Producer, company had key roles in N. Korea trip
Clinton friend Stephen Bing is the jet's owner and will pick up the bill for the flight, an associate said.
WASHINGTON - A wealthy Hollywood producer and a major corporation were instrumental in bringing former President Bill Clinton and two American journalists home from North Korea.
Stephen Bing, a close Clinton friend and longtime Democratic fund-raiser, owns the plane that made the flight, said Marc Foulkrod of Burbank, Calif., chairman of Avjet Corp., which manages the aircraft.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who runs Current TV, which employs the journalists, gave a shout-out to Bing after the plane landed yesterday in Burbank, Calif.
"To Steve Bing and all the folks who have made the flight possible, we say a word of thanks, deep thanks as well," Gore said.
Bing spokesman Paul Bloch declined to comment, citing Bing's blanket refusal to speak to the media.
The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, offered gratitude to another patron, Dow Chemical Co. and its CEO, Andrew Liveris, although Dow's exact role was not made clear.
Liveris said in a statement that a plane owned by Dow was used "in different parts of the mission in recent days."
The surprise mission required swift approvals for diplomatic and flight-plan exemptions at the highest levels of the Federal Aviation Administration and State Department, according to Foulkrod. U.S. planes generally are not allowed to fly to North Korea.
Foulkrod said Bing would pick up the bill for the flight. The total will be significant, he said. Fuel alone is likely to cost $100,000 for the 26 hours of flying, Foulkrod said, and other matters such as catering and satellite phones could pile an additional $50,000 to $100,000 onto the price tag.
The effort to set up and clear the flight started just days ago, he said, and officials in Washington worked on it through the weekend.
The plane flew from Burbank to Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, then to Misawa Air Base in Japan- refueling in both places - and then to North Korea, said Foulkrod. En route back, it had enough fuel to skip Elmendorf.
Bing, heir to a New York real estate fortune, raised at least $100,000 for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, in addition to giving the maximum $2,300. He also donated at least $10 million to Bill Clinton's presidential library and charitable foundation.
He was a multimillion-dollar donor to pro-Democratic groups that ran ads against President George W. Bush in the 2004 campaign.
Bing has a stake in the Obama administration's actions on the environment. His Shangri-La Construction builds energy-efficient buildings and aircraft hangars - in line with President Obama's goal of cleaning up the environment and creating "green" jobs.
As a producer, Bing's projects included Shine A Light, a 2008 Martin Scorsese documentary of a Rolling Stones performance filmed at Bill Clinton's 60th birthday party. He also produced Beowulf (2007) and financed The Polar Express (2004).