Clinton secrecy III: More documents hidden through election

An intriguing trove of documents that could open a revealing window into Hillary Clinton and her claims of vast White House experience qualifying her for the presidency is stored at the University of Arkansas library system in Fayetteville.

The papers were amassed by Diane Blair, one of the New York senator's closest friends and confidants. Just imagine what a person with such access and status would know about the would-be president, her work, her thinking, her schedule, her personality, her troubled relationship with her husband -- who could be assistant president in the next administration.

But don't expect to get a look at this treasure trove of documents before the 2008 presidential election. That's no accident. And we can all guess why. Precisely because the papers would be so revealing.

Blair had planned to write a book about Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. She had intimate access throughout. She conducted extensive interviews. She never wrote the book before her death in 2000. But the fruits of her research are now in the libraries' possession where staff say they must process the paperwork before it can be made public.

But you'll never guess what. Progress in cataloguing the material is very....

slow. How slow? Well, The Times Peter Nicholas recently asked Tom W. Dillard, head of the libraries' special collections department, what percentage of the papers had been processed so far since they were received in 2004.

"Zero," he said.

While substantial sorting has been done, he said it may take, oh, two years before the papers can be publicly released. That would be, let's see, 2009, which happens to fall after the 2008 election.

One part-time person is now assigned to the task. That person calls people interviewed by Blair and asks permission for their oral histories to be released.

"That's our biggest hang-up right now,'' Dillard added.

He said the Blair files might contain a million pages of material. He denied any pressure from the Clinton campaign or anyone else to slow-walk release of the papers.

"I'm sure people think we're piddling along trying to wait out the election," Dillard told Nicholas, "but that's not the case at all. We're working to get it done as soon as we can. It's just a big collection.''

Coincidentally,slow staff work is the same reason given for being unable to release Clinton's documents as first lady, which are stored at the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock. However, Clinton is so sure of the value of her experience that she often cites it as a major qualification for her candidacy, though no one can see them.

The subject even came up near the end of the recent Democratic debate. Tim Russert asked her point blank if she would order the documents released, and she replied it's not her decision to make. Then, who's is it? The next day Clinton's opponents seized on her persistent secrecy. Now, Nicholas has updated Times readers on the document lockdown in Sunday's print editions and here on this website.

Further delaying matters on the Blair collection is that the university system has only four full-time archivists, Dillard said, who must also honor commitments to process submissions from others, who are not running for president.

There's a little catch though. The library system's annual report from two years ago discussed the Blair papers. One passage suggested the material might be ready for viewing. According to the report, "Archivists were hired to process both the Diane Blair Papers and the records of former third district Congressman Asa Hutchinson, and both collections are nearing completion."

That was the 2005-2006 report. This is 2007. Still not ready. Maybe by 2009.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Mark]

Another day, another negative story. That's all the media wants to report when it comes to Hillary.

Obama gets raves. You guys just seem to enjoy reporting on anything negative associated with Hillary you can find.

[Aa]

Sen. Hillary may get away by not releasing her vast volume of documents that are attached to her vast years of experience and perhaps get her party nomination but come the general election with the Republican Party, she will have no choice but bring every single document out. It may even take court action under Freedom of Information Act. It will not be pretty. One line about the FBI files or Vince Foster, Presidential pardon of criminals facilitated by her brother will be enough to to completely reduce her presidential ambition to ashes. This may be the reason why the Republican Party can not wait for her to be nominated.

[Herbert Erdmenger]

The Hillary thing: She is a crook, she has been a crook, and she will always be a crook, period!
What about Vincent Foster? His death at that park in Washington, DC...still has not been solved

[Michael Snyder]

Please! When can we get a break? Is the Clinton campaign really that arrogant or are people really that stupid? Truth is when folks find out the truth about life in the Clinton White House they’ll probably be a lot more forgiving of Bill’s dalliances.
Did she take a page out of the Bush / Cheney manual on stonewalling? If this is “transparency in government” this woman in office will have us yearning for the “good old Bush days.”
I’m glad to see the “fourth estate” has lost some of its’ enchantment with Hillary but they’re still being led around by pollsters. This is not a sporting event! What is at stake here is the future of our nation and reporters want to know if black women will vote according to sex or race. You’re kidding, right??
We’ve an ageing nation with a health care system based on cherry-picking and refusing coverage for “pre-existing conditions.” Is there anybody out there without a “pre-existing condition?” Hillary’s first “health plan” was about consolidating everyone’s health records into a central data base before she dispensed a single aspirin. But she won’t release the records that would confirm her highly touted “qualifications.” Is anybody listening?
Wall St. Executives are being paid bonuses that look like lottery winnings for actions that would land any of “us” in the streets if not in jail. The cost of gas has tripled since the Fed removed food and fuel from its’ inflation index because the numbers were “too volatile.” When was the last time you saw a bean counter ignore a bean?
Angelo Mozilo is now claiming, “The borrowers made me do it.” And Bob Nordini took his $232 million in winnings for tanking Home Depot to Chrysler where he’s in the running for the “Grinch Award” by announcing the layoff of 12,000 people in the months before Christmas. That’s a number larger than half of the towns in the US!
The “credit crunch” has resulted in Wall St. “write downs” larger than the GNP of any third world nation and you can be sure the American consumer will foot the tab.
Since we’ve all moved the primaries up so far from the national elections I’ve a ballot nominee; “None of the Above.” Should “None of the Above” win a more votes than any of the candidates, all of the candidates will be ineligible for the nomination and a new field must be selected for the next primary election in 120 days. My money’s on “None of the Above.”

[Randy Amundson]

It's time she came clean, if she's able. Sometimes you live a lie so long that it seems to be the truth. Just let AP or UPS catalogue her papers and use their vast staff to call to get the permission. It would be done in a month and everyone would the deceitfullness of this person.

She is the most unqualified person in either party to be president. Foreign affairs would be a joke, she would give away the farm at home and the taxpayers would feel the pain.

[Dan]

In Arkansas University Staff Handbook there is a section regarding the Freedom of Information Act: they MUST give full access to University documents to the public:

http://hr.uark.edu/StaffHandbook/?Section=9.5

"Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, University documents, with some exceptions, are considered public records, and must be made available to the public for inspection during regular business hours. Records covered by the act include data compilations in any format, including papers, microfilm, microfiche, computer disks and tapes, e-mail, and audio and video recordings. Freedom of Information requests must be responded to within three days of the date when a written request is received. The public may also request that disclosable documents be copied, but the University will charge a fee for copying."

They must hand over anything they have, sorted or not.