Women's Voices has strong ties to Clinton

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:06:42 -0400

The group behind the "Lamont Williams" calls has strong ties to Hillary Clinton.

According to research by the Center for Investigative Reporting, principals in Women's Voices Women Vote have given $34,800 to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or her political action committee since 2000, while only giving $3,600 to Barack Obama and $2,300 to John Edwards.

(In fairness, Obama did not run for U.S. Senate until 2004 and Edwards was not a national figure until his presidential campaign that year.)

The group's leadership have worked with the Clintons as well.

Founder Page Gardner served as the deputy political director for Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, Joe Goode was a pollster for him, Mimi Mager served as a member of the Clinton transition team and John Podesta was chief of staff to President Clinton.

There are some non-Clinton connections, too, including Obama supporters William McNary and Todd Webster and Edwards supporter Chris Dresser.

Asked by The Insider about the connections earlier this week, Clinton's state organizer Ace Smith acted offended.

"You're asking me about something that has nothing to do with our campaign," he said. "This is getting to conspiracy talk."

Hat Tip: Facing South