Jackson Jambalaya

There is nothing quite like Clinton virtue.  Rueters reported that Hillary Clinton attacked CEO pay last weekend:

Striking a populist note, Clinton, who announced on Sunday she was running for president in 2016, said American families were still facing financial hardship at a time "when the average CEO makes about 300 times what the average worker makes."

However, the Wall Street Journal editorial page compared her remarks to her own life and made a few rather pointed observations: 

 Many of these CEOs can only wish they were rewarded for their time as handsomely as Mrs. Clinton is. The expected 2016 Democratic presidential nominee has been paid as much as $300,000 per speech.....

Not many CEOs can come close to scoring that high on the Hillary Ratio—the difference between the highest-paid worker and the typical worker in a given situation (or you could think of this as the gap between Clinton rhetoric and Clinton reality).

Mrs. Clinton said in her Sunday campaign video that the “deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top,” and she would know based on her taste for amenities and expenses along with her speaking fees..... Editorial.

A Hillary Clinton speech in 2014 at a University of Las Vegas Foundation fund-raiser provides a window into the Clinton lifestyle.  The contracts and correspondence with Hillary representatives were subject to public records requests so the Las Vegas Review-Journal went out and got them.  Here are excerpts from the records with no embellishment:

According to a May 31, 2013 email, Clinton’s standard contract usually includes:
■  Round-trip transportation on a chartered private jet “e.g., a Gulfstream 450 or larger jet,” plus round-trip business class travel for two advance staffers who will arrive up to three days in advance.
■  Hotel accommodations selected by Clinton’s staff and including “a presidential suite for Secretary Clinton and up to three (3) adjoining or contiguous single rooms for her travel aides and up to two (2) additional single rooms for the advance staff.”
■ A $500 travel stipend to cover out-of-pocket costs for Clinton’s lead travel aide.
■ Meals and incidentals for Clinton, her travel aides and advance staff, as well as all phone charges.
■ Final approval of all moderators or introducers.

Keep reading.  It only gets better.

the former president spoke at the 2012 UNLV Foundation dinner, taking home a $250,000 fee. His spouse will get $225,000 to speak at the annual dinner. The size of Hillary Clinton’s fee has come under fire from critics who question the large expense in an era when students are hard-pressed to cover tuition and leave school saddled with massive debt.

But Clinton’s $225,000 is something of a cut-rate. Documents obtained by the newspaper show that she initially asked for $300,000 and reveal that she insists on controlling every detail of the private event, large and small, to ensure that she will be the center of attention.

“It is agreed that Speaker will be the only person on the stage during her remarks,” according to the May 13 contract the Harry Walker Agency signed for Clinton’s keynote address at the Bellagio.

According to her standard speaking contract, Clinton will remain at the event no longer than 90 minutes; will pose for no more than 50 photos with no more than 100 people; and won’t allow any press coverage or video- or audio-taping of her speech.

The only record allowed will be made by a stenographer whose transcription will be given only to Clinton. The stenographer’s $1,250 bill, however, will go to the UNLV Foundation.

The foundation, meanwhile, is prohibited from advertising the event on radio, TV or billboards. Mail and website ads are allowed, although Clinton staffers must approve in writing any promotional material. One unhappy UNLV Foundation official in an email complained of “meddling” after Clinton’s agency edited a description of the annual dinner to “dumb it down.”

And Clinton’s demand for approval of all website material before it hits the Internet prompted a UNLV Web designer to grouse in an email that it seems “assbackwards in my mind.”

The foundation complied with Clinton’s wishes, however.

Nothing like a control freak.  However, the story provides more details: 

Clinton’s contract allows her to invite up to 20 guests, including her staff, and have them sit together to be able to join the photo line.

None of the photos can be made public.

“The Sponsor is also required to communicate to the photo line attendees that the photo is for private, personal use only and that the photo cannot be used in any way to imply any kind of endorsement of an entity, individual, product or service,” the contract says.

“Any use of the photo that suggests or implies any such endorsement is forbidden.”

UNLV did win one major concession in contract talks that stretched more than a year: The Harry Walker Agency Inc. agreed to a $225,000 fee, down from Clinton’s standard $300,000.

Clinton’s fee usually includes expenses such as travel by private jet, other transportation, hotel rooms, phone charges, a TelePrompter, if needed, and all meals and “incidentals” for her and her staff.

“We can bring the fee down (because of the fact that a major portion of the $300K is for the jet),” an agency representative wrote in a May 23, 2013, email to a UNLV Foundation official.

“I believe the $225,000 ALL INCLUSIVE plus stenographer fee should do it,” the agency said in a follow-up May 31, 2013, email after the university negotiated the discount and asked for confirmation.

Presumably, Clinton will have to pay for her own jet to Las Vegas, presidential suite and other costs she normally charges to events, unless some private donor picks up the tab. Rest of the article, emails, and contracts.

The Wall Street Journal made one last observation about the lifestyle of this wannabe rich and famous: 

There’s one more way she and husband Bill have stacked the deck in their favor. The average worker—if she could even dream of pulling down $200,000 for an hour of work—would pay taxes on this income; Mrs. Clinton often doesn’t.

By routing speaking fees through their family’s foundation, the Clintons ensure that the money won’t be taxed before it is directed to support foundation travel, meals and promotional events, among other things. The highly compensated political influence peddlers at the top of the untaxed sector of the U.S. economy have found their champion.

Nothing like the noveau riche.  The CEO's she assails would love to have this deal.  By the way, the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the average CEO pay is $180,000 per year, not per speech.