Sources: White House Lobbied For Clinton Nobel Peace Prize Updated Friday, October 13, 2000 By Rita Cosby WASHINGTON ó Two Norwegian public-relations executives and one member of the Norwegian Parliament say they were contacted by the White House to help campaign for President Clinton to receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his work in trying to negotiate peace in the Middle East. Norwegian officials confirmed that President Clinton is one of the finalists among the 150 people who were nominated this year, but the Nobel Committee announced Friday morning that South Korean President Kim Dae-jung won the prize for his efforts toward peace and reconciliation with North Korea. Members of Parliament, along with other leaders around the world, can officially nominate candidates, but it is considered highly unethical in Norway to actively campaign for a peace-prize candidate, and especially so to contact the five members of the peace-prize committee, four of whom are former members of the Norwegian Parliament. One current member of Parliament, who did not want his name disclosed, told Fox News that he was contacted in May of this year by a White House official asking for his help to get President Clinton this year's prize. The member said he told the White House official he was not able to do that, but he said he is certain another member took on the task. Executives at two Norwegian public-relations firms, who admitted they have privately assisted peace-prize candidates with research and garnering support in the past, said they were contacted by a member of Parliament at the end of May asking whether their firm was interested in conducting a discreet campaign on President Clinton's behalf. One of the executives said he received a second call about two weeks later in which he was told that another firm would be handling the job for a six-figure sum. The other executive would not say whether his company handled the work, but only that he had received the initial call. Officials in Norway say if it became public that a public-relations executive was actively soliciting for a peace-prize candidate, it would ruin the firm's reputation and that any extensive involvement by a member of Parliament would cause that official to lose his job. According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, nominees for the awards are supposed to be kept secret so that candidates do not know they are in contention. When asked about this information, White House spokesman Jake Siewert said there is no truth to the rumor that the president or anyone else at the White House has contacted any member of the Norwegian Parliament, anyone on the actual peace prize committee or any public-relations firm to campaign for the president for the coveted prize. Siewert further said that individuals may perhaps be pretending to act on the president's behalf, but that if so, the White House and the president aren't involved. |
White House aides have lobbied to get President Clinton this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to broker peace in the Middle East, Fox News Channel reported yesterday. White House officials denied the report, and said nobody in the Clinton administration contacted any public-relations firms or Norwegian politicians involved in awarding the prize. But a member of Norway's parliament told Fox News he was contacted in May by a White House official and asked to help campaign for Clinton. And two Norwegian PR executives say they were contacted by a member of their country's parliament and asked if they were interested in conducting a discreet campaign on Clinton's behalf. One of the executives said he got a second phone call about two weeks after the first, in which he was told that another PR firm would be working on Clinton's behalf for a six-figure sum. Nominations for the prize come from academics, university professors and scientists from around the world. This year, the six Nobel Prize winners - in economics, physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace - will split $9 million in prize money. Deliberations over the Nobel prizes are shrouded in secrecy, and Norwegian PR people and parliamentarians threaten their jobs by actively campaigning for a particular candidate. There's been speculation in the last few months that Clinton was pursuing a Mideast peace accord in an effort to win the prize and secure his legacy as president. Clinton is among 144 individuals and organizations "being unofficially bandied about" as candidates for this year's prize, a Norwegian newspaper reported earlier this year. The prize is to be announced today. |