Busy, busy, busy.
Ron Green at the Associated Press
has taken a look at all the corporate and non-profit boards and advisory boards Jeb Bush has served on since he left the Florida governorship in 2007. Bush has been shedding these posts since late last year in preparation for a presidential run. There are 15 such boards and he earned millions for his role. And some of the companies have lawsuits and scandals that might be used by Bush's opponents in the 2016 contest:
Executives who worked alongside Bush describe him as an engaged adviser with an eye on detail.
Yet experts question how anyone could serve so many boards at once effectively.
“Board of directors and advisory boards are in charge of high-level oversight,” said law professor Elizabeth Nowicki, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer. “You cannot possibly do that simultaneously for 10 or 15 entities.”
At one time, Bush was simultaneously on the boards of seven for-profit entities and four non-profits, Greene writes. He served on some non-profit advisory boards without pay, but since 2007, he has made nearly $4 million from just four of those companies alone. His compensation from eight other companies is unknown, and he refused to open his financial records to the AP, something that could mean something about his plans for transparency during the campaign. Several of those companies have faced class-action lawsuits or legal action by the government.
The worst of the lot was InnoVida Holdings, which garnered Bush $15,000 a month as a board member and consultant. Although a Bush spokesman said that before the former governor joined the board, he had had a former FBI agent vet the company's CEO, Claudio Osorio, there were ample warnings that InnoVida was engaged in illegal shenanigans. Osorio is now doing a 12 1/2-year stretch in the slammer after allegations of massive fraud sent it into bankruptcy.
One of those warnings emerged from another Osorio-run company, CHS Electronics, which sold computer parts. CHS was accused of inflating its profits, giving shareholders a false view of its financial well-being. A year after a class-action suit was filed in 1999, the first year of Bush's governorship, CHS filed for bankruptcy and settled with shareholders for $11.5 million. Three months later, Bush joined the InnoVida board.
Nobody, including the AP, is alleging that Bush was involved in anything illegal during his board tenures. But he certainly displayed poor judgment. Which is one of the nicest things one can say about any of the Bush clan.