Oh, this is fascinating reading: come for the problematical Haitian gold mine, stay for the exquisitely careful attempts of the Washington Post to needle Hillary Clinton about her brother Tony Rodham without looking like they’re needling her. Basically, what appears to have happened here is that Rodham – a man who has admittedly spent a good of time and effort in a quest to monetize the fact that his sister married a former President* – was given a nice little board membership (and, more importantly, stock options) on said mine by VCS Mining. The CEO of that company (Angelo Viard) swears up and down that this wasn’t because Billy Carter Tony Rodham is the brother of Jimmy Carter Hillary Clinton: as you might imagine, I fully endorse Andrew Stiles‘ snort of disbelief.
Why? Well, according to the WaPo (which is also snorting in disbelief, albeit more quietly) the mine is: controversial because of the potential environmental damage**; a bit of a political football in Haiti; and in need of some potent patronage. You must simply forgive people for looking at that, then looking at Tony Rodham, then looking resigned at what it all means. Especially if you note – again, like the Washington Post did – that the Clintons enjoy a good deal of political influence in Haiti, thanks to the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. Continue reading Hillary Clinton’s Billy Carter moment.