The Clinton administration is asking Congress to appropriate $ 200,000 for a new laundry facility. Normally, that wouldn’t be news. But since it’s come to light that the White House was being operated as a full-service bed-and- breakfast, is it possible the new facility is needed to keep the sheets cleaned and pressed for all those Lincoln Bedroom guests? The Washington Times reported last week that Rep. Jim Kolbe, who chairs an appropriations subcommittee, has asked for an explanation, only to be informed by the White House counsel’s office that no White House official would be willing to testify on the need for the new facility, only a representative of the National Park Service, whose budget includes the payments for the executive residence. Kolbe has also discovered there’s been a 119 percent increase in overtime pay for the White House social staff since the Clintons arrived in Washington four years ago. This could be the biggest scandal since it was revealed Clinton took a tax-deduction for donating his old underwear to charity.
