Hillary Collected $200k from Boys and Girls Club but Avoided Meeting with Boys and Girls

Hillary Clinton collected $200,000 for a speech to the Boys and Girls Club of Long Beach, CA but did not visit any of the club’s facilities or meet with the kids the club serves.

In a report published Tuesday, Politico contrasts Hillary’s behavior in 2014 with that of another former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who also spoke to the group. When Rice delivered her speech in 2009, five years before Clinton, her honorarium was $60,000. However, Politico reports Rice gave almost all of the money she was paid back to the charity as a donation while Hillary kept the full $200,000 fee and then donated it to her own charity, the Clinton Foundation.

But it was Hillary’s behavior before and after the speech which really irritated some observers. Hillary delivered her speech but did not make time to visit any of the Club’s 11 locations in the city or meet any of the children the group is designed to serve. When Condi Rice spoke to the same group’s luncheon, she arrived early at one of the group’s locations and “spoke with children about following their dreams and staying in school.”

Hillary’s decision to charge a large honorarium (and to keep it) meant that her appearance actually raised far less money for the group than Rice’s similar appearance five years earlier. After expenses, the Rice speech raised $258,000 for the Club. Hillary’s speech raised just $106,000. Politico notes one additional reason for the difference; Hillary reserved more, “complimentary seats for her entourage,” leaving fewer seats available to sell. Tickets for the event were $1,500 each. Hillary might have paid for the seats for her entourage out of her large honorarium, but she chose not to do that.

Politico quotes an unnamed volunteer who describes Hillary’s appearance as “businesslike… She did acknowledge what we do for the community, but it felt like a little bit of hypocrisy because her speaking fee was higher than anyone we’ve ever had, and she didn’t donate anything back,” the volunteer tells Politico.