Scandal In Plain Sight

By Ruth Marcus
Washington Post
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

A sitting president collecting secret cash in unlimited sums from corporations and wealthy favor-seekers.

This might sound outrageous, and it is. But it's also perfectly legal, as fundraisers for sitting presidents work to fill the coffers of future presidential libraries with six- and seven-figure checks.

This is an underappreciated scandal of bipartisan dimensions. Bill Clinton did it -- with much ensuing embarrassment, as his last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich came after Rich's ex-wife had donated $450,000 to Clinton's presidential library. Now, it's George W. Bush's turn.

My immediate impetus for raising this topic is a sting operation by the Sunday Times of London. The Times duped Texas consultant Stephen Payne into believing that an exiled Kazakh politician wanted to arrange meetings between Kyrgyzstan's former president, Askar Akayev, and Bush administration officials.

Bush himself might be tough, Payne told the politician, known to him as Eric Dos. But Vice President Cheney is "possible," Payne added. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser Stephen Hadley -- that might be arranged.

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