"Friends in High Places"

When Webb Hubbell's book about his life in Arkansas, Washington and federal prison came out, and his relationship with Bill and Hillary, the critics were very critical. I am not sure that they should have been. I enjoyed the book very much.

That is not to say that I wound up being fond of Hubbell. Quite the contrary. A clumsy, lanky kid whose father thought him ugly, growing up feeling inferior and uncomfortable, finding a temporary place in the sun on the football field, and eventually attending law school. Meeting and marrying an attractive young woman from a wealthy and highly disfunctional family, getting a job with the prestigous Rose law firm. Befriending fellow attorney Vince Foster, being one of the few supporting the firm's first female associate, Hillary Rodham. Meeting and befriending Hillary's husband Bill, seeing him rise to state attorney general and then the youngest governor of Arkansas.

But was Hubbell himself a person of any depth or substantive ambition? It does not seem so. He does not seem to have been a star litigator, he talks about how his billings were always on the low side, as was his income. The Rose law firm itself seems like it was a very unorthodox, every man for himself type of place, where you only ate what you caught (after coughing up for firm upkeep), and where the culture of professionalism and cordialtiy was converted into a culture of greed and mutual suspicion.

But the Hubbells lived beyond their means (keeping up with his inlaws, I guess), and Webb's lack of ability to keep himself occupied as a lawyer led to an election to the Little Rock city council, and term as mayor and (as a Clinton appointee) a brief spin as chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State. Then, he became Rose managing partner, which filled his time, but not his pocket.

At Rose, every partner could write checks on the firm account and give instructions how to charge (to a client, to the firm, or to a personal account). When Hubbell's bills became too high, he simply wrote checks to himself to reimburse himself for non-existent travel expenses, which he charged to clients. It was easy, and no one noticed. (How much of this occurred, I am not sure, but it seems it was at least $75,000 and probably more.)

Bill is elected president, Webb comes to DC as part of the transition, and winds up as Associate Attorney General in charge of the civil division, knowing all along that he is a crook and may get caught.

Get caught he does, as the Rose law firm gets embroiled in the Whitewater affair (which still seems a non-affair to me), and as the overbillings become apparent. He resigns his position, pleads guilty, and serves almost two years in federal prison.

He does not paint much of a picture of Clinton himself (he was mainly a golfing buddy), but Hillary his buddy does not come accross particularly appealing (my guess is he really never understood her). Vince Foster probably comes across the best, but he killed himself. The Rose firm lawyers all are portrayed as low life.

I had heard before that Bill Clinton's Arkansas buddies were all in over their heads. It certainly seems the case with Hubbell, and the fact that he was trusted by the Clintons as a top advisor, transition team member, and nominated for Associate AG is extraordinary. It makes you stop and think.

There were a few small points in the book that bothered me. On one page, Hubbell says that he only played golf with Clinton once when he was governor; on another, it seemed to be a regular occurrence. On one page, he talks about Campobello Island, Maine, when in fact it is in New Brunswick. And, for Washingtonians, he puts Stone Ridge School on Connecticut Avenue, rather than Wisconsin. Should these inaccuracies make you question the rest of the book? Perhaps.

But, it was interesting and easy reading. The dynamics of the law firm were fascinating to me. Hubbell himself not of much interest. But it does, I think, say something about the (early) Clinton administration.