Hillary Clinton campaign, the dark side
April 20, 2015
Last week Hillary Clinton confirmed everybody’s suspicions when she announced she was running for president in 2016.
Sparking cries of hope, concern, and outrage she put herself in the forefront. But recent information about a new policy has people wondering: is she our savior or just the lesser of two evils?
Because of the global reach of the Clinton Foundation many saw that donations may pose a conflict of interest for Hillary Clinton’s run for presidency: It’s sure to be a hot button issue, and all the more reason why this concern has picked so much steam recently.
Last month, when asked about foreign contributions, Mrs. Clinton said that there are “hundreds of thousands of people who support the work of the foundation.”
The Clinton Foundation released a new policy that would permit donations from Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the U.K. However, other nations would be prohibited from making large donations to the foundation. But those same governments would be allowed to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative, a subsidiary of the foundation.
The rules also allow for ministers from any government to be allowed to attend meetings and appear on panels at the group’s meetings and their governments would be allowed to pay attendance fees of $20,000.
So in other words this policy is for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) only and was set up to ease growing concerns. According to the policy foreign nations will still be able to donate to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) on the basis of global health.
CHAI is a separate entity from the Clinton Foundation so according to this new policy the said donations both will and would have nothing to do with her upcoming campaign.
These concerns came as a result of a story Reuters ran back in March about how CHAI not only didn’t disclose donors annually, but they also didn’t go to the State Department to review new donations from foreign governments, which was part of an understanding with the Clinton Foundation.
Of the six countries only three are foreign governments: Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the UK Department for International Development. Between 2010 and 2014 the six countries mentioned have donated 25 million. Despite the good causes the Clinton Foundation is known for tackling the fact that the foundation especially its health initiative receives millions from around the globe means these concerns carry some weight.
At AIC as elsewhere, students have taken notice.
Senior Class President Yari Ruiz shared her concerns in relation to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“I think it can come across as if these governments might be able to sway her because of these donations but the fact that she has this policy in place,…I think it shows she’s trying to distance herself maybe. It could all just be for the media too,” Ruiz said.
On whether or not she thinks Mrs.Clinton could win: Ruiz added.
Whether this concern is justified or blown out of proportion there is no doubting the amount of fuel that is going to be attempted to be thrown on the Clinton presidency run.