The Rumpled, Ragtag Career of Hugh Rodham (whatever happened to Baby Hughie?)

Having to pay back a $400,000 fee for work on questionable presidential pardons isn't the ex–first brother-in-law's first scrape

BILL WISSER/LIAISON Hugh Rodham during his 1994 run for one of the U.S. Senate seats from Florida

Hillary Rodham Clinton's jowly brother Hugh faced a nation of raised eyebrows Thursday for his part in two successful pardon pleas. The sartorially impaired sometime golfing partner of the ex-president is taking heat for pocketing $400,000 in legal fees after two of his clients, Carlos Vignali Jr. and Almon Glenn Braswell, were granted last-minute pardons. Hugh's salad days were short; Bill and Hillary demanded that he return the cash, and he obliged quickly.

And while all this fuss about his potentially improper involvement in pardon-seeking has Hugh blinking like a none-too-swift deer caught in exceptionally bright headlights, this 50-year-old lawyer has weathered criticism — and, yes, even embarrassment — before. Chances are good he'll make it through this latest flap as well.

1994: Hugh Rodham, Dade County public defender, makes a run at one of the U.S. Senate seats from Florida. While he stomps all over his primary opponent (an "X-Files" junkie who suspected the government of a massive alien-related cover-up), he eventually loses by a gaping margin to incumbent Republican, Connie Mack.

1995: Hugh decides to take on the tobacco lobby, along with several other well-connected plaintiff attorneys. He has never tried a major case before, but manages to stick with the lucrative suit until a settlement is reached in 1997. However, the $365 billion deal failed to get the required congressional approval.

1999: In what is perhaps his weirdest scheme, Hugh teams up with younger brother Tony in an enterprise to grow and export hazelnuts from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. The $118 million venture comes to a screeching halt when Bill and Hillary discover that the brothers' business partner also happens to be the chief political rival of Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze, a key U.S. ally. Months later, Hugh and Tony were back in the headlines — the brothers reportedly thought it might be OK if they stopped actually growing the nuts and just kept exporting them. Once again, the White House was not amused.

2001: Back in the present day, it doesn't look like Rodham did anything illegal, per se, when he got involved in the two pardon pleas. But according to research by TIME.com, Rodham does not appear in either the Federal Lobbyist Directory or in the registry on the Center for Responsive Politics site. And while the FLD and Open Secrets are not by any means an exhaustive listing of registered lobbyists, Rodham's absence from both lists indicates he might be eligible for civil charges as specified by federal law. After all, as a supporter of two pardon seekers, Rodham fits the official criteria (the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 defines lobbyists as individuals who (1) spend at least 20 percent of their time for a particular client on lobbying activities; (2) have multiple contacts with legislative staff, members of Congress, or high-level executive branch officials; and (3) work for a client paying more than $5,000 over six months for that service). This means he can officially be called a "lobbyist." It also means he's subject to a few rules: According to the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, "Whoever knowingly fails to comply with any... provision of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, may be subject to a civil fine of not more than $50,000."

Source: American Chemical Society
Date:
2000-04-11

Potent Anticancer Agent Found In Hazelnuts
Plant Could Become Alternative Source of Taxol® Precursor

SAN FRANCISCO, March 29 — The active chemical of the anticancer drug Taxol® has unexpectedly been found in hazelnuts, says a team of researchers at the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon. This is the first report of the potent chemical, generically known as paclitaxel, being found in a plant other than the yew tree. This finding could reduce the cost of the commercial drug and make it more readily available, the investigators say. The study is being presented here today at the 219th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

“This is potentially good news for cancer patients,” says Angela M. Hoffman, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry in the university’s Department of Chemistry and Physics, and a member of the research team. Taxol® is currently one of the biggest-selling cancer drugs worldwide. An alternative source could stimulate competition among drug manufacturers, which could mean cheaper drug prices, explains Hoffman.

The study began as a search for a compound that made certain hazelnut trees resistant to a plant disease known as Eastern Filbert Blight. A chemical analysis of extracts from these hazelnut trees was conducted. Surprisingly, one of the chemicals identified from the extracts was paclitaxel, says Hoffman. The chemical was isolated from the nuts, branches and shells of the trees, she says.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Taxol® for the treatment of ovarian cancer, breast cancer and AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma. Researchers originally believed that the drug’s precursor was found only in the bark of the Pacific yew tree, a slow-growing plant found in limited quantities in the Pacific Northwest. As it takes several Pacific yew trees to make a small amount of Taxol® commercially, the trees were once the target of controversy since large scale harvesting could have risked their extinction.

Commercial supplies of Taxol® are now manufactured by a semi-synthetic method that relies on extracts from the leaves of another yew species. Although paclitaxel has been synthesized artificially in the laboratory without using any yew parts, this method is currently too complex and expensive to implement commercially, says Hoffman.

While the supply of Taxol® is generally meeting demand for currently approved cancer treatments and clinical trials, researchers are also finding an increasing number of other medical applications that are boosting demand for it. Clinical studies have shown that the drug is promising for the treatment of psoriasis, polycystic kidney disease, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s, among others.

As demand for the anticancer drug continues to increase, researchers may be wise to consider the hazelnut tree as an alternative source of paclitaxel, Hoffman says. Although the amount of the chemical found in a hazelnut tree is about one-tenth that of the yew (6 to 7 micrograms/gram dry weight of hazel vs. 60 to 70 micrograms/gram dry weight of yew), the effort required to extract paclitaxel from these sources is comparable, she says.

For those who are tempted to run to the store and stockpile hazelnuts, Hoffman urges caution. Based on her chemical analysis of raw hazelnuts, she concludes there is probably not enough paclitaxel in a handful of nuts to make a difference medically. The researcher has not tested roasted nuts, and is skeptical of any significant amounts of the chemical being found in hazelnut-flavored products like coffee, tea and candy.

Hoffman’s work, in addition to being funded by the university, is partially funded by the Oregon Hazelnut Commission.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.

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