Maureen Dowd Is Paid Less Than Half Of What Chelsea Clinton Is Worth On The Speaking Circuit

NY Times Columnist Charges $30,000 For Speaking Engagements

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who criticized Chelsea Clinton's speaking fees as “unseemly,” brings home less than half as much as the former first daughter for her own paid engagements.

American Program Bureau, one of two speaking bureaus that broker speaking appearances for Dowd, said she receives an average of $30,000 per appearance, plus travel expenses. An APB agent who requested anonymity, confirmed Dowd averages at least eight to 12 such appearances per year.

Dowd's other speaking bureau, All-American Speakers, declined to release fee information for Dowd.

This is less than half of the $75,000 Chelsea Clinton receives per event according to a previous New York Times story. That article noted that all of her fees go to the Bill, Hillary, & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, which “works to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote health and wellness, and protect the environment.”

Dowd, who has a decades-long history of viciously criticizing President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, took on their daughter this past Sunday in a column that said there was “something unseemly” about the younger Clinton being paid to speak:

Why on earth is she worth that much money? Why, given her dabbling in management consulting, hedge-funding and coattail-riding, is an hour of her time valued at an amount that most Americans her age don't make in a year?

Dowd went on to write that if Clinton “really wants to be altruistic,” she should “contribute the money to some independent charity not designed to burnish the Clinton name” or “speak for free.”

Could the same be said of Dowd's own work on the paid speaking circuit? She has appeared at college campuses ranging from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to Hofstra University and the University of Rochester in the past. Her paid appearances have also spanned the likes of the Philadelphia Bar Association and Temple B'nai Abraham in Livingston, N.J.

“We don't pay all of our speakers, but in her case I am sure we did,” said Dan Anderson, vice president for university relations at Elon University in Elon, N.C., where Dowd spoke in 2012.

Dowd did not respond to a request for comment seeking to determine whether she donates her speaking fees to charity.