Democrats are fighting to get air time on our issues and it's a lot harder when these issues are taken up by pardons and others concerning the Clintons, and I think that's a frustration both for staff and for senators." Notwithstanding the latest disclosures, no one is writing Sen. Clinton off as a political force. She is nothing if not battle-hardened, having weathered the scandals that dogged her husband's administration and then gone on to triumph in last year's bruising race with former Republican congressman Rick Lazio. Admirers say she will ride out the latest storms in much the same way, confronting them when she has no other choice but otherwise staying focused on the long-term objectives of her new office. "One of the strategies that both the president and Hillary employed in the White House during difficult periods was a real bifurcation of focus," said a confidant of the former first lady who asked not to be identified. "They would focus on the scandal du jour when necessary and then instantly return to focus on the longer-term goals and priorities. . . . She has an incredible ability to avoid distraction." Clinton's ability to switch gears was amply demonstrated at the Russell Senate Office Building on Thursday afternoon. After fielding a barrage of questions on the pardons at a news conference, she made a beeline for a clutch of giggling high schoolers, chatting with them for several minutes about their trip to Washington. Then she headed into a meeting with legislative staff to discuss an economic plan for depressed areas of upstate New York. But Clinton also acknowledged Thursday that her senatorial debut has been little short of disastrous. "I'm very disappointed about what's gone on for the last weeks," she said. "It is certainly not how I would have preferred or planned to start my Senate career. . . . All I can tell you is that I have gotten up every day and worked as hard as I can to be the best senator I can be, and that's what I intend to do." Even before the latest eruption, Clinton had gotten off on the wrong foot with some Senate colleagues by signing an $8 million book deal -- perceived as a potential conflict of interest -- and then departing the White House with $190,000 in gifts. The Clintons tamped down some of the criticism over the gifts by returning almost half of them, and Sen. Clinton distanced herself from her husband's much-derided pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. Last week was almost calm: Among other things, she paid a visit to upstate New York and delivered her first speech on the Senate floor -- on health insurance. Then the storm broke over Hugh Rodham, followed a day later by news that her campaign treasurer, William Cunningham III, and brother-in-law, Roger Clinton, also had been involved in seeking pardons on behalf of others. Both Clintons said they had been unaware of Rodham's involvement and that he had returned the money at their insistence. In New York, the furor over the pardons has cast a pall over the senator's opening weeks in office, but several state Democratic officials noted that she won't have to face voters again until 2006. So far, they said, any feelings of betrayal inside the party have been directed primarily at her husband. Still, Quinnipiac College pollster Maurice Carroll conducted a job approval survey last week, and Sen. Clinton's ratings -- 38 percent positive, 30 percent negative -- were lagging well behind those of New York Gov. George Pataki (R) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). And that poll was conducted before the allegations about her brother and her campaign treasurer. "The perceptions aren't as good as they ought to be right after an election," Carroll said. "I don't care who you are, you can't take day after day of this stuff." Clinton's staff -- loyal veterans of Capitol Hill and the White House -- may be starting to feel the same way. Asked how he was holding up under the latest media onslaught, one senior aide replied, "I'm doing all right." Then he paused. "Considering." Staff writers Michael Grunwald in New York and Helen Dewar contributed to this report. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? 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