by Mark Smiley
The Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation (originally founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Foundation) came to Denver in the form of CGI America conference at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel from June 8-10 and the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle was in attendance. It was the second consecutive CGI America event in Denver with the annual conference moving to Atlanta next June.
This year’s conference in Denver attracted wide national media attention as the Clinton Foundation has come under attack because of a book titled Clinton Cash by conservative author Peter Schweizer whose criticisms have been expanded upon by various liberal media outlets including The New York Times and The Washington Post. The critical press attention clearly had an effect as attendance was reduced from 1,500 attendees in 2014 to 1,000 this year and the number of financial sponsors reduced from 35 to 13. While President Clinton and Chelsea attended this year, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chose to remain in Washington and work on her presidential campaign.
Enthusiastic Attendees
But the negative media attention concerning the Clinton Foundation did not appear to dim the enthusiasm of those attending this year’s CGI America conference. Very few people from the Cherry Creek Valley were fortunate enough to attend the event as it was restricted to Clinton Foundation members only as well as invited speakers and the press. Membership in the Clinton Foundation is similar to an exclusive country club and by “invitation only,” costing $20,000 annually ($19,000 of which is tax deductible according to the Foundation).
Membership in the Clinton Foundation entitles your organization to one person attending the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) held in New York City every fall. Not just anyone from your organization can attend; you must be a “CEO, chairman or executive director” to be permitted to attend the event in New York. CGI America is one of at least four offshoots of CGI including: CGI Latin America, CGI Middle East and Africa, and CGI University. The CEO restriction was apparently significantly relaxed for the Denver event.
One might ask what an attendee can gain from attending. Gwendolyn Rodriguez of the startup company Venture In Network (VIN), which sets out to increase the success rates of startups, specifically those led by women and minority entrepreneurs, commented: “I would love to leave with part of a team and of course funding is important. I would love to get commitments from people who are passionate about strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Denver’s Scaled Down Occasion
CGI Middle East and Africa held their event in May at a five star resort, the Palmeraie Palace in Marrakesh, Morocco, which includes a championship 18 hole golf course. The event became controversial when it was learned that government controlled phosphate mining company OPC paid the Clinton Foundation $ 1,000,000 to sponsor the event. OPC has been accused of human rights violations by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice among others.
The CGI America event held in Denver was a much more down home event than that held in Morocco. The big, sponsored event in Denver was simply an “evening of science and STEM trivia” coupled with “beer education” sponsored by CA Technologies.
Prince Of Darkness Holds Court
Denver had to pay approximately $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation to hold the event, which was raised by Steve Farber, a principal in the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP. Farber has been called Denver’s “Prince of Darkness” for his behind the scenes manipulations of Denver government. He is considered second only to Oakwood Homes founder Pat Hamill for his control over Denver Mayor Michael Hancock. His firm represented Mayor Hancock in 2011 concerning charges he was a patron of houses of prostitution in Denver, including Denver Players/Denver Sugar. Both Farber and Hamill are important directors of Colorado Concern, an organization of wealthy corporate CEOs who seek to directly influence Colorado politics.
Farber was very much in evidence at the event. His table was front and center and he would stand up to receive visitors dressed to the T in what one attendee called his “Mafia don pinstriped suit.”
Well Run Event
If one thing was abundantly clear it was that the Clinton Foundation knows how to hold a conference with details both large and small attended to with incredible professionalism. If you were not previously aware that the event was being held at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel you would think that the hotel was called the “CGI America.” The signage overlays for the event seemed almost permanent and were ubiquitous.
If you ever looked confused about where you were supposed to go, a friendly volunteer would approach and point you in the right direction. Volunteers were dressed in what one volunteer humorously called their “Jet Blue Flight Attendant uniforms.” They seamlessly directed attendees to empty chairs at the crowded luncheons. The media room was sumptuously laid out for the always ravenous press.
Television Interviews
One of the highlights of the conference were the television interviews of former President Bill Clinton by CNN and Bloomberg News on the last day of the event. The CNN interview was for the kickoff of Jake Tapper taking over from Candy Crowley on CNN’s Sunday “State of the Union” show. The print media were escorted to the interview room and given a handout declaring that there was a “news embargo” on the interview and that no one could report on what was said until after airing of interview on Sunday. That proscription was roundly ignored by various members of the press.
The problem for the press was that the interview by Tapper was bland and verging on embarrassing for Tapper. There were no tough questions and no interesting information was obtained in the 20 minute interview. Prior to the taping Tapper gushed over the former President telling him how great he looked and informing him that he didn’t look a day older since he last met him over five years ago. One member of the print media whispered — “Is he planning to ask him out to a prom?”
Immediately after the CNN interview former President Clinton went next door for a live television interview with Betty Liu who was clearly somewhat in awe, but at least was more professional and obtained some interesting information, including that Clinton would probably not do paid speeches for the time his wife was President. “No, I don’t think so…because once you get to be president, then you are just making the daily story,” said Clinton. “I will still give speeches, if I’m asked to do so,” without accepting honoraria for them.”
Clinton went on to say that he believed the Republicans would choose for their candidate whomever they thought was most electable as they always seemed to do. While Ms. Liu would not get an Edward R. Murrow award for courage in journalism for her interview she clearly had a great deal more gumption than a somewhat timid Jake Tapper.
The Clinton Foundation made sure that both television interviews had audiences of Clinton admirers exclusively and who laughed and applauded on cue. If it is charged that the Clintons know how to manipulate the press to their advantage, it was on clear display at CGI America 2015.
Commitments To Action
The stated purpose of CGI America is to bring together leaders from the business, philanthropic, NGO and government sectors to come up with Commitments to Action which are to be “new, specific and measurable” to help the poorest and most vulnerable in America. The fact that CGI does not provide any money whatsoever for the poor and vulnerable but spends all of its money on administrative costs and holding conferences like CGI America Denver has brought CGI under extensive criticism. CGI in turn states that it is not its job to provide money or grants but obtain Commitments for Action from others that come to its conferences.
During the festivities former President Clinton or Chelsea would announce new Commitments to Action, some of which were arranged prior to the conference and some formulated at the conference. He or she would bring on stage the participants in a Commitment for Action for recognition and a photograph with the former president or his daughter. In the June 10 press release from the Clinton Global Initiative Press Office it asserted that CGI America 2015 had resulted in 79 new Commitments to Action which would cause to happen among other things:
- Nearly 210,000 jobs being created or filled
- More than 126,000 girls and women to be positively impacted
- More than $11.3 million of new capital invested or loaned to small and medium-sized enterprises
- More than 111,000 students will gain access to STEM education opportunities
- More than 1.2 million people will receive access to training programs
Former President Clinton personally added that because of the efforts at CGI America 2015, “more than 1.6 million people will be better off.” Some critics denigrated the press release and the President’s remark pointing out that CGI America’s jobs claim alone would constitute approximately 10 percent of all new jobs likely to be created in the United States this year. Other critics noted that the Clinton Foundation had basically made the Clintons extraordinarily financially wealthy while claiming to help the poor, and wondered whether at least some of the participants in the Commitments to Action were going to try, in fact, to emulate the Clinton family model.
But some participants scoffed at the criticisms. Gwendolyn Rodriguez from VIN, who was referenced earlier, found the conference particularly beneficial and was able to obtain commitments and partnerships from high profile attendees. “I learned a lot about the work going on to make our nation greater from the people who lead those efforts,” said Rodriguez. “Together we discussed the challenges and opportunities that exist and what we are going to do about it. I checked off a lot more than the list I came in with, so the conference was worth it for me and I will be excited to do it again next year.”
