Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's plans for this evening include a high-dollar fundraising event in Baton Rouge hosted by businessman Jim Bernhard. Bernhard was previously CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and when the corporation was bought out two years ago, his severance package totaled some $54 million, including a retirement fund, stock options, and cash.
That kind of money might be par for the course in presidential fundraising, but it stands out as the sort of high executive salary and "golden parachute" Clinton has repeatedly critiqued. This apparent hypocrisy is typical of Clinton's one percent problem: She presents herself as an economic populist but maintains close ties to Wall Street and big business. Clinton herself made nearly $12 million in speech fees in the two years between her State Department tenure and presidential campaign, putting her annual earnings at about 240 times the median American salary of $27,700.
Tickets for tonight's event were $2,700, with sponsorships beginning at $27,000.
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