If you have solid tips, news or documents on potential ethical violations or abuses of power, we want to know. Send us your suggestions. 
Unfortunately I believe that we are limited in what we can focus on. I think that if we proceed with the partisan sideshow of prosecuting Bush admin. officials, healthcare will get lost in the brouhaha.
The Washington Post's permanent investigative unit was set up in 1982 under Bob Woodward.
Clinton Donor List Includes Familiar Names
The 2,922-page list of donors to former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation is chock full of friends, foreign leaders and, most notably, several questionable characters from the president's past.
We have published a partial list of donors on our Web site so you can browse or search it, and post a comment if you have a pertinent link or bit of information about any of the names.
Clinton agreed to release the list of big-name donors as part of his wife's new job as incoming Secretary of State in President-elect Barack Obama's administration. Donors that are getting particular attention early on include:
-- Frank Giustra, the Canadian mining financier who gave an estimated $31.3 million to Clinton after he traveled with the ex-president in 2005 to secure a uranium-mining contract in Kazakhstan (Giustra personally gave between $10 million and $25 million and his joint sustainable growth initiative with the president gave another $1 million to $5 million); [Addendum: Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Clinton, said that the former president did not in fact fly with Giustra on the same plane in September 2005.]
-- William S. Lerach, the former American lawyer who is serving a two-year prison term for his involvement in a lucrative kickback scheme involving class-action lawsuits (Conde Nast dubbed him the "scourge of corporate America");
-- Alfonso Fanjul Jr., the Cuban emigre and sugar mogul who has heavily lobbied Washington and Clinton about his business interests. His family fled Castro's Cuba and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel noted in 2002 that the Fanjul has been faulted "for making big contributions to politicians and using their clout to get favorable treatment for the sugar industry";
-- Farhad Azima, the Iranian-born airline owner who was at the center of a CIA scandal involving weapons shipments from the Shah (As The Times has noted, in 1997, the Democratic National Committee returned $143,741 in contributions from Azima, whose company ferried military equipment to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages held in Lebanon. "The committee later reversed itself, apologized to Azima and kept the money.");
-- Denise Rich, the songwriter and ex-wife of pardoned financier Marc Rich. The Post first reported that Denise Rich made three donations to Clinton from July 1998 to May 2000, before she became active in the successful lobbying campaign for her former husband. Marc Rich later avoided prosecution on more than 50 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, income tax evasion and illegal oil trading with Iran.
-- Andre Agapov, a Russian mining company owner who allegedly worked hand-in-hand with Russian secret police for ex-president Boris Yeltsin.
The Blackwater Training Center, which is run by defense contractor Blackwater Worldwide, gave between $10,001 and $25,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation. The State Department is deciding whether to Blackwater Worldwide's contract should be renewed after five guards were indicted on manslaughter and weapons charges stemming from a deadly gun battle at a Baghdad intersection in September 2007.
Bailout recipients Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and General Motors also gave to Clinton's foundation.
Foreign interests figure prominently among the donor list; Saudi Arabia gave between $10 million and $25 million and the governments of Norway, Kuwait, Brunei, Oman, Italy, Jamaica and the Dutch national lottery also gave.
» Search Clinton Foundation Donors
By Derek Kravitz |
December 18, 2008; 3:23 PM ET
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Posted by: joanlight | December 18, 2008 4:35 PM
Yea, Like O they ask for $favors...say they won't use public donations then CHANGE their minds...."I won't use public funds" The joke is that I believed them. But they Can and they WILL!
Posted by: doggit1 | December 18, 2008 4:48 PM
Are we saying Hillary was OK for President of the USA, but not as a Secretary of State? Isn't "public funding" public funding?
Do churches discriminate contributions? LOL
Posted by: ElMugroso | December 18, 2008 5:39 PM
I don't see any new or surprising problem with what's been revealed. It makes sense for reporters to focus on the questionable donors but I hope the vast bulk of these donors are seen for what they are -- generous foundations and philanthropists helping to fight AIDS and other scourges. I particularly the two largest donors (both large institutions) appear impeccable.
Posted by: fairfaxvoter | December 18, 2008 6:13 PM
I noticed that AusAid gave between $10 million to $25million. It was reported on our news this morning, but not reported that Australia through our foreign aid arm - AusAid had given $20million.
Most Australians will say 'Hmmm' and think about this for a while.
But whatever we gave we would have given without favour, I hope.
And I just hope it was wisely put to good use in a more effective manner than we could have.
But we will still think about it.
Posted by: wandererfromoz | December 18, 2008 6:42 PM
First off, these are the folks that the Republican party wants to give tax cuts to. As if the fancy loopholes aren't enough and as if they don't spend more on their tax accountants that they contribute in taxes.
Secondly, in my view, the president-elect is going to have to make a strong statement affirming his pick in spite of this tangled web of wealth and privilege. Because if the president-elect is just one bit fazed by this, that signal will reverberate powerfully. There would never be a state department effort that could go forward without footnotes of who had invested in the Cinton post-presidency. For some, that's not a big deal. For others, that's a deal breaker. We still have got Colin Powell and Al Gore without cabinet jobs. We have got John Kerry. So we aren't without alternatives should there be a problem with this kind of potential conflict of interest and loyalty. This worsens the prospect of the Clintons still thinking they can have the White House once more.
Posted by: GaiasChild | December 19, 2008 2:43 PM
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Clinton is the prime facie example of power corruption. No wonder the world is such a mess. Remember the Clinton are shameless. They will say anything to beg for money. Bill Clinton used his power position to beg for money worldwide. Money stays in the power circule, not trickling down to the needed. They rich give to each other for reasons of power, tax evasion, gaining more power and fame and quidproquo. My ordinary world citizens, don't give a dime to these non profit profiteers! especially the Clintons like!