red states rule
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- May 30, 2006
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The Travel Office
During the 1992 election campaign, the Clintons used an Arkansas travel agency, World Wide Travel (working with Clinton's cousin Catherine Cornelius). The firm had provided a million dollars in deferred (fly now- pay later) travel for the Clinton campaign, freeing up much needed cash for campaigning. Employees of the firm donated to the Clinton campaign. The apparent pay-back to the firm -- apparently supervised by Mrs. Clinton -- resulted not only in the firing of White House employees without cause but also in false accusations against Billy Dale (who had worked in the White House for 30 years and for 8 presidents), ending in a criminal trial in which the jury quickly acquitted Dale.
The replacement of the White House Travel Office occurred without competitive bid. The fired employees were given no warning. In fact, when they returned to clean out their desks, they found the offices already occupied, and they were escorted from the premises in a windowless van.
The supposed investigation against the Travel Office improprieties was headed by Catherine Cornelius even as she was planning with World Wide Travel for a reorganization which would put her in charge of the department.
Evidence of Hillary's involvement:
While Hillary claimed not to be involved in the firing, the following information exists:
"periodic reports from Vince Foster that [the] First Lady had inquired about [the] Travel Office and why wasn't action being taken_report was that they should be fired immediately and out of here by the end of the day."
-- Subpoenaed notes of David Watkins.
"went to Mac . . . Hillary wants these people fired . . . Mac wouldn't do it ... DW [David Watkins] didn't want to do it."
-- Lorraine Voles, deputy Press Secretary, noted that she had heard Susan Thomases say.
"Thomason comes back in DW's [office]_says he bumped into Hillary and she's ready to fire them all that day.''
-- Mr. Watkins' contemporaneous handwritten notes detail a conversation that he had with Harry Thomason.
"Harry says his people can run things better; save money, etc. And besides we need those people out_we need our people in_We need the slots_ . . . Is the real story to be told?''
-- David Watkins notes of a conversation with the First Lady on May 14, 1993.
Excepts from House Oversight Committee Report:
The full report can be found on: http://www.house.gov/reform/reports/whiteh.htm
Report Summary:
Travelgate is a story about the failure of the Clinton White House to live up to the ethical standards expected of the highest office in the land. The wrongdoing of this administration lies not in the firings of the seven Travel Office employees. They served at the pleasure of the President. If the President chose to fire them to reward political cronies, that was his prerogative.
Rather, the wrongdoing occurred after the firings. It resulted from a desire to hide the truth about who actually fired them and why. The committee spent 3 1/2 years investigating not just who fired them and why, but the wrongdoing that followed. The resulting mosaic pieced together from the facts uncovered reveals the answers the White House refused to disclose. In the end, the actions of the Clinton administration following the firings may have a lasting and damaging impact on the Office of the Presidency.
The committee has found that the motive for the firings was political cronyism: the President sought to reward his friend, Harry Thomason, with the spoils of the White House travel business. A pretext for the firings was created, and the trigger was pulled.
When the public reacted to the firing with outrage, the roles of the President, First Lady and Thomason were minimized as the White House staff engaged in a colossal damage-control effort. First, it had to portray the victims of the firings as the wrongdoers. This was achieved by White House officials unleashing the full powers of the Federal Government against the seven former workers. The extraordinary might of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice- not to mention the prestige of the White House itself -all were brought to bear. These actions constitute a gross abuse of the rights of seven American citizens and their families.
Second, an enormous and elaborate cover-up operation, housed in the White House Counsel's Office, sought to prevent numerous investigations from discovering not only the roles of who fired the workers and why, but also their efforts to persecute the victims. In the processÂ…it obstructed and frustrated all investigations; it turned the Office of the White House Counsel into a political damage-control operation; it made frivolous claims of executive privilege; it abused its powers to smear innocent citizens; and most important, it failed to level with the American people.
http://gfreitag.tripod.com/Travelgate.html
