Thomas Edsall examines the Clinton-Burkle connection

The campaign press statement accompanying the release on Friday of Hillary Clinton's 2000 - 2007 tax returns includes some useful summary data for the media: Bill and Hillary Clinton's total income over the past 8 years, $109 million; her Senate salary, $1.1 million; his presidential pension, $1.2 million; her book royalties, $10.5 million; his book royalties, $29.6 million; and his speaking fees, $51.9 million.

One big line item is missing from the press summary however: the $15 million paid to Bill Clinton between 2003 and 2007 by Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund.

In fact, the Burkle payments, buried deep in the income tax forms themselves, were the only real news in tax documents ...
(read more at The Huffington Post)

Edsall concludes that Bill Clinton played the role of a "door opener" for Yucaipa Global.

The story reinforces what should be common knowledge by now. The Clintons, for all their talk of "income gaps," CEO pay and the like are more than happy to rake in big $ for doing very little in return.

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