Hillary Clinton revives hibernating '80s 'sleaze factor': Column

In the wake of revelations regarding the questionable nexus between Hillary and Bill Clinton's family foundation and those who benefitted from her tenure as Secretary of State, their defenders say there is no proof of misdeeds, no verifiable quid pro quo, not a shred of evidence against them. True so far, at least none that weren't deleted.

However there is a pattern of dubious behavior, and certainly an appearance of impropriety. The sheer scale of the money involved is daunting. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and speaker's fees on the one hand, with contracts and agreements worth multi-millions of dollars being doled out on the other. The fact that Mrs. Clinton has not already been written off as politically dead says a lot about how perceptions of the role of money in politics have changed.

The Clintons' troubles bring to mind "the sleaze factor," an expression used by Walter Mondale early in the 1984 presidential campaign to describe what he called "a tawdry record of unethical conduct" in the Reagan administration. It was rooted in allegations of misconduct among several members of Reagan's team. Mondale said that almost every week, "another rotten apple falls out of the tree."

Mondale took aim specifically at then-Attorney General nominee Edwin Meese, who was being investigated by the Justice Department for a potential violation of the Ethics in Government Act. In particular, questions had arisen over a $15,000 interest-free loan from his assistant Edwin Thomas to Meese's wife, Ursula, that Meese had not reported on his financial disclosure form. Thomas, his wife and son later went on to receive Federal appointments.

One editorial from the time summarized the charges against Meese as "suspicious-looking loans from people who later received White House favors [and] financial dealings that were either unreported or misreported." That could be used as boilerplate for an article about the Clintons today. Meese was cleared of wrongdoing, only to fall afoul of the Wedtech scandal three years later, an affair the New York Times called "too indecent and too predictable." Again, useful boilerplate.

Reagan's National Security Advisor Richard Allen was also hit with the sleaze charge. He was hounded from office principally because of an envelope containing $1000 cash that was left behind in his safe when he moved offices. The money was an honorarium that Allen's longtime friend Tamotsu Takase, husband of Japanese journalist Chizuko Takase, had tried to present to Nancy Reagan for an interview before the inauguration. Allen, then a leader of the transition team, intercepted the envelope and gave it to his secretary, who put it in the safe. He then forgot about it.

Allen was cleared, but was later run from office for having accepted inexpensive Japanese watches as personal gifts. This amounted to sleaze? It sounds quaint compared with the Clinton money machine.

Liberal commentator Tom Braden thought the sleaze factor would be a major campaign theme. He said the names of the Reagan officials under suspicion such as Meese and Allen "do not conjure the image of openness, candor, honesty and fair-mindedness that Americans respect." These are also words one would not immediately associate with the name Clinton.

The sleaze charge did not change the outcome of the 1984 election, in which Mondale was trounced. And Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis in his book Scandal noted that "Democrats paid dearly in the Clinton years for this careless use of the charge 'corruption.'" But not all charges are baseless. If Mrs. Clinton wins the White House, it would be useful to swear in a special prosecutor the day of the inauguration, just for the sake of convenience. It will be one busy office.

James S. Robbins writes weekly for USA TODAY and is the author of The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero .

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page.