Clinton lashes out at gay Republican

[世岩 최삼송]

By Raymond Hernandez The New York Times
Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Ex-president defends wife's Senate record

 

NEW YORK Former President Bill Clinton unleashed an attack against a gay Republican strategist who plans to work against the re-election of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, suggesting that, to work on behalf of the Republican Party, the man may be "blinded by self-loathing."

The former president was reacting to reports that the strategist, Arthur Finkelstein, was setting up a political action committee to defeat Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Democrat, in 2006. Republican officials close to Finkelstein have said that he hopes to be able to finance an advertising campaign similar to the one orchestrated last year against the presidential candidate John Kerry by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"I was sort of sad when I read it," Clinton said at a news conference at his office in Harlem, where he announced that his foundation was donating $10 million to treat children with AIDS.

The former president noted that an article published over the weekend reported that Finkelstein had married his male partner in a civil ceremony at his home in Massachusetts. Clinton then alluded to the Republican Party's use of the same-sex marriage issue to mobilize conservative voters.

"Either this guy believes his party is not serious, and he's totally Machiavellian," Clinton said, or "he may be blinded by self-loathing."

Finkelstein, a reclusive former adviser to George Pataki, a Republican former governor of New York, did not respond to a message left at his office seeking a comment on Clinton's remarks. But his allies quickly did.

"It's really beneath a former president to comment on someone's personal life like that," said Michael McKeon, a Republican strategist, former Pataki aide and friend of Finkelstein's. "After everything he has been through in his own life, you'd think he'd know better."

The spectacle of the former president coming to the defense of his wife, a tough politician in her own right, generated considerable buzz in political circles, particularly since he has tried to keep a low profile and stay out of her way since she took office more than four years ago.

Although Hillary Rodham Clinton's popularity rating is high, and Republicans are having trouble finding a strong candidate to run against her, the senator's political advisers have cited Finkelstein's plans as a sign of the fierce campaign they expect from Republicans.

Finkelstein, who helped engineer Pataki's victory over Governor Mario Cuomo in 1994, has not publicly commented on his plans to establish an anti-Clinton committee, called Stop Her Now.

But the Republicans familiar with those plans say that he is attempting to line up donors to help the committee reach its goal of raising as much as $10 million to finance an independent campaign against her.

In that context, Bill Clinton offered high praise for his wife's record in office, describing her as a hard-working senator. "I don't think he'll stop her," he said, referring to Finkelstein.

Finkelstein's associates have said that they were surprised to learn of his marriage to another man. A prominent conservative, he has been allied over the years with Republicans who have adamantly opposed gay rights measures, including former Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

Finkelstein has also been the subject of attacks by gay rights advocates, who have accused him of hypocrisy.





Donald G. McNeil Jr. contributed reporting for this article.