Even as the country is rightly focused on Hillary Clinton’s private emails and the impact they have on national security, Clinton has been receiving praise recently from her supporters in Hollywood, the fashion industry, and corporate America for her work promoting women’s equality. Anyone familiar with the work of the RNC Co-Chair would know that I am a strong proponent of the election and promotion of women. But reports that Clinton has historically paid her male staff more than she has paid her female staff have emerged, thereby calling into question her commitment to gender equality.
In her Senate office, women were paid 72 cents for every dollar a man made. And at the Clinton Foundation, the eight most highly compensated employees in 2013 were men.
But this isn’t the only example of her hypocrisy—when it comes to women’s equality as well as ethics in government.
The Clinton Foundation accepted money from at least 60 corporations that lobbied the State Department under her leadership. In some cases, those donations came after she helped the company and others came before. Despite calls for those donations to be returned, none of those corporations has sought to have donations returned.
In fact, the Clinton Foundation even lifted their own ban on international donations and accepted money from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and numerous other countries, despite the ethical questions it raises as she considers a run for president.
It is important to note that many of the countries that made commitments to the Clinton Foundation are also notorious for poor treatment toward women in their own countries. Clinton’s own State Department gave countries like Algeria, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia low ratings for their treatment of women, yet Clinton’s foundation gladly accepted donations from them.
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It is Clinton’s “do as I say, not as I do” attitude that is a window into how she might lead as the U.S. president. It also shows the tenacity and commitment she has to win the White House in 2016. She will stop at nothing in her quest for the presidency.
Despite the fact that she faces few—if any—primary challengers, Clinton is still a flawed candidate, as was clear last week. Her press conference at the U.N. in response to her email scandal drew attention from every major news network. But it created more questions than it answered. It also showed just how unwilling she is to be open, transparent, and honest.
The fact that Hillary Clinton has lost touch is undeniable. From her $300,000-a-pop speeches to her demands for private jets to her comments that she was “dead broke” after leaving the White House, she certainly seems to think she deserves only the best.
Still, the Democrats increasingly feel they have no option but to support Clinton. So they’re ready to coronate her. She boasts millions of dollars raised with promises of millions more on the way. Not only does she outweigh everyone in resources, the Clinton team is lining up new staff everyday.
So while in 2014, we elected a record 104 women to serve in the 114th Congress and Republican women made history by electing the youngest woman to Congress and the first female combat veteran woman to the Senate, Democrats are preparing to take a victory lap for nominating a woman for president.
But with Hillary Clinton comes a lot of baggage. When they nominate her, they will have nominated a duplicitous candidate with a history of hypocrisy—one who is so flawed that even her advocacy for women has raised complicated ethical questions. That doesn’t sound like a winning candidate to me.
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