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Rudy's Speaking Fees Raise Eyebrows

The Chicago Tribune reports on Rudy's speaking fees and the questions it raises for his potential presidential bid.

He commands $100,000 for a speech, not including expenses, which his star-struck clients are happily willing to pay. In one speech last year at Oklahoma State University, Giuliani requested and received travel on a private Gulfstream jet that cost the school $47,000 to operate. His visit essentially wiped out the student speakers annual fund.

Like other high-priced speakers in the private sector, Giuliani routinely travels in style. Besides the Gulfstream, which is a standard perk on the big-time speakers circuit, his contract calls for up to five hotel rooms for his entourage, including his own two-bedroom suite with a preferred balcony view and king-size bed, in the event of an overnight stay. The Oklahoma contract also required a sedan and an SUV, restrictions on news coverage and control over whom Giuliani would meet, how he would be photographed and what questions he might be asked.

Then there is his investment bank, which he is trying to sell, and his consulting and security businesses.

His spokesperson says:

"If and when Rudy Giuliani runs, he'll run on his record and on how he will move the country forward," she said, speaking on behalf of the ex-mayor on condition she not be quoted by name.

Crooks and Liars (Barbara O'Brien) takes another look at his record, and the media hype that he is a 9/11 hero who brought the nation together. She explains how "Rudy Giuliani’s shoddy “leadership” made the 9/11 tragedy worse." She dissects his real record, concluding:

I can’t diagnose Rudy Giuliani, but there’s no question he is seriously miswired. He is autocratic, intolerant of criticism, and as mayor used the NYPD as his private praetorian guard. In fact, he combines many of the worst qualities of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. And he’s a lot smarter than Bush, which makes him more dangerous.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Rudy has to (none / 0) (#1)
    by Edger on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 10:58:40 AM EST
    pay people $100K to listen to him? Umm, no thanks. It's not worth it.

    But maybe Rudy should listen to Tom Delay.

    Profiteer (none / 0) (#2)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 11:30:48 AM EST
    from the deaths of children. Sorry, "collateral damage". Giuliani and Associates: Security consulting. How much of our war funding lines his pockets?

    We're already paying him.

    Rudy will discover..... (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 11:49:22 AM EST
    that getting rich off of tragedy rubs people the wrong way.
     

    Market pricing (none / 0) (#4)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 01:50:22 PM EST
    I think this is called market pricing. Some people get paid more than others for doing essentially the same thing.

    When Rudi's demand goes down, so will his fees.

    What? (none / 0) (#5)
    by Slado on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 02:33:14 PM EST
    Since when did getting money for providing a service become a problem?

    If this is all the liberals have good luck.

    Parent

    You consider Rudy's (none / 0) (#6)
    by Edger on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 02:49:47 PM EST
    bamboozle-izing a service? Wow. I guess it does work.

    Parent
    edger (none / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 04:50:06 PM EST
    Well, what would you call it??

    "bambozleing??"

    Okay. That too will follow market forces.

    Parent

    It's no problem..... (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 04:48:12 PM EST
    I'm sure my reefer-man asks himself that question.....lol

    It's Rudy getting rich off playing a hero....while real heroes lie in hospital beds struggling to breath, and struggling to pay medical bills.  It rubs some people the wrong way, and therefore will cost him some votes.  

    No problem, just opinion.  Heck...I'd prefer he keep giving 6-figure speeches and stay out of office.

    Parent

    kdog (none / 0) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 04:51:11 PM EST
    Your refer man is bamboole-izing you???

    Parent
    Well..... (none / 0) (#14)
    by kdog on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 05:26:39 PM EST
    some people might call it that:)

    Tell you one thing...I like what my man is selling a heckuva lot more than Rudy's hot air.

    Those corporate pep-rallies are getting ripped off...

    Parent

    Here's the really bad news... (none / 0) (#17)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 08:53:01 PM EST
    They writing it off as a business expense...

    So YOU are paying for it!

    (Me too, but who's counting??)

    Parent

    My bro-in-law... (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 08:58:51 AM EST
    is a finance guy at a huge corp.....he went to one of his companies pep-rallies where an ex-NFL star was hired to speak at a 5-figure cost.

    He could only shake his head and laugh at what a waste of money and time it was.

    Parent

    Been there and done that. (none / 0) (#20)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 09:04:02 AM EST
    One or two were actually enjoyable. The most fun was watching guys who wouldn't know how to put on a jock strap try to ask intelligent questions about football.

    Parent
    There's a sucker born every minute. (none / 0) (#13)
    by Edger on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 05:10:12 PM EST
    Rudy services them.

    Got it.

    Parent

    What service, Slado? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 03:02:11 PM EST


    Service? (none / 0) (#15)
    by Slado on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 08:17:40 PM EST
    Telling overpaid CEO's what they want to hear.

    I'm not hear to justify it morally I just don't act like a hypocrite and get pissed when only one person does it.

    It's called capitalism.  If someone is willing to pay you thousands to tell your story then frankly you'd be an idiot not to take it.

    Former presidents, politicians, football heroes, cancer survivors etc... they all get rich on the speakers circuit  because people find their story and advice worth listening too.   Who are we to judge?

    Parent

    I hear you Slado.... (none / 0) (#23)
    by kdog on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 09:35:48 AM EST
    and I am certianly not proposing we make giving rip-off speeches on the corporate speech circuit a crime.

    I just think such narcisism deserves criticism.

    Parent

    Kdog (none / 0) (#33)
    by Slado on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 03:44:16 PM EST
    Fair enough but only paiting with a partisan stroke invites equal criticism.

    Parent
    No doubt..... (none / 0) (#35)
    by kdog on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 04:04:14 PM EST
    I think you're crazy to pay Rudy or Hillary or whoever 100k simply to speak.

    Rudy gets my goat more than most because his claim to fame is 9/11...9/11 is the reason he commands 100k on the pep-rally circuit.  And for the life of me I don't what he did on 9/11 that makes him a hero....giving press conferences?

    Parent

    Free market in death (none / 0) (#12)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 05:05:50 PM EST
    It is a free market and I see no problem for people getting rich for selling their service.

    Even if it means the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people? War as free market. Novel idea. Hope you can live with it, Narius. Others are not. You are correct about one thing.

    You don't know.

    This war was not about WMD. It's about making a buck. Or was Rudy just in the right place at the right time? Worked out great for him and the hundreds of others who went from nada to rich over the last 4 years.

    Will the real terrorists please cash these checks?

    Che, really? (none / 0) (#16)
    by Slado on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 08:19:47 PM EST
    What does one have to do with the other?

    Rudy is seen by most Americans as a great Mayor who also lead NYC through troubling times.

    If you want to lump Rudy in with your boogie man that's your right but I can't see the connection.

    Parent

    Che (none / 0) (#21)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 09:07:02 AM EST
    Even if it means the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people?

    What? I didn't know Rudy could do that.  Wow!

    Parent

    The boogie man (none / 0) (#18)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Feb 07, 2007 at 10:08:13 PM EST
    Like Osama Bin Forgotten?

    BOO!

    LOL

    It's not a free market when public schools pays (none / 0) (#22)
    by roy on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 09:17:15 AM EST
    OSU is a state school, which means they're subsidized by taxes, which means the people ultimately paying the bill are doing so under threat of imprisonment.  Plenty of reasonable people consider that a good thing, but nobody considers it a free market.

    (Note: I attended OSU, and I'm still a little bitter over their spending choices.  Too much on football players' crab-leg dinners, not enough on keeping my dorm room below 80 degrees in the winter)

    roy (none / 0) (#30)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 01:59:17 PM EST
    So how did you feel about Wad Churchill and CU??

    Parent
    Dark (none / 0) (#41)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Feb 09, 2007 at 09:46:54 AM EST
    oh me..... That's a good'un I am LOL.

    WARD

    And thanks for being my secretary... Do you make coffee and pick up cleaning?

    Parent

    OSU... (none / 0) (#24)
    by desertswine on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 11:10:58 AM EST
    cudda got this guy for a lot less:

    Bill Moyers
    Bill Moyers is a broadcast journalist whose probing, thoughtful coverage reaches for the highest common denominator and assumes that viewing audiences will make the intellectual effort to meet him there. In doing so, he has spent decades enlightening Americans about themselves, their culture and the...

    Fee Range: $35,000-50,000.

    and, he's a helluva speaker.

    desertswine (none / 0) (#32)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 02:08:24 PM EST
    Speaking of a public servant working on the side....

    Here's Billlllll!

    Parent

    "Rudy is seen by most Americams..." (none / 0) (#25)
    by jondee on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 11:47:46 AM EST
    You have anything remotely resembling proof for that assertion?

    Here... (none / 0) (#34)
    by Slado on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 03:46:16 PM EST
    In the news (none / 0) (#36)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 04:26:28 PM EST
    Picked up on the radio while driving this PM, in PA Rudy soundly whips Hillary for Pres, and so does McCain, but only by 1 or 2 points.

    Parent
    Rudy is seen by most Americans... (none / 0) (#26)
    by desertswine on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 12:00:17 PM EST
    as sort of a mini-Musolini, I would think.


    Public servants (none / 0) (#27)
    by jondee on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 12:03:07 PM EST
    as high priced shill meisters reading scripted dialogue at 100,000 a pop. Why dosnt he just do Burger King commercials? And why dont people stop enabling these putzes? Oh I forgot, the enablers are the same people that vote for grotesque salary packages for each other while they run companies into the ground.

    Jondee (none / 0) (#31)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 02:00:25 PM EST
    Uh, I believe he started doing this after he left public service.

    Parent
    It's (none / 0) (#37)
    by jondee on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 04:34:33 PM EST
    just some more of that "giving back" that your pals are so famous for..

    Indeed Narius (none / 0) (#38)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 11:45:36 PM EST
    No one has a problem with getting paid for a speech. I object to Giuliani because his war profiteering is conveniently kept under the radar while he goes around bamboozling people about how the war should be prosecuted (ie support escalation) while making millions off of it. Giuliani is a hypocritical war profiteer.

    Jim (none / 0) (#39)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu Feb 08, 2007 at 11:51:20 PM EST
    So how did you feel about Wad Churchill and CU??

    Everyone knew where Chrchill was coming from. We saw the results. Giuliani is a phony, and many do not know of his war profiteering. He keeps raking it in.


    All this type of suiff is sleazy... (none / 0) (#42)
    by Deconstructionist on Fri Feb 09, 2007 at 09:54:59 AM EST
      whether speaking fees, book deals, consultant  fees, underwritten "fact-finfing" junkets or what have you. The people paying the money are buying influence. In the lack of a drect quid pro quo or reporting violation, it's all legal but that does not mean that the people who give the money and the people who take it should not  be very carefully scrutinized and that attention should not be directed to interesting correllations between receipt or payment of money and conduct.