Will new book dent Hillary Clinton's chances?
Story highlights
- Errol Louis: New book to detail alleged conflicts of interest with foreign donors to Clinton family charities
- He says without smoking gun, it's likely not election deal-breaker for Americans worried about issues like economy, jobs, schools
- Louis: More notable is mismanagement, ethical history of Clinton charities
Errol Louis is the host of "Inside City Hall," a nightly political show on NY1, a New York all-news channel. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN)The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign surely anticipated the coming wave of inquiries and criticism about conflicts of interest involving big foreign donors to charities run by the Clinton family -- questionsset to get a thorough airing in a new book called "Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich" by Peter Schweizer, coming out May 5.
Errol Louis
My guess is that the issues raised by the book will prompt Team Clinton to put its candidate on the road, where she can continue holding loosely scheduled, informal meetings with ordinary Americans -- the sorts of people more concerned about local jobs than whether some foreign government or company paid a big speaking fee to Bill Clinton in hopes of getting special treatment by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
It's not that the alleged conflicts aren't potentially serious; as I recently noted in these pages, they are.According to The Wall Street Journal, in 2014 the Clinton Foundation "received money from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman, among others. The donors included Canada's foreign affairs department, which is promoting the Keystone XL pipeline."
That's the same Keystone XL pipeline from Canada that the State Department all but endorsed,concluding after a five-part analysis that ran to 17,000 pages that the project's environmental impact would be minimal. President Obama vetoed a bill that would have allowed the pipeline to be built, but it's legitimate to ask whether the donation from Canada directly or indirectly influenced the State Department's analysis.
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
President Bill Clinton laughs with lookalike Darrell Hammond at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association in 1997. Hammond portrayed Clinton on "Saturday Night Live."
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actress Tina Fey's parody of Sarah Palin became a favorite during the 2008 elections.
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actors Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis impersonated President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in a 2009 skit.
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
"Saturday Night Live" often mocks presidential debates soon after they happened. Sudeikis and Jay Pharoah portrayed Mitt Romney and Obama in 2012.
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
"Saturday Night Live" aired its own presidential debate for the 2004 election with Seth Meyers as John Kerry and Will Forte as President George W. Bush.
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actress Kate McKinnon recently caught the notice of the political and entertainment worlds with her parody of Hillary Clinton on "Saturday Night Live." The two even appeared together in an October sketch. Click through to see the storied history of "SNL" and political parody.
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actress Amy Poehler also played Clinton in several "SNL" skits.
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actors Taran Killam and Cecily Strong revealed their impersonations of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, on a "Saturday Night Live" episode in October.
The real Donald will be hosting 'SNL' on November 7, marking the second time he has done it. The first time was in 2004, when he was the host of the NBC reality show "The Apprentice."
The real Donald will be hosting 'SNL' on November 7, marking the second time he has done it. The first time was in 2004, when he was the host of the NBC reality show "The Apprentice."
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Larry David may have been born to play Bernie Sanders.
The "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star played the presidential candidate in a skit that was a parody of the CNN Democratic debate. David received favorable reviews of his depiction of the presidential candidate.
The "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star played the presidential candidate in a skit that was a parody of the CNN Democratic debate. David received favorable reviews of his depiction of the presidential candidate.
Hide Caption
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Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
President Bill Clinton laughs with lookalike Darrell Hammond at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association in 1997. Hammond portrayed Clinton on "Saturday Night Live."
Hide Caption
5 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actress Tina Fey's parody of Sarah Palin became a favorite during the 2008 elections.
Hide Caption
6 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actors Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis impersonated President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in a 2009 skit.
Hide Caption
7 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
"Saturday Night Live" often mocks presidential debates soon after they happened. Sudeikis and Jay Pharoah portrayed Mitt Romney and Obama in 2012.
Hide Caption
8 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
"Saturday Night Live" aired its own presidential debate for the 2004 election with Seth Meyers as John Kerry and Will Forte as President George W. Bush.
Hide Caption
9 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actress Kate McKinnon recently caught the notice of the political and entertainment worlds with her parody of Hillary Clinton on "Saturday Night Live." The two even appeared together in an October sketch. Click through to see the storied history of "SNL" and political parody.
Hide Caption
1 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actress Amy Poehler also played Clinton in several "SNL" skits.
Hide Caption
2 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Actors Taran Killam and Cecily Strong revealed their impersonations of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, on a "Saturday Night Live" episode in October.
The real Donald will be hosting 'SNL' on November 7, marking the second time he has done it. The first time was in 2004, when he was the host of the NBC reality show "The Apprentice."
The real Donald will be hosting 'SNL' on November 7, marking the second time he has done it. The first time was in 2004, when he was the host of the NBC reality show "The Apprentice."
Hide Caption
3 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
Larry David may have been born to play Bernie Sanders.
The "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star played the presidential candidate in a skit that was a parody of the CNN Democratic debate. David received favorable reviews of his depiction of the presidential candidate.
The "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star played the presidential candidate in a skit that was a parody of the CNN Democratic debate. David received favorable reviews of his depiction of the presidential candidate.
Hide Caption
4 of 9
Photos: Politicians and their 'SNL' alter egos
President Bill Clinton laughs with lookalike Darrell Hammond at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association in 1997. Hammond portrayed Clinton on "Saturday Night Live."
Hide Caption
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And several news outlets have reported that banks and other companies with business before the U.S. government were donors to the Clinton Global Initiative, a sister group that was spun off from the Clinton Foundation. CNN's Alexandra Jaffe wrote last month that "listings for the Clinton Global Initiative's Annual Meeting found partnerships with at least six banks that were under investigation, involved in litigation or had been fined by government agencies and regulators at the time of the meeting. In every case, the bank in question was listed as a sponsor of the event even after the investigations were widely reported in the media."
Those are serious matters -- but so are stubborn unemployment, troubled schools, high taxes and other problems that top the list of voters' concerns. A bank giving money to charity in hopes of buying leniency from the government is a cause for concern, but until and unless a smoking gun appears in the form of a clear exchange of money for favors, it becomes hard to say what, exactly, is wrong with donating cash to aid in a good cause like combating world hunger or helping to rebuild Haiti.
Even among the banks fined for wrongdoing that contributed to Clinton charities, noted Jaffe, "there's no indication the Clintons had any knowledge of the ongoing investigations into banks supporting the foundation's efforts."
That doesn't leave much room for outrage. A more serious critique of the Clinton foundations is that they have been an administrative and financial quagmire from their origins, running deficits, expanding uncontrollably and cutting deals that not only raise ethical questions but cast the family's management skill in a less-than-flattering light.
In a well-known case of deception, a con man named Raffaello Follieri charmed his way into the foundation's good graces, earning public praise from Bill Clinton for promising $50 million to the Clinton Global Initiative -- money that never materialized.
A more serious problem developed internally, with staff members fighting over the direction and management of the charities. In 2007 and 2008, the foundation ran a $40 million deficit and in 2012 had an $8 million deficit.
So we already knew that the Clintons' charities suffered from poor management and took money from companies and governments that were clearly trying to curry favor. It's distasteful, but by now it's not news.
Unless the forthcoming book unveils some blockbuster new information, questions about the Clintons' charities is likely to wind up on the same political shelf on which voters seem to have parked concerns about Hillary Clinton's use of private emails to conduct State Department business.
According to a recent poll by the rightward-leaning Rasmussen -- taken after the email issue was splashed all over the news -- a survey of voters likely to vote in 2016 found that 57% expect Clinton to win the presidency.
No wonder Clinton seemed positively unconcerned about the forthcoming book. "We're back into the political scene, and therefore we will be subjected to all kinds of distractions and I'm ready for it," she said in New Hampshire.
Calling extensive exposure of conflicts of interest "distractions" suggests that Clinton knows what the polls suggest: that in a nation still struggling to emerge from a long recession, voters will likely judge her on something other than the efficiency and ethics of her charities.
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