According to the NYT,
An upstate New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton’s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.
Mrs. Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert J. Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse.
Mrs. Clinton also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.
What? Charlie Rangel wasn’t available??
Congel maintains there was no connection between the legislation and the gift, but until then he had been a Republican donor, including acting in 2004 as a “Bush Ranger”, or bundler of contributions, as well as giving to the RNC, Giuliani, Romney and Fred Thompson in 2008.
More disturbing, the help to Congel was hidden under the guise of “green bonds”, which exempt their holder from Federal income tax if they promise that the project will, in some nebulous and unquantifiable way, benefit the environment. Expect recycling bins to be prominantly displayed at Destiny USA, in return for a 100% tax exemption for the lenders on their earned interest.
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