WHILE CLINTON POLITICKED; WIFE BUILT INCOME
...Her affiliation with another corporation, however, had not been publicized. The tax returns showed she was earning $31,000 a year serving on the board of the Lafarge Corp. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Lafarge is a Fortune 500 company that had a subsidiary engaged in the burning of hazardous wastes to fuel cement plants.
Hazardous wastes burned in cement kilns include everything from carcinogenic solvents such as acetone and benzene to paint, ink and waste oils.
At the time, Lafarge was operating 16 full-production cement plants, four cement-grinding plants and more than 100 distribution facilities throughout the United States and Canada.
The subsidiary in question, Systech Environmental Corp. of Xenia, Ohio, had been targeted by environmentalists and community activists in Texas, Indiana, Alabama, California, Michigan, Ohio and Kansas.
When the Lafarge connection was made public, Hillary Clinton came under attack from environmentalists nationwide.
"How can you be concerned with the environment and sit on the board of a French-owned company that has only one thing in mind -- to make money?" asked David Wallace, founder of a grass-roots organization in Texas that was fighting a Systech burning plan there. "I think it's atrocious. Mr. Clinton and Mrs. Clinton have both come out as environmentalists. Lafarge is not a company that promotes the environment. If Mrs. Clinton really was an environmentalist, she would resign tonight."
On May 4, 1992, Hillary Clinton abruptly left the Lafarge, Wal-Mart and TCBY boards.
"I have concluded that my full-time participation in my husband's presidential campaign prevents me from fulfilling my responsibilities as a director in the public companies," she said in a statement released by the campaign.
She did not note that to spare her husband further political embarrassment, she was willing to give up a large portion of the family's income. In addition to the $31,000 per year from Lafarge, Wal-Mart was paying her $18,000 per year in quarterly increments as well as $1,500 for every meeting attended. TCBY paid her $5,000 per year and $1,000 for each meeting attended.
After Hillary Clinton resigned from the boards, Kim Hopper, a campaign aide, said, "No specter of conflict of interest influenced Hillary's decision."
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