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The Clinton 'Rezko' Problem?
While searching for a picture of the Clinton mansion to compare to Obama's I ran across this 1999 story from the NY Times:
Financial Engineering in the Clinton House Deal
And while I admittedly do not understand the whole thing, it catches my attention and raises hypocrisy issues with the Clinton campaigns repeated bringing up of the Rezko non-issue.
The package that the cash-strapped First Family will use to buy a $1.7 million house in Chappaqua, N.Y., is a clever and unusual piece of financial engineering designed to avoid tax and other pitfalls, real estate and financial specialists said today.
The deal calls for Terry McAuliffe, President Clinton's chief political fund-raiser, to personally supply $1.35 million in collateral that the lender, Bankers Trust Private Banking, could seize should the Clintons fail to make payments on a house costing more than three times what a Presidential salary could support
At this time the Clintons where:
$5.5 million in legal debts, a sum that far exceeds their assets of about $1.5 million.
thus making it hard to get a normal loan without having to disclose their financial details:
By putting up cash rather than making a guarantee or by co-signing, Mr. McAuliffe avoids either party's having to bare their financial souls. "There's the ability to remain discreet,'' said Melissa Cohn, president of the Manhattan Mortgage Company. ''It saves them from any disclosure.
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Comments (17)
Forgive me for not knowing html was not accepted.
March 5, 2008 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since she wants to go there lets go!
March 5, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was listening to the radio today.
She aired an ad stating that Obama never held a meeting regarding Afghanistan.
Apparently Clinton's Armed Services Committee held 2 meetings regarding Afghanistan themselves.
I'll give you two guesses which presidential candidate didn't attend either meeting.
OK, I'll give you a hint, the candidate's husband did an interview on the Rush Limbaugh show trying to change the rules of the election after the fact.
March 5, 2008 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not followin you. Which candidate's husband did an interview on Limbaugh's show?
March 5, 2008 9:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know why Obama has mentioned the Clinton no-shows regarding Armed Services Committee meetings on Afghanistan.
There really isn't much digging required to find hypocrisy with Hillary.
March 6, 2008 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
How do they avoid taxes?
March 5, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I had to think about it, but my guess would be that in providing collateral, Terry's assistance is not a gift, since the loan is outstanding. Kinda like getting a down payment loan on a house from a parent. That down payment is a gift, whereas providing collateral does not exchange money, but increases the asset base when there is not a large enough down payment. Think of the housing collapse we are in now... not enough equity to support the loan.
March 6, 2008 1:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here
March 6, 2008 1:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
It was a 1.7 mil house and they put 350K down. A 20% down payment is the norm for a thirty year mortgage. My guess is what the bank wanted was protection from the legal debt until the attorneys negotiated a settlement in costs accrued by the Clintons in their defense. The collateral provided by MacAuliffe wasn't needed very long because the Clintons secured a new loan in Oct. of that year.
March 6, 2008 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually this story is a better representation of what the Clinton's are all about...connected to Rezko when they say they've never heard of him...PLEASE!
http://www.margieburns.com/blog/_archives/2008/2/2/3501879.html
March 6, 2008 3:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's a very interesting story re McAuliffe.
So I guess what that proves is Obama's shortcoming was he didn't have more millionaire friends.
What I'd like to see- since the press wants to 'go there' on Rezco- is some work being done on Bill and Hill's financial dealings from the past few years.
March 6, 2008 4:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'd like to see a story on whether Vilsack returned the money Hsu raised for him (at Clinton's request) to pay off his presidential campaign debt. That seems FAR more relevant than anything that is alleged to have happened with Obama and Rezko in 2005.
March 6, 2008 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Again, if you guys don't know, Tony Rezko is the guy in the middle.
http://www.rightpundits.com/?pp_album=main&pp_cat=&pp_image=Tony_Rezko_Hillary_Clinton.jpg
March 6, 2008 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Look, McCuliffe ain't Rezko....nice try though.
March 6, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama supporters. Use the contact pages on CNN.com and MSNBC.com to write letters demanding they start covering this primary fairly and "vetting" Clinton with questions just like this, as well as the campaing finance issues in the LA Times, the Canadian NAFTA scandal, and demanding her tax/finances to be disclosed. DEMAND EQUAL TIME!
March 6, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
"thus making it hard to get a normal loan without having to disclose their financial details:"
This isn't a normal loan. In the mortgage biz it's called a "no doc" for no documentation. In the past you'd have to show them everything from your tax returns to check stubs and they'd do a very thorough credit check. Of course those restrictions were waved a lot in the last few years which is one of the reasons we're in the middle of the subprime mess. You only got a no doc
if you were self employed and got paid irregularly, or were a drug dealer before that because it costs more.
I gotta tell ya with all the Clinton's friends in high finance and being an ex-president of the United States if they went this route they really must have had some hinky stuff in their finances they wanted to hide. It's not like most people didn't know the broad strokes of their income and outflow. He'd been lawyered up for the last 3 years of his presidency and he earned a president's salary. It was all in the public record. It's not like any ex-president is going to be hurting for cash when his memoir advance comes in and he starts making 6 figures a speech on the rubber chicken circuit. That would be obvious too.
I'm sure getting Tony A. to pony up a bit of that $300 million he made off of Global Crossing wasn't a problem but going with a no doc sure looks skunky.
March 6, 2008 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bullshit. He wasn't an ex-president when he bought the house, he had an outstanding debt of 5mil, and they refinanced in Oct. of 99 with PNC Mortgage Co.
March 6, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
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