The new, improved Hillary Clinton gave a speech that was treated as if it was the official opening of the Hillary for President campaign.
The speech was in northern California at an event called The Lead On Conference for Women in Silicon Valley. According to the Washington Post, she was paid about $300,000 for the appearance.
Unlike many of my compatriots, I do not have a problem with Secretary Clinton knocking down $300,000 for a speech. I was not in the running to give remarks at the Lead On Conference for Women in Silicon Valley and, assuming the LOCWSV raised its money legally, they're free to spend it on anyone they want.
That is not an unusual amount of money for Hillary to speak. Nor for Bill.
The Washington Post, last summer, published a summary of the former President's speaking fees and estimated:
"He has earned $104.9 million delivering 542 speeches around the world between leaving the White House in January 2001 and Hillary Clinton's departure as secretary of state in January 2013."
That works out to just north of $193,000 per speech.
Also this week, it was reported that the Clinton Foundation has been raising money from foreign nations. Even when Hillary was Secretary of State
The Washington Post's Rosalind Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported this week that
The Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars from seven foreign governments during Hillary Rodham Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, including one donation that violated its ethics agreement with the Obama administration.
According to the piece, the Clinton Foundation was allowed to collect money from foreign nations "that had previously donated money to continue making contributions at similar levels" even while Hillary was Secretary.
I don't remember that agreement getting a lot of attention for the first four years of the Obama Administration, but even at that the Clinton's couldn't stop themselves from cheating.
It seems that the government of Algeria gave the foundation $500,000. Algeria had not given prior to Hillary's appointment as Secretary so it was a violation.
A foundation spokesperson said the Algerian money was specifically earmarked for Haiti earthquake relief, but it wasn't as if no on in Algeria could figure out how to get that money to Haiti without going through the Clintons.
The report says, "The [Algerian] contribution coincided with a spike in the North African country's lobbying visits to the State Department.
It would take a pretty high Chinese Wall for the Secretary of State to have no knowledge of what countries were giving how much to the Clinton Foundation.
Helderman and Hamburger also wrote:
"Foreign governments and individuals are prohibited from giving money to U.S. political candidates, to prevent outside influence over national leaders. But the foundation has given donors a way to potentially gain favor with the Clintons outside the traditional political limits."
All this reminds us of the good old days when the Clintons left a light on for anyone who could pay the freight to spend a night in the White House's Lincoln Bedroom.
That activity was not just a few close friends.
"The Clinton White House released the names of 800-plus people who stayed overnight in the Lincoln Bedroom, and the president defended the practice of inviting friends and supporters to stay overnight."
The report also reminded readers that
"The New York Times reported that some Democratic fund-raisers say they explicitly sold invitations to White House coffees, arranging invitations for $50,000 to $100,000."
The Clintons are not known for showing remorse. I suspect, if there is any regret among the Clintonistas, it's that they didn't think of this foundation scheme while Bill was still President.
Lunch with Hillary Clinton for the benefit of the Hillary and Chelsea Foundation.
Coulda been worth millions.
Also a Mullfoto from an icy street in Old Town Alexandria.