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Why Wall Street loves Hillary Clinton, businesses brace for an onslaught of regulations, Harry Reid as power player, and more.

Among recent secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton was one of the most aggressive global cheerleaders for American companies, pushing governments to sign deals and change policies to the advantage of corporate giants such as General Electric Co., Exxon Mobil Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co.

At the same time, those companies were among the many that gave to the Clinton familys global foundation set up by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. At least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during her tenure donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of public and foundation disclosures.

As Mrs. Clinton prepares to embark on a race for the presidency, she has a web of connections to big corporations unique in American politicsties forged both as secretary of state and by her familys charitable interests. Those relationships are emerging as an issue for Mrs. Clintons expected presidential campaign as income disparity and other populist themes gain early attention.

Indeed, Clinton Foundation money-raising already is drawing attention. To a lot of progressive Democrats, Clintons ties to corporate America are disturbing, says Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College who once worked for congressional Republicans. Mrs. Clintons connections to companies, he says, are a bonanza for opposition researchers because they enable her critics to suggest the appearance of a conflict of interest.

The Wall Street Journal identified the companies involved with both Clinton-family charitable endeavors and with Mrs. Clintons State Department by examining large corporate donations to the Clinton Foundation, then reviewing lobbying-disclosure reports filed by those companies. At least 44 of those 60 companies also participated in philanthropic projects valued at $3.2 billion that were set up though a wing of the foundation called the Clinton Global Initiative, which coordinates the projects but receives no cash for them.

Mrs. Clintons connections to the companies dont end there. As secretary of state, she created 15 public-private partnerships coordinated by the State Department, and at least 25 companies contributed to those partnerships. She also sought corporate donations for another charity she co-founded, a nonprofit womens group called Vital Voices.

Mrs. Clintons spokesman, Nick Merrill, says: She did the job that every secretary of state is supposed to do and what the American people expect of themespecially during difficult economic times. She proudly and loudly advocated on behalf of American business and took every opportunity she could to promote U.S. commercial interests abroad.

Corporate donations to politically connected charities arent illegal so long as they arent in exchange for favors. There is no evidence of that with the Clinton Foundation.

Read more from the original source:
Hillary Clinton's Complex Corporate Ties