By Jacob Sullum, The New York Post
The last time she lived in the White House, Hillary Clinton was in charge of a health-care task force that met in secret under a veil of lies. That episode highlighted the haughtiness, deceit and disdain for transparency that continue to cause trouble for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, as illustrated by the recent inspector general’s report on her e-mail practices as secretary of state.
When President Bill Clinton picked his wife to chair the Task Force on National Health Care Reform in 1993, critics sued the first lady, arguing that her participation made the task force subject to the public-meeting and open-record requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The administration successfully argued that Clinton, who was not a government employee, nevertheless should be counted as one in this context, making the transparency requirements inapplicable.