Hillary Clinton has reportedly leased office space in Brooklyn on Wednesday for what is likely to be a campaign for president. The Democrat supposedly signed the lease sometime in the last few days, and according to regulations Clinton must file with the Federal Election Commission within 15 days of conducting campaign activity. In addition to the lease, several Clinton hands have been traveling to early primary states like Iowa on a “volunteer” basis.
So what day could she announce? Rand Paul is expected to announce on April 7, and Marco Rubio on April 13. April 15 is Tax Day, which would be an inauspicious start to a Democratic campaign.
All of this suggests Clinton could announce her candidacy on April 14, otherwise known as “Equal Pay Day.” That’s the day that symbolizes how long into a new year women have to work to earn the same as men did over the course of the previous year. And for Clinton, who aspires to be the first woman president, announcing her candidacy on that day would have significant resonance.
But if Clinton did announce on April 14, it might also draw attention to her own deficiencies on “gender equality.” As the Washington Free Beacon reported, women working in Clinton’s Senate office earned 72 cents for every dollar earned by male employees.
“During those years [Clinton served in the Senate], the median annual salary for a woman working in Clinton’s office was $15,708.38 less than the median salary for a man, according to the analysis of data compiled from official Senate expenditure reports,” wrote the Beacon’s Brent Scher. There’s more. At the Clinton Foundation, men occupy the eight highest-paying positions. And pay equity has also been a problem in the Obama administration, in which Clinton served as secretary of state
But Clinton’s potential problems go beyond equal pay. In a recent column the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, no conservative Hillary hater, drew attention to Clinton’s reliance on the “old-boy” network of the last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Here’s Milbank:
Her campaign chairman: John Podesta. Her campaign manager: Robby Mook. Her chief strategist: Joel Benenson. Her pollsters: Benenson, John Anzalone and David Binder. Her top media guy: Jim Margolis. John, Robby, Joel, John, David and Jim join former Obama hands such as Jim, Jeremy and Mitch, who have already been boosting Clinton’s candidacy in the super PAC world.
An email to a Clinton spokesman on when a campaign announcement is coming has not yet been returned.
