Comments on: Transparency http://crimsonandblue.harvarddems.com/2008/03/11/transparency/ A Blog by Student and Alumni Members of the Harvard Business School Democrats Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:23:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: John Wells http://crimsonandblue.harvarddems.com/2008/03/11/transparency/comment-page-1/#comment-34 John Wells Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:27:56 +0000 http://crimsonandblue.harvarddems.com/2008/03/11/transparency/#comment-34 Howard, I certainly don't think it's the most important issue in the campaign, and it's definitely not as important as policy, but it is, in my opinion, part of the narrative. It's a matter of transparency and trust. How can someone running for president just flippantly decide when the voters can or can't see who is funding her campaign? I've seen recent estimates that the Clintons are now worth between $10-50million. Where did all that money come from, and how much of it came from people, groups or governments that want to influence American policy? I think this is a perfectly legitimate inquiry, since the Clintons file a joint return and since they loaned her campaign millions of dollars. In essence, every Kazakh dictator who has put money in Bill's pocket is funding Hillary's run for the White House. I'm not saying that there is anything particularly bad in the returns, but how are we supposed to know that unless we see them? And, if there's nothing to hide, why doesn't Hillary just relase them and be done with it? The fact that she hasn't certainly lends the impression that she has something to hide. (And, to be fair, I should have included in the post the failure to authorize release of her White House records, which are really more important than the tax returns, especially since she is running on her White House "experience.") Howard, I certainly don’t think it’s the most important issue in the campaign, and it’s definitely not as important as policy, but it is, in my opinion, part of the narrative. It’s a matter of transparency and trust. How can someone running for president just flippantly decide when the voters can or can’t see who is funding her campaign? I’ve seen recent estimates that the Clintons are now worth between $10-50million. Where did all that money come from, and how much of it came from people, groups or governments that want to influence American policy? I think this is a perfectly legitimate inquiry, since the Clintons file a joint return and since they loaned her campaign millions of dollars. In essence, every Kazakh dictator who has put money in Bill’s pocket is funding Hillary’s run for the White House. I’m not saying that there is anything particularly bad in the returns, but how are we supposed to know that unless we see them? And, if there’s nothing to hide, why doesn’t Hillary just relase them and be done with it? The fact that she hasn’t certainly lends the impression that she has something to hide.

(And, to be fair, I should have included in the post the failure to authorize release of her White House records, which are really more important than the tax returns, especially since she is running on her White House “experience.”)

]]> By: Howard http://crimsonandblue.harvarddems.com/2008/03/11/transparency/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Howard Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:22:59 +0000 http://crimsonandblue.harvarddems.com/2008/03/11/transparency/#comment-33 Do you really think this is a huge deal? sure it speaks to the larger narrative of moving past the conflicts of the past, and it certainly begs the question why she isn't releasing it - but at the end of the day, is this really a huge deal that should change opinions? my sense is no... it bothers me when Clinton supporters blow things out of proportion to attack Obama - and i'm also not a huge fan when Obama does the same thing to Clinton... my sense is that this is a marginally legitimate issue that isn't going to give Obama any real traction. Do you really think this is a huge deal? sure it speaks to the larger narrative of moving past the conflicts of the past, and it certainly begs the question why she isn’t releasing it – but at the end of the day, is this really a huge deal that should change opinions? my sense is no…

it bothers me when Clinton supporters blow things out of proportion to attack Obama – and i’m also not a huge fan when Obama does the same thing to Clinton… my sense is that this is a marginally legitimate issue that isn’t going to give Obama any real traction.

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