George W. Bush Charged A Homeless Shelter $100,000 To Speak At Its Fundraiser

The man whose claim of “compassionate conservatism” got him elected to the White House in 2000 decided to cash-in afterwards.

Former presidents are always in high demand on the speaking circuit, and can earn huge fees for spending just a few minutes on stage or behind a podium. 

Since leaving office in January of 2009, former president George W. Bush “has given at least 200 paid speeches, typically pocketing $100,000 to $175,000 per appearance,” Politico’s Michael Kruse reports. His estimated take: “at least $15 million,” if not “tens of millions of dollars.”

One of those speeches was at a fundraiser for a homeless shelter in McKinney, Texas, some 30 miles and a 40 minute drive from Bush’s home in Dallas.

“We paid his regular fee,” Lynne Sipiora told POLITICO. She’s the executive director of the Samaritan Inn, a homeless shelter in McKinney, Texas. “Which is $100,000.”

Sipiora added, “it was a hefty fee for us.”

To be fair, the Samaritan Inn isn’t a small operation, and they reportedly took in one million dollars thanks to the fundraiser, which was held back in February, but it is a homeless shelter and the irony is pretty thick. After all, Bush presided over one of the largest financial meltdowns in American history, making countless thousands, if not more, homeless. Getting paid $100,000 afterwards is unseemly, at best.

Politico, talking with Bush’s own people, reports there’s no charity in the 68-year old Republican’s speaking business, noting “none of what he makes when he does get paid goes anywhere other than his own bank account.”

 

Image by LBJ Foundation via Flickr and a CC license