Clinton criticizes Obama over his political action committee

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized rival Barack Obama on Sunday for a political action committee he controls that has contributed money to elected officials in early presidential contest states. At issue is Obama's Hopefund political committee, which distributed donations to congressional candidates as well as officials and local Democratic Party groups in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Those states all hold caucuses or primaries in January to select delegates to the party's presidential nominating convention. Some of those elected officials who received contributions endorsed Obama's campaign. Others did not, with some endorsing Clinton. Obama has made an issue during the campaign of his refusal to accept money from lobbyists or from political actions committees for his presidential campaign. The Hopefund, however, received more than $120,000 from PACs in 2005-2006. Hopefund raised only $2,000 from PACs early this year before it stopped fundraising.