Authored by Stuart Dean via Medium.com,

At least as far back as the days of decadent Roman emperors such as Nero and Caligula, elaborate gardens have been notorious as an unseemly indulgence by those with wealth or power or both. It is easy to understand why, for though a small herbal garden adds charm to even a humble home, the notion that people who purport to care about the country they govern or have governed would squander public resources on an ornamental garden for personal pleasure can well be taken to epitomize the sort of arrogance that ultimately leads to revolution. Such is the case with the 14,000 square foot rooftop garden that the Clinton Foundation (the legal name of which is the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) had installed in 2007 on the rooftop of the Presidential library in Little Rock Arkansas (the “Rooftop Garden”).

Though there was some publicity about the Rooftop Garden when it was installed back in 2007, hardly anyone knows that it exists. That is because it is private. That should strike anyone?—?regardless of political persuasion?—?as being problematic if not disgusting given that it would appear to have been financed entirely by donations to what is ostensibly a charitable foundation. Exactly how it was financed is not known because the financial records of the Clinton Foundation are a joke. A serious professional audit of them began only a few years ago, but the firm hired to conduct the audit, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC), did not delve deeply into the past: its audit covered only 2010 and later. By stopping there PWC effectively implied that no “financial statement” of the Clinton Foundation prior to 2010 can be trusted.

Uncovering The Obscene Violation Of Charity Law & Principles The Rooftop Garden Constitutes

The fact that there is a private penthouse on top of the Presidential library in Little Rock is relatively well known. Even the New York Times admits to knowing about it:

Not surprisingly, given what Bill Clinton is best known for, it has been reported that he invites young women up to it when he is in Little Rock to give him a “massage” while they enjoy some wine with him.

WTF Do We Have Presidential Libraries For?

Before getting into the Rooftop Garden, it is fair to raise a question about the phenomenon of Presidential libraries. They have been a sore topic for years, as they are among the most embarrassing symptoms of the imperialization of the Presidency over the past century. Given modern technology, it is absurd that they even exist. A physical library with physical records at this point is an anachronism. I know because I have borrowing privileges at one of the finest physical libraries in the world at Columbia University. Hardly anyone uses it compared to those who access such books, periodicals and other records as they want or need via the internet.

But Wait! There Is More Than Just A Library

As you can see from the Google Earth picture above, there is more than just a library at the Presidential library in Little Rock: there is a restaurant, an ‘upscale’ restaurant at least by local standards (Google refers to it as a “sleek outlet”?—?no doubt a phrase they were paid to use).

If the idea of a charitable foundation running a restaurant grates on your nerves, then you must be . . . a Republican? . . . or perhaps just someone who cares about right and wrong: what is legal and moral versus what is illegal and immoral. For example, personally, I have no problem with people drinking alcohol, but the idea of a charitable organization raising funds in order to run a restaurant and catering service that sells alcohol strikes me as absurd (by contrast, serving alcohol at a fundraising event is by itself not problematic).

Whose Idea Was It To Approve All This?

Quite apart from the moral implications of a publicly funded private massage parlor “residence” and an upscale restaurant at a Presidential library, there are some legal implications to all this. Explaining them, however, is to say the least, not easy. Indeed, given the association such opulence has with the Roman Empire it is appropriate to characterize the complexity of Clinton Foundation as byzantine. The ‘multi-D’ chess metaphor would hardly be sufficient.

IRS Authorization

The IRS blessed the idea of a charitable foundation to fund the Presidential library. But it should be noted that the exact wording the IRS used leaves much to the imagination?—?too much as its seems given who is behind all this. Here is what was proposed:

The IRS accepted that as meeting the relevant requirements for non-profit status but with the following proviso:

As opaque as IRS rules and regulations can be, it is nonetheless as obvious as anything can be that the IRS does not approve of non-profit organizations being operated in a manner that “inures” to the benefit of private individuals: