hillaryvillagers

WASHINGTON -- Former President Bill Clinton's charity drew aninternational roster of donors last year, ranging from Norway and Omanto foreign lotteries, businessmen and celebrities, a contributor listreleased under an ethics promise by Secretary of State Hillary RodhamClinton showed.A donor rundown disclosed on New Year's Day by the William J.Clinton Foundation shows that in all, Norway has given $10 million to$25 million to the charity since its founding roughly a decade ago.Oman donated $1 million to $5 million over the years. The list gavecumulative donation totals and didn't say how much each contributorgave last year.

The foundation provided The Associated Press with a donor listFriday morning under the heading "William J. Clinton FoundationPublishes Names of 2009 Contributors on Foundation Web site" but latersaid the disclosure, which included many more foreign governments,covered donors dating back to the charity's inception, and that itwouldn't say who gave in 2009. The foundation changed course Fridayafternoon and updated the list to specify 2009 donors.

The Clintons agreed to annually disclose the names of donors to thefoundation to address concerns about potential conflicts of interestbetween the former president's fundraising abroad and his wife's rolein helping direct Obama administration foreign policy.

Then-President-elect Barack Obama made the disclosure a condition ofhis selection of Hillary Rodham Clinton for the post, and the twosenior lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry(D., Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R., Ind.), said when the first list wasreleased in December 2008 that the disclosure "is designed to establishgreater transparency and predictability with regard to the activitiesof the Clinton Foundation in the context of Sen. Clinton's service assecretary of state."

The William J. Clinton Foundation works in the United States andaround the world on such issues as health care, particularly HIV/AIDS;climate change, and economic development. It also runs the ClintonPresidential Center in Little Rock, Ark., which includes Clinton'spresidential library.

"I am deeply grateful to the many generous contributors who made itpossible for my foundation to accomplish so much in 2009, includingincreasing the number of people on lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment,helping cities reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and inspiringmillions of children to lead healthier lives," Bill Clinton said in awritten statement.

Several foreign governments that appeared in the foundation's firstdisclosure in December 2008 didn't give last year, including SaudiArabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Brunei.

In releasing the list Friday, the foundation didn't identifyindividual contributors' employers, nationalities or any other details.It gave only cumulative ranges rather than precise donations, anddidn't provide a fundraising total. But it did say that more than 90%of the gifts it received last year were in donations of $250 or less.The foundation has raised hundreds of millions of dollars over theyears.

The 2009 donors included three who ranked as the foundation'sall-time biggest givers, topping $25 million each since Bill Clintonfounded the charity: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Canadianmining tycoon and Radcliffe Foundation chief executive Frank Giustra,and UNITAID.

Bill Clinton joined Mr. Giustra on a 2005 trip to Kazakhstan; withindays after the pair met with Kazakhstan's president, Mr. Giustra'sbusiness lined up preliminary deals giving it rights to buy intouranium projects controlled by a Kazakhstan state-owned enterprise.Bill Clinton has said he had nothing to do with that.

In UNITAID's case, almost all of the money simply passed through the foundation to buy commodities, the foundation said.

AUSAID, the Australian government's overseas aid program, was also a2009 giver. It donated $10 million to $25 million to the foundationover the years.

Those donating last year whose cumulative contributions total $5million to $10 million include COPRESIDA, a Dominican Republicgovernment agency formed to fight AIDS, whose donation of $5 million to$10 million passed through the foundation for commodity procurement;the Elton John AIDS Foundation; the Netherlands' Nationale PostcodeLoterij, and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative --Canada.

The foundation has attracted at least one seemingly unlikely allyover the years, the list shows. Conservative Richard Scaife, whobankrolled anti-Clinton investigations in the 1990s, gave it $100,000to $250,001 before 2009. As first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton calledthe activities of Mr. Scaife and others part of "a vast right-wingconspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day heannounced for president."

Among the donors last year:

Alltel Corp., which has given $1 million to $5 million in all.SaudiArabian businessman Nasser Al-Rashid and Argentine entrepreneur GerardoWerthein, head of the Argentine Olympic Committee. Each gave $1 millionto $5 million.The Coca-Cola Co. and the Swedish Postcode Lottery, which each donated $1 million to $5 million since the foundation started.The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which gave $250,001 to $500,000 over the years.GustavoCisneros and the Venevision entertainment company, whose enterprisesinclude a TV network in Venezuela. They gave $250,001 to $500,000 inall. Cisneros is chief executive of Venevision parent the CisnerosGroup; serves on the board of directors of the international BarrickGold Corp.; and is on the Council on Foreign Relations InternationalAdvisory Board.International online retailer Alibaba Group, which gave $100,001 to $250,000 in all.Saudibusinessman Hamza B. Al-Kholi, whose companies operate in the MiddleEast, Europe and United States in such industries as hotels andresorts, real estate development, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food,banking, aviation and telecommunications. He gave at least $100,000.Professional golf's PGA Tour Inc., which donated $50,001 to $100,000 overall.Celebrity businessman Donald Trump, who gave $50,001 to $100,000 in all.Automaker Nissan North America Inc. and the Metropolitan National Bank, which each has given $25,000 to $50,000 total.Bug Works Pest Control Co., demonstrating the wide range of donors, gave $1,001 TO $5,000.The Clinton Family Foundation and Bill Clinton also gave in 2009; the donations total $1 million to $5 million over the years.

The Clintons were under no legal obligation to identify foundationdonors. Presidents typically do not disclose the names of those whogive to their foundations, even when the givers include foreigngovernments. Former President George W. Bush hasn't said who iscontributing to construction of his presidential library in Texas, forexample.

In addition to providing a foundation donor list, the Clintonsagreed that new donations from foreign governments would be examined bygovernment ethics officers. An Obama spokesman said at the time thatthe agreement would meet the incoming president's transparency promiseand help to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

The White House had no comment Friday on the new disclosures.

Copyright © 2010 Associated Press

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I read Bill's book, Giving. Very impressive and the accomplishments of the Clinton Foundation are many.  No secrets here.

CT, I'm glad about this compliance to the agreement with the WH on transparency.  Now how about making their 'campaign donors' public? 

thanks for posting this.

i could only post this story on my Facebook and twitter because my Droid is not set up to do apps to all the forums and my phone is all i could use while we drove 13 hours home

Happy New Year, Amy!

you too

I wish the Clinton Foundation a year filled with flourishing drops of donation so it can continue to aqccomplish its mission.