Child's Pay

No one can accuse Billy Hunter of not taking care of his kids. That's because he pays his three adult offspring handsomely out of the players' union's pockets: $4.8 million in the last 11 years (and that's without all records being available). We suppose his 2011 salary of $2.39 million isn't enough to provide for his progeny. One daughter works directly for the union (collecting nearly $83K annually), while another has been at two law firms, both of which were hired by the union when she was with them. His son runs an investment firm that earned a contract with the union worth $45K per month. And his wife's on the take, too - pulling in over $173K last year to be the nebulous "director of special events" - though she smartly didn't change her name, so the employee list looks a little less like a Hunter reunion. Extended family also benefits, as a daughter-in-law is part of the payroll. How did this noxious nepotism happen? Hunter, the union's executive director, has the power to appoint personnel as well as to determine salaries, so he's chosen to cut checks to his whole clan - minus any animals they own.

Although he's not paying pets, Hunter does want a lapdog. Derek Fisher, the players association president since 2006, wasn't willing to roll over. Fisher called for a business review and suddenly, executive committee members, who clearly didn't want their dubious dealings to be investigated, voted unanimously that Fisher should resign, which he's refusing to. What they're doing to Fisher is fishy. Fishy like the ocean, which is fitting because Fisher is making waves in their stagnant, sycophantic water. Their vote of no-confidence likely means they're confident and concerned he could expose other unethical activities via an external audit, revealing that all is not fine with the union's finances.

Billy Hunter certainly puts family first - far ahead of the players he's supposed to be looking out for, and at the players' expense. He's one Hunter who's after a different type of big bucks.