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November 09, 2007

Hillary campaign and the Iowa waitresses (updated)

Clarice Feldman
It seems I was right to be suspicious of the Clinton Campaign's version of the tip story at the Iowa diner last month. Hillary's contempt for actual flesh & blood ordinary working people, contrary to her pose of championing their interests, keeps coming through loud and clear. NPR has this today. Read the whole thing to get the complete picture, but here is what is laid out:
A Clinton campaign staffer called on Esterday at the restaurant Thursday after the story aired. The staff member apologized to her and gave her a $20 bill, according to Esterday. The Clinton campaign confirmed that visit.
The campaign did pay $157.46 for the meal, but the receipt shows no tip. Yesterday the Hillary!campaign told Esterday, the single mom whose story was used by Hillary in her next speech, that they left a $100 bill as a tip. So what happened to it?

"She just said, 'Well, there was one left,'" Esterday said. "She just kept repeating, 'There was one left.'

After the campaign staffer stopped at the diner Thursday, Esterday said, the $100 tip was a hot topic.

"Two others that had worked with me that day turned around and said, 'We didn't know about any $100 tip,' because they both turned around and said 'We didn't get a part of it.' And they didn't. So, it's like 'OK, where did it go?' That's the mystery question: Where did it go?"

Esterday said it would surprise her if money that was intended to be split among the staff was never shared.

"The ladies that were working that day have been working there for years - some of them for 30 years, some of them for 25 years," Esterday said. "And I've known a lot of these ladies most of my life living here, too. And I can't imagine them pocketing it."
I can't believe that it helps Hillary more that her staff is obviously trying to peg Iowa minimum wage earners as thieves rather than accept blame for not having taken care of this properly themselves. Since Hillary previously got into trouble for not tipping a waitress at a diner during her Senate campaign it says much of her executive ability that her staff wasn't properly prepped on the protocol.

Add to this the fact that she exploited without permission the waitress' story about her life, this is not a pretty picture.

Update: reader Patrick Albanese writes:

I find it interesting that Hillary's camp took credit for having left a $100 tip that vanished or was stolen, and in order to correct the misunderstanding, they return and give the waitress a $20 tip to replace the c-note, which by the way, is about a 13% tip. A below average tip from a below average candidate.

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