FAMILY-LEAVE LEADER BARES HILLARY'S BIG BILL OF GOODS

  • A senior Democratic lawmaker blew a hole through Hillary Rodham Clinton's claim that she helped pass critical family-leave legislation

    Former Rep. William Lacy Clay, a longtime St. Louis politician, says it was senior lawmakers - not the former first lady - who pushed through the measure, which President Bill Clinton signed into law after only 16 days in office.

    "If Hillary played a role in its passage, it was without my knowledge," Clay wrote in an e-mail that he circulated.

    "All we needed was a president to sign it. The president signed it, and we're grateful for that, but there was no lobbying by him or her."

    Clinton, on her campaign Web site, says, "As First Lady, she helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act."

    Clay's e-mail was just the latest in a series of disclosures that have undermined several of Clinton's key claims about the 30 years of experience that she touts on the campaign trail.