Borenstein: Toll money for a Bill Clinton speech?

That planned Oct. 21 speech in Richmond by former President Bill Clinton for which he’s being paid $150,000 is drawing some raised eyebrows. Not because of the Clinton fee, but the Metropolitan Transportation District plans to kick in about $75,000 of taxpayer money to help pay for the event sponsored by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The CoCo Times’ Daniel Borenstein sniffs problems with it.

Any government official, whether elected representative or staff, who fails to see the problem here has lost his or her ethical compass. Moreover, this episode and the transportation commissions' continuing discussing of using up to $180 million of bridge tolls for downtown San Francisco real estate speculation should reignite the debate about oversight of the Bay Area's regional agencies.

Add: When you add the cost of the braised Creekstone Farms Angus beef short ribs and seasonal petite fours, the Clinton lunch tab comes out to about $500 per head, he says.