Politics

Rolling Back The Welcome Mat

February 11, 2001 / 2:36 PM EST / AP

The head of Morgan Stanley has told clients it was a mistake to invite former President Bill Clinton to speak at a company conference in Florida last week, The New York Times reported Sunday.

"I fully understand why you are upset that former President Clinton spoke at one of our conferences," chairman Philip J. Purcell wrote in an e-mail message. "We clearly made a mistake."
Morgan Stanley acknowledged last week that it received several phone calls from customers irate that Mr. Clinton was speaking at the company's annual High Net Worth conference, held this year in Boca Raton, Fla. Mr. Clinton was paid between $100,000 to $150,000 for his first speech since leaving office. It was closed to the press and the public.

Purcell told clients that the decision to invite Mr. Clinton did not receive the proper review within the firm, the Times reported.

"We should have been far more sensitive to the strong feelings of our clients over Mr. Clinton's personal behavior as president," Purcell wrote. "We should have thought twice before the speaking invitation was extended."

"Our failure to do so was particularly unfortunate in light of Mr. Clinton's actions in leaving the White House," he added. He did not detail what actions he was referring to, the Times said.

Mr. Clinton has come under fire for pardoning billionaire fugitive Marc Rich and for accepting thousands of dollars worth of gifts. The former president has stuck by his decision to pardon Rich, but he has returned several of the gifts.

A spokesman for Morgan Stanley, Ray O'Rourke, could not be reached for comment Sunday. But he told the Times that the e-mail was sent in response to letters from clients expressing their concern.

Mr. Clinton's spokeswoman Julia Payne did not immediately return a telephone message left at her Virginia home.

On the Middle East, the former president over the weekend praised Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon for offering governmental positions to a pair of former statesmen.

"I believe he did a very fine thing in reaching out to (Ehud) Barak and Shimon Peres," Clinton said in a speech at a synagogue in Aventura, Fla. on Saturday evening. "It shows that we're trying to get together here and that's a good thing."

Sharon has moved to enlist Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres as his foreign minister. The prime minister-elect has also offered the position of defense minister to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, whom Sharon defeated in a landslide in a Tuesday election.

Mr. Clinton said peace in the Middle East could not be fully attained "in an atmosphere of violence," but he still urged Palestinians and Israelis to come up with any compromise to help stop the fighting.

"There are strong forces who do not want this peace to work," the ex-president said, referring to terrorist oranizations, such as Hezbollah.

Mr. Clinton's speech at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center was the first open to the media since he left office. The 900 audience members included members of community center and local and Israeli dignitaries. Mr. Clinton received a wide round of applause when he said the United States must be committed to maintaining Israel's edge in military superiority.

A spokeswoman for the Jewish center would not disclose the amount the former president received for the speech.