Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker (D) has raked in about $1 million in speaking fees since taking office in 2006, according to a report published online Monday in the New York Times, but the U.S. Senate aspirant says he’s given virtually all of those earnings to charity.
“Even though I am entitled to keep it, after Uncle Sam takes his share and after I’ve given away hundreds and hundreds of thousands, I’ve kept very little of it, if any,” Booker said, telling the Times that the amount he’s earned from speaking engagements “definitely” exceeds the $135,000 annual salary he earns as mayor. He said he would release a comprehensive report on his outside earnings in the next month, a public disclosure that will become a requirement as he emerges as a formal Senate candidate.
Booker contended that the chief reason he accepts money as a public speaker is so he can “drive money in every way possible toward nonprofit endeavors.”
From the Times:
For example, he said, he earned $25,000 for a speech at a local preparatory school, “the very same day I wrote a check to a nonprofit.” For another recent speech, he said, he earned $40,000, which he donated to Integrity House, a drug-treatment center. In addition, he said, he gives away a lot of money to other causes: “baseball team uniforms, my neighbor’s house that burned down.”
He said he spoke mainly to educational institutions and nonprofit groups, and declined invitations to speak to any corporations that did business with New Jersey or with Newark. In one case, he said, he considered declining an invitation to speak to an oil company, but decided to accept, and have the company write a check directly to a local nonprofit group.
The speeches did not take much away from his job, he argued.
Often, he said, “I’m speaking to colleges, which offers a lot of collateral benefits.” He continued, “A lot of times — I spoke at N.Y.U., for example — I can do an hour speech during the day; that’s easy to do.”
Booker said he would release a comprehensive report on his earnings in the next month, a public disclosure that will become a requirement as he becomes a formal Senate candidate.
