3/31/2008 | The New York Times
To Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Richard Mellon Scaife qualifies as a charter member of the “vast right-wing conspiracy,” having bankrolled an elaborate multimillion-dollar campaign throughout the 1990s to unearth damaging information about the couple.
But in a striking about-face, Mr. Scaife now says he has changed his mind — at least about one half of the duo.
“I have a very different impression of Hillary Clinton today,” he wrote in an opinion article published Sunday, amid her campaign for president. “And it’s a very favorable one indeed.”
His sudden conversion from fervid Clinton basher to lukewarm Clinton fan occurred after Mrs. Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, sat down for a 90-minute interview with reporters and editors of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper owned by Mr. Scaife, the billionaire heir to the Mellon banking fortune.
Pennsylvania will hold its Democratic primary on April 22, and the Tribune-Review, the second-largest daily newspaper in Pittsburgh, has yet to endorse a candidate. Given Mr. Scaife’s record, Mrs. Clinton could not have expected a rosy reception.
But Mr. Scaife, who attended the meeting, wrote in The Tribune-Review that the senator “exhibited an impressive command of many of today’s most pressing domestic and international issues.” Her answers, he added, “were thoughtful, well-stated and often dead on.”
His compliments left some Clinton aides and allies stunned. “I never thought I would utter these words, but I would like to shake his hands for keeping his mind open despite the predisposed prejudice toward her,” said Lanny Davis, a longtime Clinton supporter who served as President Clinton’s lawyer during the late 1990s.
At the height of his anti-Clinton days, Mr. Scaife donated $1.8 million to The American Spectator magazine for what became known as the “Arkansas Project” — an unflattering excavation of the Clintons’ personal lives in Arkansas.
His objective was to publicize, if not eventually validate, accusations about the supposed involvement of the Clintons in corrupt land deals and Mr. Clinton’s extramarital affairs, among other things.
But once Mrs. Clinton began running for president, Mr. Scaife — and his thick checkbook — remained on the sidelines, surprising many who predicted he would leap at the chance to dredge up new, potentially scandalous information about her.
That apparent indifference seems to have morphed into tepid enthusiasm for her.
During the meeting at The Tribune-Review, Mr. Scaife said in his article, he found common ground with Mrs. Clinton on the need to pull troops out of Iraq; on the bumbling federal efforts to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; and on the “increasing instability in Pakistan and South America.”
Aides to Mrs. Clinton said they had not known what to expect from the March 24 meeting with Mr. Scaife and the staff of his newspaper. But sitting next to Mr. Scaife, Mrs. Clinton quickly broke the ice, remarking that she had agreed to the meeting because “it was so counterintuitive, I just thought it would be fun to do.” The line drew laughter from those in the room.
There is, of course, a healthy dose of skepticism over Mr. Scaife’s motives. Some wonder if he is rooting for the candidate whom some Republicans view as easier to defeat in the general election.
“I wouldn’t trust Scaife’s motives in this,” said Robert M. Shrum, a longtime Democratic consultant who is not aligned with any campaign this year.
Mr. Scaife could not be reached for comment Sunday. Asked about Mr. Scaife’s article, Kathleen Strand, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton, said, “As she showed in New York and as a senator, Hillary Clinton is in the solutions business and has demonstrated the ability to bridge old divides and get things done. Winning over Mr. Scaife is just another example.”
Mr. Scaife wrote that he was not ready to endorse Mrs. Clinton over Senator Barack Obama of Illinois in the Pennsylvania primary. Mr. Obama, he noted, has yet to meet with the Tribune-Review staff.
Word of the meeting came as the Clinton campaign continued to insist that the senator would stay in the race, despite Mr. Obama’s lead in delegates. On Sunday, one of her top backers, Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, said he would “love” to see Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton on a ticket together.