Bill Agrees to Short Leash if Hill Goes to State

Ex-president agrees to put business, charitable activities under ethics review
By Gabriel Winant,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 19, 2008 7:36 AM CST
Bill Agrees to Short Leash if Hill Goes to State
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, at a rally in Orlando, Fla. on Oct. 20, 2008. Bill Clinton will scale back globe-trotting deals and fundraising while his wife is at State.   (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

Bill Clinton is willing to do whatever he needs to do to get out of the way of Hillary's becoming secretary of state, reports the Wall Street Journal. That includes vetting in advance his speaking engagements and putting on hold charitable and business activities that might pose conflicts of interest if she is nominated.

If his wife is at Foggy Bottom, Bill will disclose all new donors to his foundation, as well as “major” past donors. He will also submit all new donors, and requests for him to give paid speeches, to ethics review. While she’s secretary, he’d step down from the foundation’s daily operations. “Bill Clinton will not be the obstacle to whether Hillary gets this job or not,” says a Democrat familiar with the situation. That said, Hillary hasn't decided whether to take the job, insiders tell the Journal; she's said to be still weighing the relative merits of staying in the Senate.
(More Bill Clinton stories.)

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