海角大神

Chelsea Clinton was worried about her father. Specifically, she was concerned that some of his closest aides were using their connections to him and the Clinton Foundation to attract rich clients to their private consulting firm.

In return, those aides weren鈥檛 happy about what they saw as Chelsea鈥檚 meddling in affairs that benefited all concerned. One of them 鈥� Doug Band, an ex-Clinton White House staffer now paid by the foundation as well as his own clients, got so angry he called up and vented his displeasure.

Not to Chelsea. To Bill Clinton himself, an ex-president and former leader of the free world suddenly reduced to hearing a longtime assistant rip him up.

鈥淒oug called and yelled and screamed at my Dad about how could he do this to . . . him, he would be nothing without him, etc.,鈥� wrote Chelsea in circulated to top Clinton team officials on Nov. 1, 2011, and revealed publicly in recent days by WikiLeaks.

After some two weeks of drip by drip WikiLeaks revelations from communications stolen from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, at least one thing seems clear: Clinton world is full of angry infighting, snide remarks, buck passing, and lots of other organizational dysfunction.

In that it may not be too different from any other large organization staffed by smart and ambitious people. Whose office would look good if all its laundry, dirty and otherwise, were spread out on the Web for all to see, possibly by Russian state-sponsored hackers?

A day of leafing though produces a picture of John Podesta as the top of a managerial pyramid beset on all sides by crazy schemes, furious staffers, wheedling media, and lots of people asking about availability for lunch.

Endorsement from Jack?

There is the former Senate Democratic staffer who is always passing along 鈥済enius鈥� ideas about how to make Hillary Clinton president, such as for a live televised Hillary endorsement. Suggested line: 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 handle the truth鈥�, speaking of Clinton鈥檚 opponents.

There is the top Washington Post reporter who that The New York Times is about to 鈥減op something鈥� about Bill Clinton. Does the Clinton team know what this is about? (Why would they say if they did?)

There are the people continually asking for access to the principals. Everybody wants to interview Hillary or chat with Bill. Film executive Jeffrey Katzenberg was pressing for a private meeting with 鈥淲JC鈥� (William Jefferson Clinton) in New York last spring, for instance.

鈥淲ould be preferable if meeting didn鈥檛 happen!鈥� replied Hilary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Chelsea weighs in

Then there is the Chelsea situation. The Clinton daughter has seemed genuinely concerned about the possible conflicts of interest involved in the nexus of Bill Clinton鈥檚 speechmaking, the Clinton Foundation鈥檚 attempts to raise money, and the private business activities of assorted employees and hangers-on.

Teneo, the consulting firm formed by Mr. Band and communications and business consulting professionals, is perhaps the biggest case in point. At the time she sent her memo, Chelsea was concerned that Band and his colleagues were using the meetings of the high-profile Clinton Global Initiative to troll for clients for their strategic business advice.

Her complaints to other Clinton world officials set the Teneo group on the defensive. In 2011 that came to a head in November, just as the Clinton family was mourning the death of Dorothy Howell Rodham, Chelsea鈥檚 grandmother and Hillary Clinton鈥檚 mom.

Chelsea鈥檚 blast email of Nov. 1 was a request for a number of top staffers to call Bill Clinton at home on Whitehaven Street in Washington to figure out how to sort out the conflict-of-interest business going forward. Among other things, this produced bureaucratic moves to separate Bill Clinton鈥檚 office from that of the other family endeavors, and it led to an extraordinary 12-page memo from Band defending Teneo as a business that prodded many of its clients to donate large sums to the Clinton Foundation.

In fact, Teneo client donations paid for the majority of the foundation鈥檚 operational budget, wrote Band in the . And in a thinly-veiled return shot at his accuser, Band added that 鈥渋n support of the President鈥檚 for-profit activity鈥� Teneo had brokered paid speeches, personal travel, and free vacations for 鈥渢he President and his family,鈥� all without asking for any kind of agent or representational fees in return.

In other words, Chelsea was benefiting from this, too. Don鈥檛 chomp on the hand that鈥檚 feeding you private airplane rides. Privately, Band derided the younger Clinton in an email as a youngster who needed to 鈥渏ustify her existence.鈥�

Was the Teneo arrangement illegal? The answer to that may depend on how you feel about Hillary Clinton鈥檚 presidential candidacy. If you鈥檙e on her side, it鈥檚 something that does appear unseemly, but is just short of an illegal trading of government favors for foundation donations. If you鈥檙e against her, it鈥檚 an indication that where there鈥檚 smoke, there may be a smoking gun. All the WikiLeaks have not yet appeared, after all.

One last point: As to the leaks themselves, it鈥檚 possible they weren鈥檛 Podesta鈥檚 fault. One of the recently revealed emails appears to be , in which an email purports to say the addressee鈥檚 password has been hacked, and they need to click on the (bogus) included link to reset it.

Lots of people fall for that, if it looks official. Podesta asked his support team whether this particular attempt was real. They said it was 鈥� despite an iffy looking link to the 鈥渞eset鈥� site.

One click, and Podesta may have been compromised.