Hillary Clinton joined a picket line outside of Verizon Wireless’s New York headquarters Thursday, to show solidarity with the Communications Workers of America. The group is demonstrating against Verizon after the corporation announced changes to the benefits program. For Clinton, it was a golden opportunity to show up Bernie Sanders—who also visited the Verizon strike—and to commune with the “common man” she keeps hearing so much about but typically sees only from the windows of her limousine.
Hillary Clinton arriving at the CWA Verizon workers strike in Midtown. Sanders stopped by earlier today. pic.twitter.com/MZYEVagP5g
— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) April 13, 2016
But while Hillary made a show of hugging the telecom workers and feeling their pain firsthand, Verizon’s workers must have been shocked to see her on their side of the line. After all, Hillary’s ties with Verizon go way back—and she’s certainly closer with the C-suite than she is with the CWA.
According to Clinton’s tax records, available on her website, Verizon paid her $225,000 for a speech she made in DC in May of 2013. Although Clinton considers the fee an “honorarium” for both her appearance and her remarks, she earned four times more from a single event than the average Verizon telecom worker makes in a year.
Verizon Communication is similarly generous with Clinton’s family foundation, giving between $100,000 and $250,00 to the Clinton Foundation’s efforts. Verizon has also made a sizable commitment to the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, and Verizon executives have taken part in Clinton Foundation panels and forums.
For Verizon, these sorts of expenditures are perfectly natural; it is, after all, a corporation that has to operate in a many spheres of influence. But Clinton is also close with the Verizon executives CWA is targeting directly. Left-leaning publications such as AlterNet have routinely noted that Clinton’s Presidential campaign committee, Hillary for America, has received thousand-dollar donations from Verizon executives, including vice presidents and lobbyists.
CWA workers should, then, count their blessings that Hillary deigned to even exit her car and shake their hands. After all, she might have just thought they were there to greet her on her way to a donor meeting.