Monday, July 11, 2016

Why Has Congress Spent So Much $ Investigating the Clinton's?

Having watched the wars between Republicans and the Clintons since the Clintons first appeared on the national scene in Bill's Presidential run 25 years ago, the current uproar about Hillary's emails leaves me inclined to see it all more as unsavory partisanship driven by Republicans than a threat to our security.

Did in hindsight Hillary make some mistakes, maybe even exercise some poor judgment?  Maybe.  Did it harm our national interests?  There doesn't seem to be any evidence to suggest that was the case.  Have Republicans used their control of both houses of Congress to try to destroy Hillary's viability as a Democratic Presidential Candidate?  Absolutely, and that conclusion in part flows from the history of Republicans efforts to politically cripple Bill and Hillary Clinton.  I cut Hillary a lot of slack in her efforts to avoid giving Republicans political cannon fodder (which I take it is at least part of why Hillary set up the separate email servers) because in my judgment she and Bill have been subjected to an extraordinary level of political abuse by Republicans using taxpayer money during periods they have controlled Congress during the last couple decades. 

It started with Whitewater - This failed Real Estate deal from 1978 was seized on by Republican opponents of Governor Bill Clinton in Arkansas alleging some sort of corruption which sparked investigations in Arkansas.  When Clinton became a viable Democratic Presidential candidate in 1991 the national party picked up the issue.  The Republicans kept Whitewater in the headlines from that time until nearly the end of his Presidency.  No investigation in Arkansas or by the Feds ever uncovered any illegal activity by the Clinton's in the Real Estate deal, but when Republicans took over both houses of Congress in 1995 they appointed a special prosecutor.  In the end Congress spent about $80 million investigating Whitewater and spin offs from that politically motivated investigation. No investigation ever ended in anything other than a pompous report trying to justify all the money wasted.
The $80 Million figure comes from a 1999 CNN article 
http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/04/01/counsel.probe.costs/  
I saw it at that time as mostly partisan politics, unsavory but tolerable on the campaign trail, but smacking of an abuse when the Republicans started using the money and power of Government to beat down political opponents.

Once it appeared Hillary was likely to run for President Benghazi and the email issues that spun off from it have become the cudgel.  After years of investigation and $6.8 million spent by the Republican controlled House committee they found no evidence of negligence by Clinton on the night of the attack.   However, that investigation revealed Hillary had her own servers for separate email accounts.  

AHA, something else to investigate!  

The State Department then investigated and reported that their investigation revealed that what she did (and what Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell did before her) was a violation of department policy but the department had been lax in enforcing the policy.  The FBI (headed by a Republican appointee) investigated and found no evidence that would support criminal charges.

Now Republicans, unhappy there isn't any evidence that could support bringing charges against Hillary, are seeking to start another investigation.   This is the same Republican Congress that has been most noteworthy for doing less actual legislating than any other Congress in my lifetime.
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6940679083386201830#editor/target=post;postID=6332255972138313967;onPublishedMenu=editor;onClosedMenu=editor;postNum=26;src=postname


We don't need another investigation, we need a Congress that wants to solve problems rather spend their time and our money beating down political rivals.