Preface of Jerome Zeifman's HILLARY'S PURSUIT OF POWER

New Book By Democratic Chief Counsel Exposes Why “Hillary Clinton Is Ethically Unfit to Hold Public Office.”

The world of politics is not an easy one. Frequently being before the public means that politicians must always put their best foot forward and paste on a smooth and calm facade. But what really goes on behind those seemingly cool and unruffled exteriors?

Jerry Zeifman, a former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for 17 years, breaks these barriers. He takes you to a behind the scenes account of one of the famous faces in politics, Hillary Clinton, in his explosive book Hillary’s Pursuit of Power

This book describes and documents unethical practices of Senator Hillary Clinton. Hillary’s Pursuit of Power is based on Zeifman’s personal experiences. In 1974, he had supervisory authority of a staff that included Hillary Rodham – who was then engaged in a variety of self-serving unethical practices in violation of House rules.

In 1998, as consultant to a member of the Judiciary Committee that impeached President Clinton, he gained extensive personal insights into the unethical practices of Hillary Clinton in her White House “West Wing” office.

A lifelong Democrat, Jerry Zeifman has concluded that Hillary Clinton is ethically unfit to be either a Senator or President – and if she were to become President, the last vestiges of the traditional moral authority of the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson will be destroyed.

This book will open the eyes of the people to the truths behind unethical practices previously unknown to the public. It will guide them to make wise decisions on whom to vote for office in the upcoming elections. Suspicions and doubts will be confirmed and dispelled respectively by the amazing

As former Chief Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Zeifman, was acclaimed by former House Speaker "Tip” O'Neill as a "Great American who played the key role during the Nixon impeachment proceedings." Later, during the Clinton impeachment he served as a consultant to members of the committee. He has also served as: Professor of law at the University of Santa Clara; President of National Institute of Economics and Law; General Counsel to National Counsel on Industrial Defense; and General Counsel of International Ethical Alliance.

Mr. Zeifman is also the author of Without Honor: The Crimes of Camelot and the Impeachment of President Nixon (Thunder's Mouth Press 1996). He is currently completing a further book for publication in 2007 titled The Dissident Democrat, which spans his career in public service from the Roosevelt administration to the present.

At the time of Watergate I had supervisory authority over the House Judiciary Committee's Impeachment Inquiry staff--on which Hillary Clinton and Bernard Nussbaum served. I then kept a private diarywhich is now in the Watergate Collection of the George Washington University Library. Excerpts from my diary comprise a portion of this book.

After President Nixon's resignation a young lawyer who shared an offic with Hillary, confidd in me that he was dismayed by her erroneous legal opinions and efforts to deny Nixon representation by counsel, as well as by Nussbaum's unwillingness to investigate Nixon. In my diary I noted the following:

August 12, 1974--John Labovitz apologized to me for the fact that months ago he and Hillary had lied to me [to conceal rules changes and dilatory tactics.] Labovitz said, "That came from Yale." I said "You mean Burke Marshall [Ted Kennedy's chief political strategist, with whom Hillary regularly consulted in violation of House rules.] Labovitz said, "Yes." His apology was significant to me, not because it was a revelation but because of his contrition."

Because of a number of her unethical practices I eventually decided that I could not recommend Hillary for any subsequent position of public or private trust. I also took the same position regarding her immediate supervisor, Bernie Nussbaum.

Two decades later BillClinton became President. He gave Hillary an office in the West Wing of the White House, with considerable authority over his staff. he also appointed Bernie Nussbaum as his chief White House counsel, with an office next to Hillary's. Some months later Nussbaum was forced to resign after a New York Times editorial charged him with ethical violations. Hillary also became controversial. William Safire of the New York Times called her "a congenital liar."

Throughout the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency Hillary's conduct confirmed my earlier assessment of the ethical flaws in her character.

A view of her abilities from a James Taranto column last month:

Sen. Hillary Clinton, fresh from a landslide re-election, spoke the other day to the Association for a Better New York. She was coy about her presidential aspirations, saying, "I will look at the possibilities, but I . . . haven't really had the time to talk to people about it. It's been a busy election season that worked out well, so I will think about it. I'm open to thoughts."

But she "was clearly looking ahead to the next Congress," when she will be part of the majority for the first time in four years. And she offered this blast from the past:
She . . . said Democrats would focus on improving the quality and affordability of health care--a touchy matter for the former first lady, who in 1993 led her husband's calamitous attempt to overhaul the nation's health care system. The failure of that effort helped Republicans win control of both the Senate and House the following year.

"Health care is coming back," Clinton warned, adding, "It may be a bad dream for some."

It may be a bad dream for Mrs. Clinton, at least if she does decide to make a bid for the West Wing. In a 2003 blog entry, liberal economist Brad DeLong explained why (ellipsis in original):

My two cents' worth--and I think it is the two cents' worth of everybody who worked for the Clinton Administration health care reform effort of 1993-1994--is that Hillary Rodham Clinton needs to be kept very far away from the White House for the rest of her life. Heading up health-care reform was the only major administrative job she has ever tried to do. And she was a complete flop at it. She had neither the grasp of policy substance, the managerial skills, nor the political smarts to do the job she was then given. And she wasn't smart enough to realize that she was in over her head and had to get out of the Health Care Czar role quickly.

So when senior members of the economic team said that key senators like Daniel Patrick Moynihan would have this-and-that objection, she told them they were disloyal. When junior members of the economic team told her that the Congressional Budget Office would say such-and-such, she told them (wrongly) that her conversations with CBO head Robert Reischauer had already fixed that. When long-time senior hill staffers told her that she was making a dreadful mistake by fighting with rather than reaching out to [Sen.] John Breaux and [Rep.] Jim Cooper, she told them that they did not understand the wave of popular political support the bill would generate. And when substantive objections were raised to the plan by analysts calculating the moral hazard and adverse selection pressures it would put on the nation's health-care system . . .

Hillary Rodham Clinton has already flopped as a senior administrative official in the executive branch--the equivalent of an Undersecretary. Perhaps she will make a good senator. But there is no reason to think that she would be anything but an abysmal president.

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