4. New Yorker, February 26, 1996 and March 4, 1996.
5. Michael Lerner, The Politics of Meaning, p. 317.
6. Maclean"s, July 8, 1996.
7. Washington Post, July 23,1996.
8. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, November 27, 1997.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
This book is the product of work performed on a series of teams on which I have been fortunate to have played a role. When I first arrived on Capitol Hill in 1995 as Deputy General Counsel and Solicitor to the House of Representatives, one of the first issues I confronted was the Clinton administration"s resistance to the House Banking Committee"s efforts to review President Clinton"s activities concerning the Madison Guaranty Bank investigation. This was my first encounter with the full frontal a.s.sault mounted by the White House whenever evidence pointed towards Hillary Rodham Clinton. That customary reaction was repeated for the next three years whether in response to queries about Ron Brown, Whitewater, Vince Foster, Travelgate, FBI files, or the Senate China investigation. Any door which seemed to lead in the direction of Hillary was immediately slammed, barricaded, and wired with explosives.
My interest in Hillary"s political background and her potential as a candidate for future office evolved out of the House and Senate investigations in which I partic.i.p.ated over the next several years.
From the moment I read former White House administration chief David Watkins"s "soul searching" memo about the consequences of not performing up to the first lady"s expectations, I felt that Hillary Rodham Clinton"s influence on the Clinton administration was much greater than the public was being led to believe--much greater than the president himself. David Watkins said it best: "I was convinced that failure to take immediate action in this case would have been directly contrary to the wishes of the first lady, something that would not have been tolerated in light of the Secret Service incident earlier in the year."
Haley Barbour opened the door for the new majority in the House in 1994, which gave me the opportunity to work for the House of Representatives. I am now practicing law with Haley in Washington, D.C. Thank you for continuing to open new doors.
Without the perseverance and dedication to the good government of House Government Reform Committee Chairman William F. Clinger, much that we know about this administration would never have been made public. He more than anyone was responsible for investigating the White House"s firing and character a.s.sa.s.sination of seven career government employees in the White House Travel Office. Had he not been willing to pursue the Travel Office investigation, the fact that hundreds of secret FBI files on former Republican government employees were sent over to the Clinton White House"s opposition research operatives might have never surfaced.
The dedication of our small team of House investigators is unparalleled. Phil La.r.s.en and Lisa Kaufman handed over critical evidence on the Commerce Department and Ron Brown investigations which required Attorney General Reno (even
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
under her own impossible standards) to appoint an Independent Counsel to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing there; an investigation that ended with Brown"s death.
Working with Barbara Jean Comstock is like having the entire IBM mainframe working with you. Besides being an incredibly gifted congressional investigator and lawyer, she worked literally around the clock to expose the well-concealed wrongdoing in the White House.
Her dedication has set a standard for all future House Committee counsel.
Kristi Remington went from a young bright staff lawyer to a seasoned congressional veteran by the end of our investigation. She provided careful a.n.a.lysis of issues and a much-needed perspective whenever tensions ran too high. The other two members of our House investigative team, Lauri Taylor and Joe Loughran were an equally important part of the team that kept the investigation moving forward. Committee Chief of Staff Jim Clarke was always willing to go to the end of many limbs for our investigation and always supported our work. Ed Amarosi stayed with us and tried to translate our work for public consumption.
Although our House Government Reform and Oversight investigative team numbered only four lawyers and one investigator, we uncovered a level of wrongdoing and potential criminality that resulted in numerous criminal referrals to the Justice Department.
After Chairman Clinger"s retirement, I continued to investigate wrongdoing in the Clinton administration for a man I admire greatly, Senate a.s.sistant Majority Leader Don Nickles. Senator Nickles devoted long hours to the Government Affairs committee campaign finance investigation, determined that no foreign country, corporation, or individual should be able to buy his way into the White House or dictate the policy initiatives for the presidency.
His leadership and integrity restores the sense of pride and honor we all used to have in government service.
I want to thank Mark Davis whose help brought so much to this book.
He immediately understood why it was important to trace the politics of Hillary Rodham Clinton from her days as a Goldwater girl to Senate candidate and to commit her past to paper for the future.
The numerous friends and Capitol Hill staffers who so generously provided background information and insight into the politics of Mrs.
Clinton are too numerous to name and I am sure will be relieved not to be identified. Thank you. Thanks to my good friend Carol Janeway for her encouragement and wise words. Her love of books and writers gave me the courage to believe that I could do this. The Independent Women"s Forum, especially Ricki Silberman who has been my mentor since I met her, Barbara Ledeen whose drive and determination gives us all hope for our future, and all my other talented friends there provided encouragement and advice when I needed it most. I also want to express my grat.i.tude to my secretary, Diana Davis, who helped me steal the time away from my practice to finish this book and still remain gainfully employed.
Finally, my husband"s wisdom, insights, and sharp pencil have guided me since I first met him. All accomplishments are the result of team effort. But none has been so profound and total in my life as the team of Olson and Olson. We became engaged during the Vince Foster phase of the investigation, got married in between depositions and hearings, and heard about the first FBI file while on our honeymoon.
Ted"s encouragement, patience, and editing made this book possible.
This book signifies the closing of an important part of my life and the beginning of a new one.