Clinton's Finances: What's The Big Deal?

As someone who has been critical of the refusal of Hillary and Bill Clinton to release their tax returns, their decision to finally do so begs the question of why they waited so long, creating yet another controversy for Mrs. Clinton’s president campaign that seems to have been unnecessary.

Or was it?

The big news out of the release is that the Clintons are very wealthy, earning more than $109 million in the past eight years. That doesn’t exactly enhance Mrs. Clinton’s standing among blue-collar voters in Pennsylvania, which is struggling through hard economic times like most of the rest of the U.S.

But while their wealth may diminish Mrs. Clinton’s credibility as someone who claims to understand the problems of Main Street America, it is no reason to vote against her, especially since the vast majority of those millions were from the former president's book royalties, speaking fees and business deals.

Besides which, the Clintons paid nearly $34 million in federal taxes, and the fact that they paid so much rather than try to skate as so many other wealthy folks do should be a credibility enhancer.

They also gave $10 million to charity, including $3 million last year, a very generous amount by any standard.

As it is, the tax returns are portrait of how a president saddled with legal bills stemming from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and other investigations struck it rich by parlaying his successes and failures into best selling books and lucrative speaking tours, as well as business arrangements with fat cats who in turn have contributed generously to his wife's campaigns.

So wealthy have the Clintons become that Hillary Clinton could lend her campaign $5 million earlier this year and in all likelihood may have to borrow more as Barack Obama continues to raise substantially more money.

Beside the books and speeches, Bill Clinton's biggest single business income is from his partnership with Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund, a Los Angeles-based investment firm founded by longtime Clinton fundraiser Ron Burkle. Between 2003 and 2006, the returns show total Yucaipa partnership income of $12.5 million. The 2007 summary provided by the campaign lists $2.75 million in partnership income.

President Clinton also has been an adviser to InfoUSA, a data company whose chief executive, Vinod Gupta, has been a major donor to Democrats and gave at least $1 million to Bill Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas. Clinton received $400,000 in payments from the company in 2006 and 2007, according to the documents.

So is this critic satisfied?

At first glance yes, but still puzzled about why the Clintons allowed this to become such a big deal.

More here and here.