She’s a Lousy Lawyer Too

To most people Hillary Clinton is best known for her role as First Lady of the United States when her husband Bill was President; as a Senator from the State of New York; as a candidate for the Democrat Party nomination for President in 2008; and as Secretary of State during the first four years of President Barack Obama’s administration.

Husband Bill, in 1993, appointed her to head the Task Force on National Health Care Reform. This ultimately resulted in her failed proposal for federally mandated socialized healthcare in the United States, which was quickly dubbed “Hillarycare” by reluctant Republicans and Democrats alike, and consequently went down in flames. That failure was her high water mark of distinction as First Lady.  

By the time that the Clinton’s left the White House, Hillary, to her credit, had amassed a mountain of political chits within the Democratic Party; so much so that she was able to get herself elected United States Senator from the State of New York in 2000, even though she was from Arkansas; before that, Illinois; and had never established herself in the deep blue Empire State. Her Senate years were remarkably undistinguished and mediocre; no major failures; no major accomplishments aside from collecting ever more political chits.

She sought her party’s nomination for President of the United States in 2008, and was considered by her adoring supporters and the mainstream media as the far and away front runner in that contest until she was derailed during the later stages of her failed campaign by the charismatic political personality of Barack Obama. In short, she had an awful lot of Democratic Party political juice, and still does, but she was a lousy presidential candidate.

President Obama appointed Hillary his Secretary of State, not so much because she was the most competent person available for the job, (she clearly wasn’t), but because she would keep her mouth shut and support him as part of his team and not oppose his nomination for a second term.

Her role as the top U.S. diplomat consisted of travelling the world along with a huge entourage in her big private Department of State jet, hobnobbing with nations’ heads of state, all the while indulging to the maximum in fabulous luxuries and accommodations fit for a queen. She didn’t bother herself much with the details of running the United States Department of State.

Consequently her major distinction as Secretary of State was the result of her gross incompetence and direct responsibility for the dire situation at our diplomatic compound in Benghazi Libya which led to the murders of our Libyan ambassador and three other Americans by Al-Qaida terrorists. Afterward, she attempted to disguise her incompetence and irresponsibility by flat out lying repeatedly about her culpability for the situation with led to the deaths. She is still lying about her role in the disaster to this day. Hillary was a lousy Secretary of State

Today, as this lady gears up for another run at the presidency, too many people, I think, have forgotten that Hillary Clinton is a lousy lawyer too.

Her law career, including a partnership position at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas is riddled with questionable ethical and political insider practices which were happening while her husband Bill was governor of that state.

For one example, during a ten month period of time between 1978 and 1979, she, with the help of political insider “friends,” somehow “miraculously” turned the paltry sum of $1,000 one-hundredfold into a small fortune of $100,000 by trading cattle contracts in the commodities futures market though she was a complete novice in the art of commodities trading having never done it before.  

Put in the perspective of reality, the editor of the Journal of Futures Markets said later in 1994: “this is like buying ice skates one day and entering the Olympics a day later.”  According to economists from the University of Florida and Auburn University, the odds of such success happening were at best in the neighborhood of 1 in 31 trillion.

Then there was the Whitewater and Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan scandal about a shaky financial institution and a failed business venture real-estate investment deal involving the Clinton’s and their political friends which landed just about everyone involved – except for the Clinton’s – in prison.

There were allegations that Gov. Bill Clinton was pressuring people to provide illegal loans to Madison Guaranty while Hillary and her law firm were representing Madison. Fortunately for the Clinton’s, nothing stuck and they both eventually skated free from the heat.

Several other questionable ethics and alleged criminal conduct controversies involving both Clinton’s dogged them during their time in the White House. Bill Clinton was eventually impeached by the House of Representatives (but narrowly acquitted in the Senate) over the Monica Lewinsky affair and then disbarred as an attorney in the state of Arkansas for lying under oath in a court of law.

Certain billing records and documents were subpoenaed from Hillary Clinton concerning her activities at Rose Law Firm. Hillary reported them missing but two years later they were discovered in the Clintons’ private White House residence. Now why were Rose Law Firm billing records removed from the law offices in Arkansas and taken to the White House in Washington D.C.?

Then there is the legal case in 1975 involving Hillary’s representation of a man charged with forcibly raping a 12-year-old girl, a 30 years to life in prison felony. She knew he was guilty and eventually plea bargained the case to a sentence of two months time served in jail because of problems in the chain of custody with certain evidentiary items in the prosecutor’s office.

Now, of course there is no shame or ethical problems for lawyers representing criminal defendants and seeking plea bargains, even when the lawyer knows her client is guilty. That was her job and I don’t fault her in any way for that.

The ethical problem arose when Hillary Clinton, during a magazine interview sometime later, freely babbled on at length about her client’s guilt, including the results of a polygraph test he was given, all without his permission.

That is something no ethical lawyer should or would ever do under any circumstances. Ethical lawyers respect the sacred legal doctrine of attorney client privilege. Ethical lawyers never talk trash about their clients.  But Hillary Clinton is not an ethical lawyer.

She, according to Arkansas judicial records, was also suspended from the Arkansas bar in March of 2002 for failing to keep up with continuing legal education requirements. Good lawyers don’t get suspended by the bar association for failing in their obligations as lawyers.  

So the factual record indicates that Hillary Clinton, though she thinks she’s qualified to be President of the United States, really isn’t much good at anything except accumulating political chits. She was a lousy First Lady; a mediocre Senator; a lousy presidential candidate; a lousy Secretary of State and … she’s a lousy lawyer too.