Clinton Won Easily, but Bankroll Shows the Toll
New York Times, The (NY) - November 21, 2006
Author: ANNE E. KORNBLUT and JEFF ZELENY ; Suevon Lee contributed reporting.
EXCERPT
Since 2001, when she took office, Mrs. Clinton has spent at least $36 million on her re-election. For 2005 and 2006 through Oct. 18, she spent $29.5 million; a final tally will not be available until next month.
At that level, she spent nearly twice as much as Senator Charles E. Schumer, her Democratic colleague from New York, did in his 2004 re-election campaign, when he spent $15.5 million and won 71 percent of the vote, four points more than Mrs. Clinton won this year.
For her money, Mrs. Clinton also won a slightly smaller percentage of the vote in New York this year than did Eliot Spitzer in his successful race for governor. Mr. Spitzer, who raised nearly $41 million for his campaign, won 69 percent of the vote.
Mark Penn, Mrs. Clinton ‘s pollster and longtime adviser, received at least $1.1 million. Mandy Grunwald, her longtime communications strategist, received more than $930,000. Hudson Media Partners, an offshoot of the Glover Park Group consulting firm where two prominent Clinton advisers, Howard Wolfson and Gigi Georges, work, received nearly $200,000.
Campaign aides said much of the consulting work went toward building a donor list that would be vital in a presidential race. But they did not specify the work done by each of the consultants or say exactly how much of the money they received went to preparing for a presidential run rather than Mrs. Clinton ‘s Senate re-election. And the figures have raised eyebrows among the people who raise money for her.
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A close friend of Mrs. Clinton , Maggie Williams , received a $37,500 consulting fee, paid to her firm, Griffin Williams Critical Point Management, at the end of July.
Asked what the payment was for, Mrs. Clinton ‘s campaign aides checked and subsequently responded that the payment had been a mistake. They said it should have been for less than $5,000 to reimburse Ms. Williams , who served as chief of staff to Mrs. Clinton in the White House, for travel costs. They said Ms. Williams would return the extra money. Ms. Williams , who was said by Mrs. Clinton ‘s aides to be traveling, did not return a call to her office.