Worth every penny

So you are opening a women's hall of fame. You want to have a prominent woman to speak at your grand opening. It gets pricey, though:

When the University of Missouri at Kansas City was looking for a celebrity speaker to headline its gala luncheon marking the opening of a women’s hall of fame, one of the names that came to mind was Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But when the former secretary of state’s representatives quoted a fee of $275,000, officials at the public university balked. “Yikes!” one e-mailed another.

What to do? Well, if you can't get Sinatra to play your room, you can always get Frank Sinatra Jr.:

So the school booked the next best option: her daughter, Chelsea.

The university paid $65,000 for Chelsea Clinton’s brief appearance Feb. 24, 2014, a demonstration of the celebrity appeal and marketability that the former and possibly second-time first daughter employs on behalf of her mother’s presidential campaign and family’s global charitable empire.

What do you get for the money?

The schedule she negotiated called for her to speak for 10 minutes, participate in a 20-minute, moderated question-and-answer session and spend a half-hour posing for pictures with VIPs offstage.

The median household income in the United States for 2013 was $51,939. Chelsea got more than that for an hour's work. And do you know what? Gloria Steinem would have worked for a lot less:

The e-mails show that the university initially inquired about Chelsea Clinton but her speaking agency indicated she was unlikely to do the speech. At that point, a university vice chancellor urged organizers to “shoot for the moon” and pursue the former secretary of state, who proved too expensive.

So the university turned back to others, eventually choosing Chelsea Clinton when the agency indicated she was willing. Just shy of her 34th birthday, Clinton commanded a higher fee than other prominent women speakers who were considered, including feminist icon Gloria Steinem ($30,000) and journalists Cokie Roberts ($40,000), Tina Brown ($50,000) and Lesley Stahl ($50,000), the records show.

Do you remember, back in the late 90s, when the Clintons made life uncomfortable for Steinem? She and her associates in the women's movement had to pretend that Bill Clinton's dalliances with Monica Lewinsky were no big thing. Now they can't even get a sniff for a women's hall of fame luncheon and the Clintons get the money. I suppose it's good to know your value in the marketplace.