Clinton to Return Furniture

Feb. 5, 2001 -- Former President Clinton is blaming a clerical error for reports that he left the White House with expensive furniture that was not his to take, and now promises to give back "any item in question."

The Washington Post reported this morning that $28,000 worth of furniture donated to the National Park Service — and intended to remain in the White House, regardless of its occupant — managed to slip into the Clintons' private collection.

"Every item accepted by the Clintons was identified by the White House Gift Office as a gift to them," said a statement released by "The Office of Former President William J. Clinton."

Clinton's office maintains his taking of the gifts, received by the White House as part of a highly publicized $396,000 redecoration, was approved through all necessary channels.

"Of course, if the White House now determines that a cataloging error occurred seven years ago, any item in question will be returned," the statement said.

Asked today whether the Clintons should give back the furniture, President Bush continued his post-election policy of refusing to comment on the post-inauguration controversies that have dogged his predecessor.

"I think, you know, it's important for all of the facts tobe laid out on the table," Bush said. "And I'm confident that the former presidentand first lady will make the right decision."

‘We Gave It to the White House’

The furniture-makers who donated the gifts do not appear to be pleased that the items left the White House with the Clintons.

Joy Ficks, whose late husband headed the Ficks Reed Co., told the paper she was puzzled by the fate of the custom-finished rattan chairs and breakfast table the company gave the White House.

“We gave it to the White House,” she said. “I wondered what happened to it.”

“When we’ve been asked to donate, it was always hyphenated with the words, ‘White House,’” New York furniture manufacturer Steve Mittman told the Post. His company donated two sofas, an easy chair and an ottoman — worth $19,900 — to the White House. The furniture is currently considered private property of the Clintons.

“To us, it was not a donation to a particular person,” Mittman told the newspaper.

Recent Twist in Gift Saga

The Clintons have come under fire for their acceptance of gifts during their final year in the White House — when then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was running for Senate.

On Friday, former President Clinton announced they would reimburse gift-givers for more than $86,000 worth of gifts received last year, including a controversial $7,375 table from Denise Rich, ex-wife of fugitive billionaire Marc Rich, whom Clinton pardoned on his last full day in office.

Clinton has also been in the center of a minor controversy over his post-presidency offices. He is seeking a Manhattan suite that costs more in rent than the offices of all the other living former presidents combined, but has since offered to pay part of the cost and, according to the New York Post, is scoping out other possible locations.

On Clinton’s final day in office, he disclosed more than $190,000 worth of presents that he and his wife were taking with them — gifts that include the now-controversial furnishings.

‘It Is a Little Silly and Small’

Clinton spokesman Jim Kennedy said the Clintons were entitled to keep the furnishings, which he understood to be gifts to them and not the White House.

But The Washington Post reported that the White House distributed a summary of the redecoration in 1993 when the project was finished, saying it was “financed by private donations of money to the White House Historical Association.”

A thank-you note from Hillary Clinton also seems to indicate they understood the furnishings to as property of the White House.

“Given that Hillary Clinton helped raise more than $25 million for the benefit of the White House and that all the proceeds from her new book, ‘Invitation to the White House,’ will also go to the White House, it is a little silly and small to be talking about these few furnishings,” Kennedy told the newspaper.

Former White House curator Clement Conger told the newspaper it was “outrageous” for the Clintons to take expensive items designated for the White House.

“I was shocked to read about it,” Conger told the newspaper. “I was dumbfounded that they would pick up all kinds of things. I can see ordinary things, but certainly not anything of value.”