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HenchPAC NewsIs First Senate Candidate Hillary Clinton, whose press availablity is almost nil, actually charging for the rare media interviews she deigns to give?
That's what Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak seems to have confessed, when confronted with NewsMax.com's scoop about the political contributions of one of her magazine's top reporters.
On Tuesday we revealed that Gail Sheehy, who has spent most of this week on TV defending her report that GOP standard bearer George W. Bush was likely a dislexic, had ponied up over $3500 to various Democratic Party causes. Nearly a quarter of Sheehy's beneficence went directly to Hillary Clinton's senate campaign and the New York State Democratic Party.
When the New York Post asked Kseniak what gives, she claimed Sheehy "was really just buying tickets to fundraising events to get close to people she was writing about."
The money was "a good way for Gail to get access to Hillary Clinton" while she was researching a story on the aborted senate match-up between the first lady and Rudy Giuliani, the Vanity Fair flack explained.
Sheehy didn't make any donations to Giuliani. But that was all right, Kseniak argued, because he was holding press conferences and making regular public appearances where he took questions. "Hillary Clinton had much more restricted press access," the Vanity Fair spokeswoman said, who added that the magazine reimbursed the writer for her Hillary donations.
So let's get this straight.
In order to gain "access" to Hillary, Sheehy forked over the cash, which was later paid back by her employer. In other words, Vanity Fair basically paid Hillary Clinton through Sheehy so that its reporter could get the story.
That's not a whole lot different from what Star Magazine did in 1992 when it coughed up $150,000 for its blockbuster interview with Gennifer Flowers. Except that at the time, mainstream reporters said Flowers' money deal "undermined her credibility."
The amount of cash in question in the Hillary and Flowers cases may be vastly different (of course, the comparable reliability of the sources could account for the disparity). But the principle remains the same.
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BUSH-BASHER GAVE DEMS DOLLARS By RICHARD JOHNSON with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson GAIL Sheehy, who claimed this week that George W. Bush might suffer from dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, denies she is biased even though she has donated $3,550 to Democrats since July 1999.The Vanity Fair writer said on Fox News Channel this week: "I wrote this [Bush] piece and I stand behind it. It is totally pinned down. One hundred percent!"
Sheehy was reimbursed by Vanity Fair for most of the money she gave to Democratic candidates and causes. "She was really just buying tickets to fundraising events to get close to people she was writing about," Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak says.
Federal Election Commission records obtained by NewsMax.com show that Sheehy gave $1,000 to the ill-fated presidential campaign of Bill Bradley while she was researching a profile on the former senator.
When she was researching a story on the aborted match-up between Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton, Sheehy gave $300 to the New York State Democratic Committee, while Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign got another $500 directly.
"It was a good way for Gail to get access to Hillary Clinton," Kseniak tells PAGE SIX. Giuliani was holding press conferences and making public appearances, so Sheehy didn't make any contributions to Republicans. "But Hillary Clinton had much more restricted press access," Kseniak says.
Sheehy was at the time also writing a book about the first lady, "Hillary's Choice," which posited the theory that Hillary's marital troubles might stem from the fact that she had an unloving father. It was not, as NewsMax.com claims, "a puff piece."
The only political contributions Sheehy made that were not reimbursed were a total $750 to Emily's List, a fundraising operation apparently dear to Sheehy's heart which seeks to elect more women - mostly Democratic women - to public office.
Sheehy, who is married to New York magazine founder Clay Felker, failed to donate any money to the GOP while researching her story on George W. Bush. "She got
exposed to Bush on the back of the campaign plane," Kseniak explained.
Media ethicists prefer that reporters keep their political leanings secret. In 1998, Steve Brill, founder of Brill's Content, was rebuked for donating to the Democrats at the same time he was attacking Independent Counsel Ken Starr.
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