CLINTON TAKES A LESSON FROM REAGAN:

On Wednesday, more than 1,000 people will gather in New York at the second annual Clinton Global Initiative, a project led by former President Clinton, to tackle problems involving global health, poverty, religious strife and threats to the environment.

Setting the meeting apart from other gabfests, in part, is its steep price: An admission ticket costs $15,000. More than that, most participants — who include government leaders, corporate executives, heads of nonprofit organizations and an array of big names like Christiane Amanpour, Shimon Peres, Katie Couric and Rupert Murdoch — must pledge to fund and carry out an initiative to help address one of the problems. And therein lies a dilemma.

A few participants at last year’s fest “pledged” to carry out programs that already were under way. In other words, the initiatives weren’t specifically generated by the CGI. Moreover, not all participants followed through on their commitments. That’s a no-no.

So this year, the Clinton folks have adopted a Reaganesque principle: Trust but verify. “We have an even greater focus on ensuring that the commitments are specifically for CGI and that the commitments are real,” says spokesman Jay Carson.

That seems wise.