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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (150396)	6/3/2001 3:19:40 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Article...Clinton Unlikely to Honor Pledge to Pay for White House Damage newsmax.com Sunday June 3, 2001; 12:16 p.m. EDT Now that Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer has catalogued the destruction perpetrated by outgoing Clinton staffers, will the ex-president honor his pledge to pay for the damage? "Former President Bill Clinton asked officials in the Bush administration to let him know the extent of the damage caused to the White House by outgoing aides so he could 'make amends,'" the New York Times reported on Jan. 29. Clinton himself "'wanted to make amends,' if reports of extensive damage were true," the Times said, sourcing a Clinton aide who requested anonymity. Another Clinton aide, Karen Tramontano, was personally assured by Bush deputy chief of staff Joseph Hagin that the vandalism had included "multiple incidents" of destruction, Fleischer said at the time. But the White House had no interest in recovering costs, he quickly added. Clinton spokesman Jake Siewert actually offered to go to the White House to and "survey what was done," reiterating Clinton's promise to "make amends." In fact, Clinton's offer to pay, contingent as it was that the damage be itemized, could be seen as a warning to Fleischer to "put up or shut up." But Fleischer insisted no payment was necessary. "As far as we're concerned, the matter is closed," he told reporters after Clinton's offer. That was four months ago, before Clinton spinmeisters in the media and Congress began to hint -- and in some cases claim outright -- that the Bushies had simply made the story up. "I was genuinely offended by the way these folks were treated," Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) complained Friday about the Clinton staffers he charged had been falsely maligned. Weiner hand delivered a letter signed by former Clinton aides demanding an apology from the Bush White House. Fleischer's magnanimity aside, the fact is, any monies expended to repair damage incurred by aides in the previous administration -- a figure which could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars -- came, not out of his hyde, nor even his boss's. The tab run up by destructive Clinton staffers was picked up by the taxpayers. That damage included cut phone lines and damaged phones, overturned furniture, 100 computer keyboards wrecked, obscene grafitti sprayed on the walls of six White House offices, dozens of desks overturned and trash dumped in the West Wing, not far from Mrs. Clinton's office. As for Siewert's offer to come over and make an inspection, Fleischer now says he has photographs to prove some of the damage. In fact, even before the Bush White House's detailed account on Saturday, it was clear that claims of Weiner and others that Clinton staffers were innocent were way out of line. By last week, Bernard Ungar, the GAO official whose probe supposedly exonerated the Clinton vandals, was backtracking on his report that he found no unusual damage to the White House. "Ungar said the GAO found accounts of damage that included telephones disconnected from wall jacks, phones with extension numbers defaced and tables and desks that were overturned," reported Newsday. What GAO investigators couldn't determine was whether the damage was deliberate or accidental, Newsday said. Overturned desks -- accidental? Please. Now that Bill and Hillary are raking in millions in big-buck book deals and six-figure speaking fees, they can well afford to honor Mr. Clinton's promise to cover the costs of the damage their aides caused. $250,000 ought to cover it. But will the former co-presidents actually pay their tab? Not likely, unless they can set up a Clinton White House Damage Defense Fund. Most mainstream reporters fell for bogus claims that reports of Clinton White House vandalism had been fabricated. Not NewsMax.com. Read our previous coverage of this disgraceful chapter in American presidential history: