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I have heard that of all the Cabinet members, Donna Shalala was the most condemning of Clinton when he confessed to them about the Monica Lewinsky affair. Some claim she told him that he ought to resign
I have heard that of all the Cabinet members, Donna Shalala was the most condemning of Clinton when he confessed to them about the Monica Lewinsky affair. Some claim she told him that he ought to resign
Dave Zweifel: Clinton notes state's good and bad
By Dave Zweifel
June 28, 2004
If it weren't for two very different people - Donna Shalala and Joe McCarthy, would you believe? - Wisconsin wouldn't be mentioned in former President Bill Clinton's new book, "My Life."
As it turns out, Shalala, who as chancellor at the UW-Madison was tapped by Clinton to serve as his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is mentioned in eight different places in the 957-page book, all in a complimentary way.
He cites her for her work on his administration's welfare reform initiatives, for getting the Food and Drug Administration's approval process for new drugs cut from 37 months to less than a year, for her work with the now infamous Richard Clarke on identifying bioweapons in the former Soviet Union, and for her efforts to close the gap between men's and women's wages.
Clinton introduces Shalala as a "four-foot, 11-inch dynamo of Lebanese ancestry," whom he has known for years.
He describes how he had to veto the Republican efforts to "reform" welfare because they were too harsh.
"Shalala and I had already gone far in reforming the welfare system on our own," he writes. "We had given 50 separate waivers to 37 states to pursue initiatives that were pro-work and pro-family."
Wisconsin, incidentally, was one of those states, as Shalala granted waivers to Gov. Tommy Thompson (who is now the secretary of DHSS) for welfare initiatives here.
I have heard that of all the Cabinet members, Shalala was the most condemning of Clinton when he confessed to them about the Monica Lewinsky affair. Some claim she told him that he ought to resign and he, in turn, emphatically told her that under no circumstances would he.
If that's the case, Clinton doesn't shed much light on the confrontation.
He describes how Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke first, saying she was disappointed, but there was nothing further to do other than get back to work.
"Donna Shalala was tougher, saying it was important for leaders to be good people as well as to have good policies," is all he says of the reaction from the now president of the University of Miami.