The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> STRIP MINING FOR DOLLARS br> Seems Bill Clinton isn't the only one in the family who consorts with -- how can the Prowler put this delicately? -- strippers. Okay, so Hillary Clinton wasn't actually consorting with women who shed their clothes for a living. If she had been, she probably would have given them tips on how to deduct donated used underwear from their taxes. But we digress. Senator Clinton was out in California on April 3, helping Gov. Gray Davis fundraise for his re-election campaign. And it was her appearance that garnered his campaign a check that is causing a ruckus on the Left Coast. /p>

Given that Davis has raised more than $43 million, it's unclear just what Hillary could have brought to the table that Davis's voracious cash appetite hasn't already devoured. But Clinton did show up for the dinner in Los Angeles, and many checks were written as a result of her appearance. One of those drafts was made out for $10,000, from an Upland, Calif.-based company, Manta Management, a firm that owns three well-known strip clubs in Southern California.

One, the Flesh Club, made headlines in 2000 when undercover cops paid female Flesh employees to perform sex acts on one another. Charges from that sting operation were thrown out by the state court of appeals. But Davis has a staff that vets donations to make sure there's nothing about the donor that could prove embarrassing to the governor. Evidently, though, the Manta name didn't register, or perhaps when you have only $43 million, every $10,000 counts. For whatever reason, the check got cashed.

"In the back of your mind, when you're going through hundreds of checks, you're thinking, 'What are the chances that one of these is going to be a problem?'" says a Davis volunteer in his Los Angeles offices. "Still, I wouldn't want to be the check-vetter if my life depended on it. It's too tough a job."

Well, whatever the odds, they weren't good. The Los Angeles Times discovered the Manta donation and called Davis on it. The governor promptly said the donation would be returned.

"You know what?" says the Davis volunteer. "I bet we get another check from them in a month or so and we'll cash it just like the last one. It's the same reasoning. What are the chances it will get picked up by the media?"

topics:
Taxes, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, NATO