First Lady Raises Funds for Senate Campaign

LAGUNA BEACH —  First Lady Hillary Clinton, angling for a U.S. Senate seat in New York, brought her campaign to Laguna Beach Tuesday.

Addressing 45 people who paid $2,000 a plate to network with Clinton, the first lady tried to distance herself from her Republican opponent, New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani.

“She said that Guiliani was competent, but that a major concern was his ability to work with 99 other senators when he can’t fire or sue them or otherwise control them,” said Roger Johnson, who hosted the fund-raiser with his wife, Janice. Johnson was the head of the U.S. General Services Administration under President Clinton.

“She said she definitely felt she was the best person to serve upper New York,” said Curtis Jenkins, an administrator at a center for the developmentally disabled who attended the event.

The first lady took a characteristically adamant pro-gun control stance, guests said.

The event raised more than $90,000, Janice Johnson said. It was unclear how much a similar event held in the Temple Hills section of Laguna Beach Monday night raised.