Hillary Clinton Accepts Money from Redneck Sheriff who Prevented Katrina Evacuees from Leaving New Orleans

From the New York Times, 5/22/2007
By PATRICK HEALY; Katharine Q. Seelye and Katie Zezima

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who has cast herself as an ally of African-Americans in rebuilding this city, this weekend accepted fund-raising assistance from a family friend who is controversial with many black and white victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The friend, Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish, has been close to former President Bill Clinton for many years, and he is popular among some Democrats here. But Sheriff Lee has a long history of making divisive and derogatory remarks, sometimes aimed at residents of neighboring New Orleans, which is predominantly black, and his relationship with many black political leaders is turbulent.

Sheriff Lee drew notoriety shortly after the hurricane when some of his deputies helped prevent hurricane evacuees, most of them black, from crossing the Crescent City Connection bridge into Jefferson Parish. Sheriff Lee defended the move, saying his office had ''a duty to protect our people.''

Sheriff Lee was a host committee member for a fund-raiser here Friday night for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. The event, which the senator attended, was closed to the news media. A Clinton campaign spokeswoman declined to comment on Mrs. Clinton's views of Sheriff Lee's actions in 2005 or on his fund-raising support.

Phone messages left for Sheriff Lee were not returned. A Clinton adviser declined to discuss his role, citing the personal nature of his relationship with both Clintons.

Mrs. Clinton is competing for black support with other rivals for the Democratic nomination, particularly Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, who is black and who has also championed hurricane recovery efforts in New Orleans.

Mrs. Clinton, who proposed a ''Gulf Coast Recovery Agenda'' during a stop here Friday, unveiled more details of that plan during a commencement speech Saturday at Dillard University, where she spoke before several thousand African-Americans. She proposed a ''Gulf Coast Corps'' of workers to complete high-priority projects; the program would also provide financial incentives to teachers, doctors, and other professionals who are in high demand in the region.

And for the first time, Mrs. Clinton endorsed the idea of holding one of the 2008 presidential debates here.

While Mrs. Clinton was warmly received by the Dillard audience, she came in for harsh criticism from Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, whom she had assailed on Friday as not doing as much as Democrats to assist with the recovery here.

''Throughout this difficult recovery work, I've always strived to focus on helping people and solving problems, not playing politics,'' Mr. Vitter said. ''I think our whole delegation has. I, for one, sure hope we keep doing that and leave the divisive partisanship and political games to Hillary and others.''

While Mrs. Clinton was campaigning here, the early primary state of New Hampshire saw its share of presidential politicking on Saturday: Mr. Obama opened a vote-canvassing drive and delivered the commencement speech at Southern New Hampshire University, while Mr. Clinton and former President George Bush gave a joint address to graduates at the University of New Hampshire.

Mr. Obama, in his speech, described his anger and rebellion growing up as a black man. He also described himself as someone who liked to party, and referring to the milestones of life, cited graduation, a first job, and ''the first time you throw a party where you also serve food.''

Mr. Obama also talked about lessons from his own life, telling the 1,000 graduates that they would have to persevere to overcome a pettiness in society and ''politics where debates over war and peace are reduced to 60-second sound bites and 30-second attack ads.''

At the University of New Hampshire, meanwhile, the two former presidents recalled their collaboration raising and disbursing more than $115 million for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and they also reveled in their postpresidential friendship.

''I cannot tell you the selfish pleasure I get out of working with President Clinton,'' Mr. Bush said. ''It's a very selfish feeling I have in my heart to be out there transcending politics.''

The men talked about the importance of public service and philanthropy, with Mr. Clinton saying that Americans must take their citizenship seriously and not simply focus on their professional goals.

Mr. Clinton also drew some laughter when he thanked the university's interim president, J. Bonnie Newman. ''Madam President,'' he said. ''That has a nice ring to it.''

More women should be in charge, Mr. Clinton added, ''so George and I can spend more time playing golf.''