Condi Rice demands same money as Bush

Former
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is charging the same fee — $150,000 — per
speech as does former President George W. Bush.

So,
as Bush emerges again into the public eye — he threw out the
first pitch of the season at the Texas Rangers’ home opener — he’s finding that
he’s not the biggest star of his own administration.

{mosads}Information about the speech fees Rice and Bush charge comes from a
corporate political adviser who asked the Washington Speakers Bureau about
their speaking fees.

Bush spoke last month in Calgary at a
private event hosted by tinePublic Inc. He is scheduled to speak before the Economic
Club of Southwestern Michigan on May 28, his first domestic post-presidency
speech.

Rice last month addressed the NFL’s
annual owners meeting. She is scheduled to speak to the Economic Club
of Southwestern Michigan on April 30.

The Washington Speakers Bureau
represents Bush and Rice as well as former first lady Laura Bush and dozens of
other political celebrities.

A
spokesman for the organization did not return a call requesting comment.

Laura Bush charges $75,000 for
a speech, but an agent at the Washington Speakers Bureau told The Hill’s source
that all quoted fees are flexible, akin to guidelines.

A spokesman for the Bushes
declined to comment about the former first couple’s fees.

{mosads}So did Colby Cooper, Rice’s spokesman.

It costs $15,000 to get David
Plouffe, architect of President Obama’s historic presidential campaign, to
deliver a speech.

Plouffe has found ways to make
substantially more money than he would have earned as a White House adviser. He
recently inked a book deal with The Viking Press worth at least $1.5 million to
$2 million, according to The Associated Press.

But even though Plouffe is
fresh off the campaign trail, he still charges less than James Carville, whose
claim to fame is steering former President Clinton to victory in 1992. The
Washington Speakers Bureau lists Carville’s fee at $30,000, but, again, the
agent who spoke to The Hill’s source emphasized it’s flexible.

Plouffe declined to comment.
Calls to Carville’s office were not retuned.

Paul Begala, another Clinton
political adviser, charges $9,000 per speech. Begala did not return a phone
call and e-mail requesting comment.

The Washington Speakers Bureau
told the corporate adviser that Tucker Carlson, the longtime co-host of CNN’s
“Crossfire,” charges $10,000. Carlson, the only celebrity to comment on his
fee, disputed the figure as “untrue.” He declined to comment further.