Huffpo: Bill Clinton's Ties to Colombia Trade Deal Stronger Than Even Penn's

[flpoljunkie]

Sam Stein
The Huffington Post

Bill Clinton's Ties To Colombia Trade Deal Stronger Than Even Penn's

April 8, 2008 12:59 PM

On Sunday evening, Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief campaign strategist, Mark Penn, resigned after it was revealed he was working (on the side) for the passage of a Colombia Free Trade Agreement that his candidate opposed.

But within the Clinton campaign, Penn is not the highest-ranking adviser with financial ties to groups and individuals supporting the passage of the measure.

Former President Bill Clinton has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars speaking on behalf of a Colombia-based group pushing the trade pact, and representatives of that organization tell The Huffington Post that the former president shared their sentiment.

In June 2005, Clinton was paid $800,000 by the Colombia-based Gold Service International to give four speeches throughout Latin America. The organization is, ostensibly, a development group tasked with bringing investment to the country and educating world leaders about the Colombia's business opportunities.

The group's chief operating officer, Andres Franco, said in an interview that the group supports the congressional ratification of the free trade agreement and that, when Clinton was on his speaking tour, he expressed similar opinions.

"He was supportive of the trade agreement at the time that he came, but that was several years ago. In the present context, I don't know what his position would be. It is not only about union trade rights. It is about what benefit or damage it can do to the US economy," said Franco. "Events with the Clinton campaign are not good at all for the trade agreement... Right now it became a campaign issues and that is sad, because it needs to go through."

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/08/bill-clintons-ties-to-col_n_95651.html?view=print