The Clintons' So-Called Generosity

Hillary balked at releasing her tax-return information for the past several years, but finally did so on Friday, April 4. According to this article in the Washington Post:

...After earning more than $109 million over eight years, the Clintons took tax write-offs for $10.2 million in charitable contributions. In most of those years, that money was donated to the Clinton Family Foundation....

The family foundation is one of several philanthropic groups that bear the former president's name. But unlike the New York-based William Jefferson Clinton Foundation, which has directed more than $10 billion in corporate money and resources toward slowing the spread of AIDS, addressing climate change, and reducing hunger and poverty, the family foundation is a far smaller and more personal operation.

This charity is based at the Clintons' Chappaqua, N.Y., home. Bill Clinton serves as its president, Hillary Clinton as secretary and treasurer, and daughter Chelsea as a director. None takes compensation.

Between 2001 and 2006, the years for which tax records are available, the family put nearly $6 million into the foundation. The Clintons took a tax write-off for that money even though the foundation gave away less than half that amount -- about $2.5 million. A Clinton campaign official said that trend did not continue in 2007 -- the family moved $3 million through the foundation to other charities.

Of course, the Clintons took more care in 2007: Hillary's bid for the Presidency was in the works, and "the eye" was upon her and her finances.

The article goes on to mention the following:

In recent years, there were gifts that generated good will in ways that were potentially helpful to Hillary Clinton's presidential bid....

The article is careful to mention that the Clintons stayed within the letter of the law with their donations to "charity." Considering that Bill and Hillary are lawyers, I'd expect nothing less than their adherence to the letter of the law and still finding a way to give to their favorite charity — themselves.

(Crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)