What’ll be the excuse this time?

“The Rock Island Bridge . . . will undergo a multimillion-dollar face-lift and will be a pedestrian connection between the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in east Little Rock and North Little Rock.”—November 15, 2002, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“The former railroad bridge linking the Clinton presidential library campus to North Little Rock is scheduled to be converted to a pedestrian bridge by late 2004. The $4 million renovation will be paid for by the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Foundation.”—March 24, 2003, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“With a bridge over the Murray Lock and Dam set to begin construction in August and work to outfit the Rock Island Bridge at the Clinton library campus as a pedestrian bridge to begin soon after, Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey said he expects to be able to pedal the entire 14-mile loop some time in 2006.”—May 20, 2004, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“Farther down the river, plans for renovating the Rock Island Bridge . . . also are coming closer to fruition. Construction on the bridge, which is at the eastern end of a planned 14-mile bicycle trail, is expected to begin next year.”—December 3, 2005, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A REGULAR correspondent, concerned citizen, occasional skunk in the room, and lover of the outdoors e-mailed the other day with encouraging news: The Clinton Foundation raised more than $124 million in 2007.

Well, that’s not all the good news. Though it’s right fine news for Bill and Hillary and the library and all the worthy causes the ex-prez is working on. The really good news for lovers of the outdoors and the state’s capital city—like our emailing friend—is that, with this kind of scratch, the Clinton Foundation must now surely have the money to keep a promise that’s older than the presidential monument by the river, which just turned 4.

What’s the promise? We understand if you’ve forgotten. It’s been so long. The promise was to renovate the Rock Island Bridge, so that folks can walk, jog or bicycle between the twin cities. The River Trail will be complete at last. Even partially finished, the trail has become a real attraction.

Renovation of the Rock Island Bridge has been on the drawing board since the Clinton Library itself was just an artist’s rendering. Since Bill Clinton was president. Since tech stocks were hot and sure to stay hot forever. Heck, it’s been In the Works for so long that the cost of renovating that mass of crusty steel went from $4 million back at the turn of the century to approximately $10 million today. (Time is money. Lots of it.)

At one point, Mr. Clinton or his architect or both talked about turning the bridge into something out of Florence on the Arno—our own Ponte Vecchio complete with shops and lights, cafés and who-knows-what. It sounded fine.

But most of us would have settled simply for a nice, walkable, jog-able, bike-able bridge. Like the newly opened Junction Bridge. Or the newly constructed Big Dam Bridge.

Instead, we feel like the Maytag Repairman, waiting and waiting and waiting and . . . zzzzz. After a while, you forget what you’re waiting for.

From time to time, some Concerned Citizen aka occasional skunk in the room and lover of the outdoors and the capital city—in short, gadfly—will ask about that bridge. The rest of us will sit up and say, Oh, yeah, what did happen with that? Like the way you’d recall a long-ago promise by some politician to, say, cut taxes for the middle class. Then some city official or Foundation official or flack for either or both will say something about not having enough money yet. And that as soon as the money is in hand, the project will get under way because, you know, The Commitment is there. And then the whole thing will be forgotten again for another few months. Or a year. Or four.

BUT THE other week, Little Rock played host to the 19th National Trails Symposium. Delegates from all over the country were drawn here by our Big Dam Bridge and Medical Mile. Not to mention the twin cities’ natural vistas down by the river.

Our regular correspondent attended the symposium and files this report:
“While [the delegates] were impressed with what we have accomplished, their discerning eyes showed where we have fallen short. The Foundation had the chutzpah to host one of the events. It is impossible to walk into the beautiful entrance of the Clinton Library and not notice the rusting hulk a mere 300 feet away with its . . . vine-encrusted gate. Delegates noticed and asked—and were told of the perfidy (you have my permission to choose some other word) of the Foundation.”

Thank you, valued correspondent. We’d prefer shamelessness to perfidy. You know, that kind of clintonesque shamelessness that promises the moon with every good intention of delivering it at the time, but somehow, well, lets that one slide.

Back in ’05, good ol’ Skip Rutherford was president of the Clinton Foundation, and he was asked about Little Rock’s bridge to nowhere. His straight-faced response: “The Clinton foundation committed to do the bridge early on. We plan to do it.” There it is. A promise from the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation. Can’t say we weren’t warned.

Skip’s title has changed since then. He’s now dean of the Clinton School of Public Service. What hasn’t changed is the state of the Rock Island Bridge—unless you consider further deterioration and neglect, a little more rust and bird poop, change. Well, they say it’s a new era of Change and Hope. That’d be nice where the old bridge is concerned.

Conclusion: If it really is all about the money, then news of the foundation’s $124-million year might get us a pedestrian bridge at long last. Especially since it comes after a $135-million year for the foundation in 2006. All we need is to keep the civic pressure on. Surely, surely, Little Rock’s energetic new mayor, Mark Stodola, will. (Mayor Stodola, you’re still there, aren’t you?)

Maybe it’ll take more than just faith to see the promise kept. Maybe some old-fashioned embarrassment will do the trick. Those folks in town for the symposium on trails won’t forget the eyesore they saw right next to the Clinton Library. It’s the 500-ton rusty elephant in the room. Let’s make it a real bridge, instead of an embarrassment.

From: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEVE KEESEE The entrance to the Rock Island Bridge near the Clinton Library in Little Rock.

A good portion of President and Senator Clinton’s charitable donations went to their own charity, the Clinton Foundation.

There seems to be no way of telling how President and Senator Clinton made $18 million.

The timing of the release of the Clinton’s tax returns (a Friday afternoon aka the time to release news that you want to get as little attention as possible aka the “Friday Dump”), combined with the unaccounted for $18 million does raise an eyebrow or two.

However, as mentioned in The Centrist Voice’s first post about the Clinton’s tax returns, the real question is who gave money to the Clinton Presidential Library and the William J. Clinton Foundation.

Federal taxes paid: $33.7 million

Donations to charity: $10.2 million

More details to come

Update:

Hillary’s Senate salary: $1,051,606

Bill’s Presidential pension: $1,217,250

Hillary’s book income: $10, 457,083

Bill’s book income: $28,580,525

Bill’s speech income: $51,855,599

While the Clintons have released their own income, there are still calls for the Clintons to release the names of the donors to the Will Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library and the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation. They are not required to release the names of donors and the donors are permitted to give as much money as they desire, thus raising the question of whether or not donors would contribute large amounts of money for favors.