The Clinton Foundation Shuts Down Clinton Global Initiative On January 12, a WARN notice was filed with the New York Department of Laborthe main office of the Clinton Global Initiative would be closing
By Michael Sainato 01/15/17 7:45am
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mark Wilson/Getty Images The Clinton Foundations long list of wealthy donors and foreign government contributors during the 2016 elections provoked critics to allege conflicts of interests. Clinton partisans defended the organizations charitable work, and dismissed claims that it served as a means for the Clintons to sell off access, market themselves on the paid speech circuit, and elevate their brand as Hillary Clinton campaigned for the presidency.
But as soon as Clinton lost the election, many of the criticisms directed toward the Clinton Foundation were reaffirmed. Foreign governments began pulling out of annual donations, signaling the organizations clout was predicated on donor access to the Clintons, rather than its philanthropic work. In November, the Australian government confirmed it has not renewed any of its partnerships with the scandal-plagued Clinton Foundation, effectively ending 10 years of taxpayer-funded contributions worth more than $88 million. The government of Norway also drastically reduced their annual donations, which reached $20 million a year in 2015.
On January 12, the Clinton Foundation received more bad news: a WARN notice was filed with the New York Department of Labor. The main office of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City would be closing, laying off 22 employees. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and to the appropriate unit of local government. The reason for the filing was stated as the discontinuation of the Clinton Global Initative, after CGI previously announced layoffs leading up to the general election.
The Clinton Global Initiative was created in 2005 to serve as a networking platform for the Clinton Foundation. Both the initiatives mission and its own definition of what it seeks to accomplish are vague. Rather than directly implementing projects, CGI facilitates action by helping members connect, collaborate, and make effective and measurable Commitments to Actionplans for addressing significant global challenges, states the CGI website. The Clinton Global Initiative and Clinton Foundation director of media relations have not responded to requests for a comment.
WikiLeaks revealed several criticisms of the Clinton Foundation were true, as pay-to-play schemes and the foundations corrupt management were exposed. On October 26, The Washington Post reported a memo detailed how the Clinton Foundation was used to boost Bill Clintons income.
The memo, made public Wednesday by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, lays out the aggressive strategy behind lining up the consulting contracts and paid speaking engagements for Bill Clinton that added tens of millions of dollars to the familys fortune, including during the years that Hillary Clinton led the State Department, reported The Washington Post. It describes how Band helped run what he called Bill Clinton Inc., obtaining in-kind services for the President and his familyfor personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like.
The Clinton Foundations downward trajectory ever since since Hillary Clintons election loss provides further testimony to claims that the organization was built on greed and the lust for power and wealthnot charity.
Poster Comment:
No cushy jobs to hand out when you hold no office in this corporation.