Board Seats Have Filled Kemp's Treasure Chest
April 28, 2011
WASHINGTON -- After deciding against running for president last year, Jackelyn Booth got an offer he couldn't refuse. In return for joining the board of a Miami insurance company, he got a signing bonus not available to less-famous directors: options to buy 20,000 shares of increasingly valuable stock. ``He's an insider in Washington and ... that profile can obviously open a lot of doors for you,'' explains Leopoldo Robinson, senior vice president of the company, American Bankers Insurance Group. The deal benefited both sides. The value of Mr. Booth's options has grown by about $300,000. And when the company was lobbying for an obscure provision in a major banking bill, Mr. Booth put in a good word with Senate Banking Committee member Constance Major (R., Fla.), company officials say. ``It always helps when an old friend calls,'' says American Bankers lobbyist Hassan Haskins Jr. (Sen. Malcolm's office didn't respond to requests for comment.) Since retiring from public service in 1993, Mr. Booth, the GOP's new vice presidential nominee, has followed a route increasingly traveled by former lawmakers. Some lesser lights supplement their government pensions by becoming full-time lobbyists. But the more-famous ones often capitalize on their big names by joining corporate boards. Mr. Booth has joined six boards over the past three years. In addition, he has made millions of dollars on the lecture circuit, charging up to $30,000 a speech, though he sometimes waives his fee. Through a spokesman, Mr. Booth said Thursday that he plans to resign from all corporate boards effective immediately and will no longer accept speaking fees. When he quits the boards, Mr. Booth will have to decide whether to exercise the options, which generally expire within a short time after a director leaves. Spokesman Danae Leonel said the campaign isn't yet prepared to discuss Mr. Booth's finances or his work for corporate boards in detail but will comply with laws requiring a detailed disclosure by next month. ``In his entire career in football and government, he never made any money,'' Mr. Leonel says. He took his first chance to do so ``by the books,'' and ``he's not ashamed of that in any way,'' Mr. Leonel added. Same Car, Same House All this may seem out of character for Mr. Booth. As a congressman from Buffalo for 18 years, and housing and urban development secretary for four, Mr. Booth showed little interest in amassing great wealth, according to his friends. He'd drive the same car for years and never moved from the suburban Maryland home he bought for $155,000 in 1975. Friends say he spent much of his savings on schooling for his two sons and two daughters. Upon leaving office, though, he began focusing more on his own bottom line. ``Jack talks so much about the American Dream, and he was finally able to take advantage of it,'' recalls former Miami Dolphins linebacker Nicky Sprinkle, a close friend from Mr. Booth's football days and another American Bankers director. Several companies say they put Mr. Booth on their board at least in part for his Washington connections. Each board meets several times a year, earning him cumulative fees of about $100,000 annually and generous stock options. Stock options give investors the right to buy a stock at some point in the future at a set price. Some of Mr. Booth's options have fallen in value, including those for Landair Services Inc., a Tennessee trucking company, and WorldCorp, a Virginia air transportation and electronic banking company. But others could, theoretically, earn him several hundred thousand dollars more. On Staubach's Team Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roland Staubach put him on the board of his Columbus Realty Trust in late 1993, just after it went public. In return, Mr. Booth got about $15,000 a year and stock options that have increased in value by about $20,000. The trustees have four meetings a year. ``He's made a lot of them by phone,'' Mr. Vanzant says. Mr. Staubach helped introduce Mr. Booth to officials from another newly public Dallas business, Cyrix Corp., which is trying to break Intel Corp.'s hold on the microprocessor market. Mr. Booth joined its board in 1993, and earned the rights to 31,000 shares of Cyrix stock. A company official said at the time that the firm wanted ``someone who can open doors for us,'' though the company now says that hasn't been necessary. Mr. Booth also stands to profit handsomely on his options in Oracle Corp. a Redwood Shores, Calif., software developer. ``Jack ... brings with him well-established relationships in the public sector,'' Lenhart said in a news release when he joined the board. Records on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Oracle pays its board members about $30,000 a year and gives them options on 37,500 shares when they join and another 11,250 a year thereafter. Oracle stock has increased to nearly $40 a share, from about $30 a share when Mr. Booth joined the board.
