Nov 20, 2003 1 min read

Here’s one more reason to conclude the Federal Election Commission lacks the power or the will regulate elections. The commission decided that if Denise Rich bought her husband’s pardon from President Clinton by contributing to Mrs. Clinton’s Senate campaign she at least stayed on the right side of campaign finance laws. The FEC disclosed Wednesday that it decided last month that Denise Rich’s contributions to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign passed muster. She didn’t exceed the maximum $1,000 allowed then for individual donors to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. The other $70,000 – well that went to the New York Senate 2000’s soft money account, which in turn bankrolled Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. As to the $7,375 furniture that Mrs. Rich donated to the Clintons, well, that wasn’t used in the campaign, so it really is not the FEC’s concern. Even if Mrs. Rich followed the letter of the election law in supporting her candidate for Senate, the deal still smacks of currying favor with the former first lady to successfully gain her presidential husband’s pardon.