Clinton, Aides Cut Family Item From Ethics Bill

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and aides deleted a provision from a 1988 state ethics bill that would have required him and other public officials to disclose actions relating to their families’ businesses, according to a published report.

Clinton acknowledged Thursday that the provision was deleted but said it was “utterly absurd” to conclude that it was to benefit him.

The provision specifically applied to decisions involving a business or firm in which a member of an official’s family was employed or a partner, such as the partnership of Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton, in the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock, the New York Times reported in today’s editions.

The provision was part of a comprehensive ethics and disclosure law for public officials. Clinton backed the overall bill but said it covered too many officials.

When the state Legislature couldn’t agree on a bill, the Clinton Administration decided to put the measure to a popular vote. Clinton’s version of the ethics bill was placed on the ballot at his direction in 1988 and became law after voters approved it.

“I never made an effort to exempt myself from any disclosure requirement,” Clinton told reporters in New York on Thursday. “I was out there crusading for disclosure. I always disclosed more than was required.”

The Times said the deletion of the provision, which would have covered the Clintons, occurred during a private drafting session that included the governor, close political aides and a senior partner in the Rose firm, Webb Hubbell.

The family disclosure provision applied to legislators, but the Clinton version, passed by voters, exempted the governor, other elected officials and the appointed officials in state agencies and commissions, the Times said.

Clinton said Thursday the provision was deleted because “people . . . recognized that there needed to be changes so we wouldn’t cover all these local officials.”

Sam Bratton, former legal counsel to the governor, said in a statement released by the Clinton campaign--along with five other statements from legislators and Clinton aides--that the provision was dropped “to lessen opposition and to ensure we passed the guts of the proposal.”