Ready, Fire, Aim! - Mihail's Public Blog: Former White House officials are big business

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Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Former White House officials are big business

Ex-officials from the George W. Bush White House are especially in demand these days as people hope to gain some insights in this election year. According to this New York Times story (registration required):

How's business? "Excellent," said Bernie Swain, chief executive of the Washington Speakers Bureau, based in Alexandria, Va., whose roster of 140 speakers includes Mr. Fleischer, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York and former Secretaries of State Madeleine K. Albright and James A. Baker III. Mr. Swain's company estimated that speakers last year brought in $80 million, of which it took 20 percent to 30 percent in commissions.

"In the pecking order, audiences are looking for celebrity," said Don Walker, head of the Harry Walker Agency, which represents Mr. Clinton, former President Gerald R. Ford and, until recently, the first President Bush. Mr. Walker's high-wattage lineup also includes world leaders like former Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan.

The top draw on the speaking circuit remains Mr. Clinton, who earned more than $18 million in the last two years for speeches from $100,000 to $400,000 each, according to financial disclosure statements of his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mr. Giuliani estimated in his 2002 divorce filing that he expected to earn $8 million annually from speeches. Former President George Bush, who now acts as his own agent, gives several speeches a year at undisclosed fees, mainly for the Carlyle Group, an investment firm with military contracts that also recently paid to hear General Franks.

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