July 5, 2014

Behind that "Hillary Clinton Says She’s Donated All University Speaking Fees" headline.

I didn't bother clicking through when I saw that running as the top headline all day yesterday. It was the 4th of July, and when I think of the 4th of July, I don't wonder what's the latest on the Clintons. But now it's the 5th of July, and that headline — which has left quite the impression by now — is still reigning atop Memeorandum.

Finally reading it, I'm irritated at Hillary and outraged at the new media outlets who put the headline in that form, which is missing the fact that flips the story: Hillary Clinton donates the money to her own foundation.

Here's the ABC News piece under the headline quoted above:
“All of the fees have been donated to the Clinton Foundation for it to continue its life-changing and life-saving work. So it goes from a foundation at a university to another foundation,” Clinton said when asked about the criticism she and her husband have faced recently for their wealth.
What is her salary from the foundation? How much of her expenses are covered by family foundation money? How many members of her family make salaries from that foundation? To what extent is the foundation an income tax dodge? And didn't Hillary Clinton recently portray herself as not truly rich because she and Bill pay income tax on their money?

Taking from your foundation and putting it in my foundation... what a lovely, arrogant metaphor for a liberal's view of government! I can spend your money better than you can. The universities have money that they might spend to improve education for their students and to advance scholarship, but it could be shifted into the Clinton Foundation which does whatever it does, some charitable things that maintain and advance the Clintons' political fortunes. 

41 comments:

rhhardin said...

Anything I'm paid goes to a boy's home.

David said...

Also sounds like she just did the donations in response to the criticisms. She would have kept it if she could.

How about seeing their tax returns for the last decade or so? Ought to be revealing. If they can find the files, of course.

The Crack Emcee said...

"I'm irritated at Hillary and outraged at the new media outlets who put the headline in that form, which is missing the fact that flips the story: Hillary Clinton donates the money to her own foundation."

I'm amazed - literally - that you could give a damn.

Seriously, why?

Anonymous said...

Terrible Reading Comprehension Guy says:

Althouse totally misses the point here. The article in question has nothing to do with Scarlett Johansson. Not a word about her succulent pouting lips or her amazing breasts. Sometimes the Professor is so off of the mark it is like she is writing about an entirely different subject. Eye on the ball, Althouse, eye on the ball.

David said...

Note: All "university" speaking fees. Goldman Sachs and the like she keeps.

madAsHell said...

The Clinton Foundation.....my daughter worked there as an unpaid intern, but she did acquire a nifty baseball cap, and a 9x12 of her and Bill.

Humperdink said...

Interested in seeing a nice picture of the Bill and Hillary?

Look up "grifters" in the dictionary.

Ambrose said...

Kind of like Al Gore buying indulgences, oops, I mean carbon offset credits, from his own company.

Bob Boyd said...

The hanging of Admiral Sawyer is having its desired effect.

Michael K said...

It's money laundering brought to a high art.

Hagar said...

Straight tax dodge for all the reasons AA mentions plus that the Clintons control the expenditures of their foundations.

Such as, say, Sandy "the Burglar" Berger having a lifetime appointment as "scholar in residence" at that double-wide in Little Rock.

Note that Murphy's Golden Rule is not about who owns the gold but who has, i.e. controls, it!

Another thought about these out-of-all-reason speaking fees for politicians: What it amounts to is a public institution taking tax money and contributing it to the politician's campaign.

jacksonjay said...

Perfect explanation for the lo info lady parts. Hell, you can tell them anything and they'll believe it. Hobby Lobby has banned all birf control for all womyns, holla. Hillary is a Saint, holla. Lena Dunham is a genius, girl. Barry Obama is so cute!

Derb is right, we are doomed.

MathMom said...

Hey! Why doesn't Hillary! require that she be paid by check at the podium at the end of her speaking engagement, and then she can tear up the check in front of her audience! This will reinforce the claim that she donates all university speaking fees. That would be a real donation - right back into the bank account of the group who hired her.

Transparency!

Just an old country lawyer said...

Nothing the Clintons say or write can be comprehended without a full legal parsing thereof.

From Inwood said...

Hil's "Donatees" are her own foundation & we have a new meaning of the term "vicious circle"?

What difference does it make? :-)

Anonymous said...

Maybe one day they'll just get tired of all the attacks, sell the foundation to the Chinese, and retire to a NY Penthouse, a L.A. condo, a London row-home etc.

America just wasn't ready to be a citizen of the world.

Paul said...

Does anyone really think Hillary would GIVE A DIME to anyone but Hillary?

Mabel said...

This closed-form money cycling thru nonprofits to personal pockets is not limited to Hillary Clinton. She's just one of the members of the club. Who do these self-serving people think they are fooling? (Don't answer that).

To quote someone great: "Somebody should write a book about it"!

Oh yeah, I did. Reality parallels Fiction, but without its humorous side...

Sustenance Through Starvation

lemondog said...

Sheessssh......you are sooooo suspicious!

However it is non-profit so I guess she can write off those donations at taxpayer expense.

It is named the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation so at least three Clintons are involved.

Not good at reading financials but the 2012 financials show salaries and benefits= $62+ million with revenues= $234+ million, so almost 27%=salaries and benefits.

Is that a reasonable % for a non-profit?

Biff said...

At its heart, is the Clinton Foundation anything more than one of the most effective money laundering and influence peddling schemes in political history?

Gahrie said...



Such as, say, Sandy "the Burglar" Berger having a lifetime appointment as "scholar in residence" at that double-wide in Little Rock.


I believe Chelsea works for the Clinton foundation.

Anonymous said...

You all do not get it! There is enormous pressure from HRC team, led by Huma, to make sure that the Campaign for the Take-Back-Her-White-House is not impacted in any way. THE priority of the Campaign is to Protect Her Excellency, POTUS HRC.

Everything is done in the Campaign to make sure that HRC wins back the White House, which belongs to her and only her.

I totally want POTUS HRC to Take back her White House.

GOP does not deserve anything. Nothing.

Anonymous said...

Peter Baker has writing the HRC 2016 Campaign Song. Thank you, Peter, the check is in the mail.

POTUS HRC 2016

Take-Back-Her-White House Campaign

It is beginning to look like Christmas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/books/review/hillary-rodham-clintons-hard-choices.html

Levi Starks said...

This is the clearest message yet that she's running

Mabel said...

Lemondog: Good link.

The first part of the document you link makes it pretty clear that financial forms for interconnected organizations are obfuscated. In any case, at least the 990's there show cronies Bruce Lindsey and Stephanie Streett each paid as more than full-time (>40 hours/week), and there is $ from related organizations flowing.

Saint Croix said...

The Clinton Foundation.....my daughter worked there as an unpaid intern

You let your daughter work at the Clinton Foundation?

I'm surprised nobody has punched Bill Clinton in the face yet. He hits on people's wives, on their daughters, in front of men.

I say, screw it, sign up for the misdemeanor and smack him one.

Eric said...

Another example of why I love Althouse

madAsHell said...

You let your daughter work at the Clinton Foundation?

I didn't let her. She's an adult.

I screamed, and belly-ached, but I lost to the mother-daughter duality.

....and then I wrote the checks for 6 months.

Joe said...

Stop taxing corporations, getting rid of non-profits (and thus the tax write off) and the problem solves itself.

How about requiring both sides of FICA and Medicare be paid on speaking fees?

traditionalguy said...

Hillary is under attack at all times, and always has been. Ask her. She knows money is the high wall that protects her. Walls of Money need foundations.

A fee for a well known speaker to a college student audience is about 25K. Her extra 200K collections are Mafia protection dues.

But the gig of being a true believer socialist never looks right on this actress. Actually her persona would make her into a better CIA Director.

Hillary is the master at plausible deniability. Everyone knows it's probably false, but it's plausible. Next.

Saint Croix said...

I just read in Blood Feud that Bill and Hillary haven't had sex in 20 years.

Geez.

jr565 said...

Its like Al Gore by carbon offsets from his own carbon offset companies.

Victor Erimita said...

That money will presumably come back to them in multiples if Hillary is elected and can then use our money for the payback.

Charlie Martin said...

I'm amazed - literally - that you could give a damn.

Remind me what you thought of Mitt Romney's taxes in 2012.

axelhose said...

To answer your questions, according to form 990 which must be filed with the IRS none of the Clintons drew a salary or were reimbursed for expenses. I know, I was disappointed too. But if you can make 200K to 500K for a speech you don't really need to sponge off your foundation.

jeana said...

The purpose of the Clinton Foundation is to provide a tax-advantaged vehicle for the Clintons to accomplish some of their objectives. To simplify, they use their before-tax money and (even better) donated money instead of having to spend their after-tax money on cronies, private planes and other necessary expenses.

So, how much of their 2014 before-tax money did the Clintons plan to put into the foundation? Did that number change with this announcement? I suspect the answers are, respectively, a pant(suit)-load, and Not even a penny.

Scientific Socialist said...

Reporter: In this era of rising college tuition and state university budget cuts, is it appropriate for you to be paid a six-figure fee to speak at,say, the University of Wisconsin?

HRC: All of my university speaking fees are donated to the Clinton Foundation.

Reporter: Uh, OK. Thank you.

The Madison Project said...

What AA didn't mention is that these universities are subsidized by Other People's Money (taxes to the progs). HRC is living large on the back of your labor, still.

jamescy said...

Hillary's tax returns are posted on-line, and they come nowhere close to supporting the load of BS she is attempting to peddle on the American public. Remember the timeless adage. "how do you know when a Clinton is lying?" Their lips are moving. Only wish some halfway credible journalist would spend an hour doing the simple research and post the findings (all of which show Hillary to be the liar she is).

Glen Wishard said...

The purpose of the Clinton Foundation is to sit there like Scrooge McDuck's money vault until it can be laundered back to the Clintons and their cronies.

For example, a firm called Teneo was paid 250,000 a month to advise the Clinton Foundation. Teneo, in turn, hired Bill Clinton as an adviser. He advised them on how to advise his own foundation, apparently.

ELC said...

Income Inequality, you say?

Hillary Clinton is so wealthy she can afford to just give away $200,000 several times over, and over and over and over. And what does she do with the non-university speaking fees?

(The preceding remarks will be my new riposte to Liberals about this.)