Clintons sneak into town quietly, leaving questions about East End fund-raising

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When the Secret Service began camping out in front of writer Laura Donnelly’s house in East Hampton Village last Monday, she had a pretty good idea who the folks staying next door were.

Ms. Donnelly said on Sunday that her neighbors, venture capitalist Thomas H. Lee and his wife Ann Tenenbaum—both noted art philanthropists and Clinton supporters—had been hosting Bill and Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea since the previous Monday.

“The Secret Service has been there,” she said. “They didn’t look like they usually look like in Washington. They’re driving silver Fords and they’re clean-cut young guys.” She added that an unmarked white truck with a satellite dish on it had also been making the rounds of the neighborhood.

Asked if the Clintons were in town, East Hampton Village Police Captain Mike Tracey would say only that the department “did have a little extra work this week,” including extra patrols, but he wouldn’t confirm if the patrols were in Mr. Lee’s neighborhood near Wiborg Beach. Ms. Donnelly said that police cruisers had been making regular rounds of the neighborhood.

Hillary Clinton’s Senate office spokesperson, Nina Blackwell, did not 
return calls for comment. Ms. Clinton has not made any public appearances since just after her concession speech to Barack Obama for the presidential nomination last Saturday.

Clinton supporters, also, were tight-lipped about whether the couple was in town.

Susan Patricof, who, with her husband Alan, has hosted the Clintons at many fund-raising events over the years, said that she was unaware that they were here. Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic National Committee (DNC) member who lives in Shinnecock Hills, said he hadn’t seen them.

If, in fact, the Clintons were in town this weekend, it was a far cry from their usual whirlwind Hamptons tour. There were no dinners and high-end fund-raisers, no motorcades or visits to the Clinton faithful.

Supporters of Mrs. Clinton seem to be licking their own wounds after a bruising 18-month campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Former East Hampton Town Supervisor Judith Hope, a longtime friend of the Clintons who had known them when she lived in Arkansas, is a superdelegate who had pledged her support to Hillary Clinton. Now she will back Mr. Obama, she has said.

“Clinton supporters are still feeling bruised for losing such a close election, in which many felt unfairly treated by the DNC,” she said in an e-mail exchange Monday. “I expect with more time, however, most Democrats will be united in the desire to get the Republicans out of the White House.”

Ms. Hope didn’t comment on the Clintons’ reported visit, but said that she was particularly concerned that the contentious race seemed to have left some Obama supporters with the perception that Mr. Clinton might be a racist.

“Bill Clinton’s work to eradicate HIV/AIDS around the world and particularly in Africa, where he has visited hundreds of AIDS clinics, and secured special concessions from the pharmaceutical companies on drug pricing, plus successfully enlisted the support of hundreds of local African tribal and political leaders, is unequaled,” she said. “It is truly ironic and hurtful that the black community seems to hold such bitterness towards him. There is not a racist bone in his body and anyone who knows him well knows that.”

Former East Hampton Town Councilwoman Debra Foster, an ardent Hillary supporter who was handcuffed and bruised by security guards in Washington while protesting the Democratic National Committee’s decision to not seat all of the Michigan and Florida delegates last month, took a trip with Ms. Hope to Nantucket last week to clear her head after the arduous campaign.

“There’s a lot of e-mailing going on and a lot of processing of some serious frustration,” she said. “I feel that her supporters, especially in New York State, are not going away and are going to remind the Democratic Party that women’s needs should be a priority. There was some blatant sexism, mainly from media pundits, in this campaign. No Democratic leader that I know of, including Barack Obama, would stand up and cry foul and we’re angry.”

“My party at the national level has only given me two presidents in 40 years,” she said. “I think the Clinton family has done more for this country and the Democratic Party than any other Democratic president since FDR. To have the party vilify their efforts is just another source of anger for me.”

Ms. Foster added that, combined with the recent turmoil in East Hampton Town government, “everything I’ve invested in my whole life has fallen apart. I did feel literally pushed aside ... However, I will not vote for McCain.”