Sunday, November 13, 2011

Lobbyists on K St. paid like CEOs on Wall St.

Top Execs' Compensation Doesn't Stop With Salary

Most top earners receive deferred compensation and bonuses, not just base salaries.

 

Most of the lobbyists  listed below received deferred compensation and bonuses in addition to their base salaries (just like corporate CEOs do). They didn't get all of that money in their weekly paychecks.

Like the private sector, trade associations (lobbyists) have been tying overall compensation to incentive pay and other performance-related benefits. That incentive in the private sector usually comes in the form of stock options, a tool that isn't available to "nonprofits". Instead, associations use bonuses and deferred compensation that vest over time. Both can be withheld if an executive's performance falls short.

If a lobbyist can get the desired legislation passed through Congress that's favorable to corporations, the lobbyist will get a bonus.

"This is how nonprofits can be competitive," said Charles Quatt, founder of Quatt Associates, a management consulting firm. "The incentives make up for the other income a trade association executive might have gotten in the form of equity if he or she had taken a job at a publicly traded company instead."

Bonuses at some of the biggest trade associations now average 35 percent of an executive's base pay and can be 50 percent "or higher," Quatt said.

Example: Business Roundtable President John Castellani's base compensation was $689,584, and he received a bonus of $750,000 and deferred compensation totaling $4.1 million, including retirement and other benefits. 

Billy Tauzin, before departing the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, had a base salary of $2.06 million, a bonus of $692,875, and total deferred and other compensation of $2.26 million. 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and Thomas Donohue received the largest bonus of the Top 25: $2.55 million. His base pay was $1.09 million, and his deferred compensation totaled $136,697. (No, it is not an agency of the United States government, as some people believe...it's a lobbying group.)

An important caveat when it comes to deferred compensation is that the amount must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service as part of an executive's overall pay, even if the money is vested over several years. When the executive finally collects the entire deferred compensation package, it's taxed as capital gains, rather that regular income.

Castellani, asked how he feels about his salary, said: "I don't determine my compensation; my board does. It was really their judgment as to whether I am doing a good job or not."

Many organizations also give their executives so-called golden parachutes when they leave. That money can make a CEO's pay exceptionally high. For example, Marc Lackritz, the now-retired head of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, received a $4.2 million cash distribution when he left the Wall Street lobbying group. His total compensation without that payout was $2.6 million.

Highest-Paid Lobbyists* (Who Weren't CEOs)

Lobbyist

Title

Firm

Compen-
sation

Leigh Ann Pusey1

Senior v.p., COO

American Insurance Association

$1,158,156

Richard Pollack

Executive v.p., advocacy and public policy

American Hospital Association

$1,153,202

Bruce Josten

Executive v.p.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

$1,139,290

Todd Hauptli

Senior executive v.p.

American Association of Airport Executives

$1,009,962

Rick Shelby

Executive v.p., public affairs

American Gas Assocation

$906,643

Dan Danner2

Executive v.p.

NFIB

$831,279

James Ford3

Director of government affairs

American Petroleum Institute

$813,625

Alexander Flint

Senior v.p., government affairs

Nuclear Energy Institute

$788,042

John Dalton

President, housing policy council

Financial Services Roundtable

$765,423

Regina Hopper4

Executive v.p.

U.S. Telecom Association

$755,837

 
*Saleries from 2008.
1Now president and of AIA.
2Now president and of NFIB.
3No longer works for API.
4Now president and of America's Natural Gas Alliance.

The Top 25 Current And Former Executives

These are the highest-paid leaders of Washington's biggest trade associations, professional societies, think tanks, and interest groups. The first list includes chief executives current as of March 30, 2010.

Current Executives

 

Name

Title

Association

Total Compensation1

1

John J. Castellani

president

Business Roundtable

$5,566,105

2

Billy Tauzin

president,

PhRMA

$4,476,157

3

Scott Serota

president,

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

$3,993,225

4

Robert D. Somerville

chairman,

American Bureau of Shipping

$3,970,948

5

Thomas J. Donohue

president,

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

$3,777,092

6

Frank Keating

president,

American Council of Life Insurers

$2,933,527

7

Charles H. Dallara

managing director

Institute of International Finance

$2,664,025

8

Thomas R. Kuhn

president

Edison Electric Institute

$2,549,956

9

Kyle McSlarrow

president,

National Cable and Telecommunications Association

$2,451,440

10

Charles N. Kahn, III

president,

Federation of American Hospitals

$2,334,770

11

Edward L. Yingling

president,

American Bankers Association

$2,291,462

12

Peter H. Cressy

president,

Distilled Spirits Council of the United States

$2,218,422

13

John M. Damgard

president

Futures Industry Association

$2,143,465

14

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr.

president,

American Gaming Association

$2,080,581

15

Richard Umbdenstock

president,

American Hospital Association

$2,075,344

16

Mitch Bainwol

president,

Recording Industry Association of America

$2,033,072

17

Timothy Ryan2

president,

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

$2,021,141

18

Glenn English

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

$1,960,741

19

Karen Ignagni

president

America's Health Insurance Plans

$1,941,471

20

Steven Specker

president,

Electric Power Research Institute

$1,908,163

21

Tracy Mullin

president,

National Retail Federation

$1,858,577

22

Steve Anderson

president,

National Association of Chain Drug Stores

$1,834,074

23

Daniel A. Mica

president,

Credit Union National Association

$1,817,577

24

Gary Shapiro

president,

Consumer Electronics Association

$1,767,205

25

Steve Miller

president,

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

$1,735,639

 

 

 

 

 

1Includes deferred compensation, benefits, and bonuses.
2Started in February 2008.

 

Former Executives - This list includes former executives who received compensation during the most recent reporting period.

 

Name

Title

Association

Total Compensation1

1

Marc Lackritz

former president,

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association

$6,761,697

2

Frank L. Bowman

former president,

Nuclear Energy Institute

$3,003,348

3

Marc F. Racicot

former president,

American Insurance Association

$2,882,402

4

Byron M. Cavaney

former president,

American Petroleum Institute

$2,694,867

5

Eugene Upshaw

former executive director

National Football League Players Association

$2,510,301

6

Susan Meisinger

former president,

Society for Human Resource Management

$2,315,416

7

Frederick Meister

former president,

Distilled Spirits Council of the United States

$1,884,854

8

Pamela G. Bailey2

former president,

Personal Care Products Council

$1,808,932

9

Myles N. Brand

former president

National Collegiate Athletic Association

$1,721,813

10

William T. Archey

former president,

TechAmerica (formerly AeA)

$1,648,324

11

Kenneth Stern

former

National Public Radio

$1,577,234

12

Andrew Sharkey

former president,

American Iron and Steel Institute

$1,554,863

13

Philip B. Boyer

former president

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

$1,549,245

14

Jordan J. Cohen

Former president

Association of American Medical Colleges

$1,501,708

15

Jonathan L. Kempner

former president,

Mortgage Bankers Association

$1,393,150

16

Daniel Glickman3

former

Motion Picture Association of America

$1,363,806

17

Jack N. Gerard4

former president,

American Chemistry Council

$1,346,467

18

James B. Bramson

former executive director

American Dental Association

$1,151,371

19

M. Cass Wheeler

former

American Heart Association

$1,142,569

20

Todd A. Stottlemyer

former president,

National Federation of Independent Business

$1,136,239

21

John A. Venator

former president,

CompTIA

$1,071,525

22

William D. Novelli

former

AARP

$1,005,380

23

Calvin Dooley5

former president,

Grocery Manufacturers Association

$871,458

24

John Sofranko

former executive director

American Institute of Chemical Engineers

$846,196

25

John A. Greco

former president,

Direct Marketing Association

$838,528

 

 

 

 

 

1Includes deferred compensation, benefits, and bonuses.
2Now president and of the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
3Now president of Refugees International.
4Now president and of the American Petroleum Institute.
5Now president and of the American Chemistry Council.

 

The Envy List

These CEOS Are Gone But Not Forgotten

514 Top-Paid Executives

 

Sourced from National Journal Group Inc.

The Watergate 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW Washington, DC 20037 

First posted Saturday, April 3, 2010

Low Corporate Taxes = Excessive CEO Salaries

It doesn't matter what a corporation pays in taxes as compared to GDP, or how it's compared to any other index of measure (to skew the numbers), it's what they actually pay to the U.S. Treasury after loopholes (aka "deductions") that matters most. And for the last 25 years corporations have actually paid historically low taxes.

While today some corporations may have paid the maximum rate of 35% (when it was over 50% in the 1950s), many others paid ZERO, with the average being only 18%.

The same can be said for their CEOs and other high-income earners. While although the top bracket is also almost historically low (at 35%, when it was once over 90%), what they actually pay is nearer to 15% because the majority of their income is earned through capital gains.

And because corporations have been paying a low effective corporate tax rate for decades, that didn't keep them from outsourcing jobs overseas for cheap labor, but rather, it did enable them to pay very excessive CEO salaries...who only mostly pay 15% in federal income taxes on their capital gains.

3 comments:

  1. Lobbyists Influence Elections

    A lobbyist can now tell any elected official: if you vote wrong, my company, labor union or interest group will spend unlimited sums explicitly advertising against your re-election. “We have got a million we can spend advertising for you or against you — whichever one you want,’ ” a lobbyist can tell lawmakers, said Lawrence M. Noble, a lawyer at Skadden Arps in Washington and former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22donate.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amanda Terkel, on a 21st Century Class War Profiteer:

    "Tom Donohue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, made a record $4.7 million last year, at a time when the rest of the country was seeing high unemployment and falling wages. Donohue's pay package included a $3.6 million bonus. His compensation in 2010 was $1 million higher than it was in 2009, when he was the sixth-highest paid lobbyist in the country. In March, Donohue made headlines for saying that the compensation of public workers is 'over bloated' and their pensions are 'out of control.' Donohue's compensation was revealed in the Chamber's 990 tax forms, which became publicly available this week. The Chamber itself also did quite well in 2010, collecting a significant number of million-dollar donations."

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/chamber-commerce-tom-donohue-salary-compensation_n_1097375.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. --- UPDATE ---

    "A new study finds that nearly 400 House staffers have moved from Capitol Hill to K Street in recent years, suggesting that recent efforts to curb the revolving door between lawmaking and lobbying are having limited effect. At least 378 of the 5,710 staffers working on the House side of the Hill at the end of 2009 have since left to become registered lobbyists, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation, a government accountability group. Corporate America was the biggest beneficiary of this exodus, Sunlight found. Fully 80 percent of the 378 House staffers-turned-lobbyists are working for corporations, industry groups, or Washington lobbying firms with mostly business clients. On the other hand, nonprofits advocacy groups are only represented by 37 of these recent ex-staffers, the report noted. Only one works directly for a union group, although on K Street some lobbyists have labor clients."

    http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/02/23/8230/lure-lobbying-still-strong-house-staffers

    ReplyDelete