Hillary Clintonwill face a financial decision if she is nominated as secretary of state: what to do about the more than $7 million in debts left over from her presidential campaign.
She could pay off the bulk of her debt by liquidating her Senate campaign committee account. She also could legally continue to raise money, though that may present ethical concerns if she is serving in the Cabinet.
Clinton, 61, appears to be the frontrunner for secretary of state, according to a Democrat familiar with the matter. If she accepts the post, which would require her to be vetted by the Obama transition team and confirmed by the Senate, she may be forced to address questions about the financial dealings of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and clear the fiscal books of her presidential campaign.
``If she wants to pay it off, she'll want to pay it off relatively soon,'' former Federal Election Commission General Counsel Larry Noble said.
Philippe Reines, a spokesman for the New York senator, said that paying off campaign debts ``is a priority for her, and she remains committed to that goal.''
Continued fundraising has the potential to create diplomatic conflicts of interest.
While foreign governments and nationals can't donate to U.S. political campaigns, U.S. subsidiaries of overseas companies and U.S. lobbyists for foreign governments can donate. Though President-elect Barack Obamadoesn't take contributions from registered lobbyists and could ask others in his administration to do the same, that ban doesn't apply to members of lobbying firms who aren't registered to lobby.
`Very Worrisome'
It would be ``very worrisome to have administration people not running for office receiving money from private special interests,'' said Craig Holman, a lobbyist with Public Citizen, a Washington-based advocacy group that favors stronger campaign- finance laws. ``There is a big hole here and a large potential for a conflict of interest.''
Clinton owes $7.6 million to vendors, Reines said, down from $10.8 million on July 31. Her latest Federal Election Commission filings show that as of Sept. 30 she owed $5.3 million to former strategist Mark Penn and $250,000 for communications and consulting services to Gotham Acme, the name of former spokesman Howard Wolfson's music and political blog.
Clinton already has had to write off most of the $13.2 million she lent her campaign since federal election law prevents her from raising all but $250,000 to pay herself back after her party's nominating convention in late August.
Senate Committee
Her Senate campaign committee, which had $6 million in the bank at the end of September, could agree to pay off her presidential campaign debts.
The Senate account received $6.5 million in donations from supporters who initially had given the money to finance Clinton's general-election campaign had she won the Democratic presidential nomination. They gave the money instead to her Senate campaign rather than request a refund.
Overall, Clinton took in $217 million for her presidential campaign, the third-highest amount for a Democratic candidate, behind John Kerry in 2004 and Obama this year.
Separately, Clinton's political-action committee, HillPAC, reported $692,773 in the bank as of Oct. 15.
Former Senator Bill Cohen, a Maine Republican, temporarily kept his campaign account after becoming secretary of defense under President Clinton. He stopped taking donations and spent the $21,161 he had in his account in 1997 and 1998.
Two Republican presidential candidates also opened their own checkbooks to help fund their White House runs. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney loaned his campaign $44.6 million and former New York City MayorRudy Giuliani took out an $800,000 loan. Giuliani also reported debts of $217,522 to his own companies.
If Clinton's unpaid bills turn into an impediment to her obtaining the Cabinet position, one solution may be for Obama to resolve the issue by enlisting his vast fundraising network to pay off her debt.
