Last month, we looked at nine fun ways to buy access to the Clintons. Now, thanks to some chatty Clinton supporters, we are beginning to learn more about which of these ways is most effective.
The New York Times has published a report on Clinton son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky and his failed hedge fund, Eaglevale Partners. Despite struggling to turn a profit, Chelsea’s husband has managed to accumulate tens of millions of dollars from investors with close ties to his in-laws, including Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, where Mezvinsky used to work. Imagine that.
Many of the people who have invested with Eaglevale Partners have also given money to the Clintons’ political campaigns and the Clinton Foundation—you know, to ensure sure that their devotion to the dynasty can never be called into question. The Times cites this an example of "how politics and finance can intersect," and of the "fine line the Clinton family must navigate as their charitable and business endeavors come under scrutiny in an election cycle."
In any event, letting Mezvinsky manage your money isn’t even the most effective avenue for buying access to the Clintons:
Clinton supporters also say there are more direct ways to cultivate favor with the family, such as giving to the foundation, where Chelsea Clinton is vice chairwoman, than by investing with a hedge fund that her husband co-founded.
This is useful information for anyone—such as the governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Algeria, along with an array of billionaire oligarchs with ties foreign governments—wishing to get in on that hot Clinton action. It is not currently known whether any of these governments or oligarchs have also given money to Mezvinsky’s hedge fund.
The Clinton Foundation may vociferously deny that donations to the charitable organization are anything other than a means by which the moneyed elites (and governments of ill repute) of the world can make a difference in the lives of poor people without having to interact with any actual poor people. The foundation would say that donations are definitely not a way to "cultivate favor" with a powerful political family.
But the key point, as illustrated in that Times passage, is that Clinton Foundation donors clearly believe otherwise.