February 24, 1997
WASHINGTON -- You've long heard about"Emily's List"-- a legitimate fund-raising operation created to electwomen.
You'll soon be hearing more about"Hillary's List"--an unprecedented abuse ofFederal power in political fund-raising.
Officially called the White House DataBase (WhoDB), this computerized list of355,000 names was compiled over the pastfour years at taxpayer expense to helpthe Clintons raise money to stay in power.
This political cybercorruption wasdirected from the top: "Both thePresident and the First Lady have asked meto make this my top priority," wrote WhiteHouse aide Marsha Scott on Dec. 7,1993. "Bruce [Lindsey] will be kept fullyinformed."
Fifteen months later, Mrs. Clinton'spersonal involvement in building her baseis documented in a staff memo to Ms.Scott: "During the demo the First Ladymentioned that she would like to see theMiles Rubin rapid response list inthe database."
Everybody who got favors or gave money wasinputted.
Lincoln bedroom overnighters, DemocraticNational Committee fat cats in theKennedy Center box, private guests atradio talks -- all are still going in at arate of 10,000 a month, many withchildren's names, dietary restrictions,special interests, and almost all withSocial Security numbers and addresses.
Never has technology been married topower greed to produce such politicalgain.
Despite an early planner's assurancethat the data base was "governmentproperty and cannot be given to or usedby a campaign entity," its centralpurpose has been fund-raising, andit has been wrongfully used by D.N.C.- paidWhite House "volunteers" to get payment forClinton favors bestowed.
Representative David McIntosh told NBC'sLisa Myers "the taxpayer was fleeced"; hiscommittee will focus on how ErskineBowles built the Mailing List From Hell.But misappropriating $1.5 million tomatch donors with favors is not all.
What has gone unremarked is the rape ofindividual privacy.
Coded notations on thousands of filesindicate whether somebody on the WhoDBis black, Jewish, Catholic, Hispanic, ofUkrainian or Chinese or other ethnicdescent. You want a printout ofItalian Jews from California who aregay and got a Clinton holiday greeting?Just click on the demographic icon andcross the religious and ethnicity fields.
If you are in her data base, you maythink that surely your file, containingprivate information about race andreligion that universities andcompanies are prohibited fromcollecting about you, will be deniedto anybody outside the White House.
You may be mistaken. Clinton lawyers havewritten Congress repeatedly that "thePrivacy Act [5 U.S.C. 552a] does notapply" to the White House Office.
Unless successfully challenged, thatmeans that the data will go on to theClinton Library in 2001. There it willbe available to all.
Think about that. Maybe you don't wanteverybody to know you're a Buddhist, orthat you were in Washington on acertain weekend, or that you couldafford a $100,000 night in Lincoln's bed.Too bad: Hillary's list was created bypublic money and is a public record.
Think further. Suppose someunscrupulous Republican is electedPresident next time. He would have, bymodem to the library, a vast andinstantly retrievable "enemies list"--andknow whom not to invite to a state dinner,or whom to solicit for how much to "getwell" with him.
cheap hotels in La RocheAh, but maybe some upright archivistwill insist the vulnerable half-million listees be protected from scholars,journalists, reformers and right-wingkooks.
Too late; I'll bet Hillary's data alreadyhave been copied to other CD-ROM's. Andsome mean hacker is getting set to attackthe White House data base todownload all the dossiers to theInternet's webhubbelsite.
If you're on Hillary's list, at bestyou'll be getting legal defensefund solicitations and offers to buyClinton memoirs at irresistiblediscounts. At worst you'll be harassedby global telemarketers who will knowyour political inclinations, children'snicknames and donor history.
Enjoy it. You'll know which First Lady tothank.
Copyright 1997 The New York TimesCompany
Posted here February 24, 1997
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