CEOs Of Nonprofit Interest Groups Took Home Massive Salaries In 2010

WASHINGTON -- The chief executives of major companies are frequently blasted for their massive salaries, but new reports show that the heads of the nation's largest nonprofit interest groups are earning similar paychecks.

The Huffington Post first reported last month that Tom Donohue, the CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, earned $4.7 million in 2010. But according to an analysis published by Politico on Tuesday, Donohue's salary still lags behind the pay earned by the heads of two other major lobbying groups.

Billy Tauzin, a former Republican congressman from Louisiana, served as the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America for the first half of 2010. He topped Politico's list by earning $11.6 million in that short period, a significant bump over the $4.6 million he earned in the same job in 2009.

Tauzin was followed by American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard, who made $6.4 million in 2010, coming in just ahead of Donohue. In all, none of the 10 highest earners among nonprofit CEOs made less than one million dollars that year.

While not earning as much as their colleagues who represent industry, many well-known political figures also pulled in sizeable paychecks. Influential conservative Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, earned a small pay increase to $225,000 in 2010. John Podesta, the former Clinton chief of staff and recently retired head of the Center for American Progress, made $328,500.

Ivan Adler, a headhunter at executive search firm McCormick Group, told Politico that the salaries defy the logic of the current tough economy. "This is a parallel universe to the rest of the country," he said. "We don't make anything in Washington; we manufacture nothing but ideas, so a recession here doesn't affect things as much as it does in the real world."

Comments

[SeekingClarity]

04:21 AM on 12/21/2011

"This is a parallel universe to the rest of the country," he said. "We don't make anything in Washington; we manufacture nothing but ideas, so a recession here doesn't affect things as much as it does in the real world."

"Ideas" is a pretty charitable euphemism for what they do. Ideas are not so easy to sell, even some good ones.

Most of what they make in DC is propaganda and influence, and there is never a down market for that.

[pinetrale]

12:45 AM on 12/21/2011

Yes nonprofits are just another book cooking scheme and wealth transfer engine in many cases and the ceo's are way over-paid, but big surprise. Overpaid ceo's who take peoples donations to live large are just the worst. Take a 150,000 salary, and true basic expenses, a normal retirement program, and be happy and then do a bang up job for them. The social connections alone will be worth untold wealth.

[Shomali]

04:24 PM on 12/20/2011

Billy Tauzin, used to be a democrat through 1994, and was re-elected as a democrat in 1994, the year the Republican took over congress. He changed parties after election but he was granted a leadership position in the Republican Party. He never had an opposition from 1980 while he was a Democrat or when he changed to Republican. While he was in congress he was the go to man for major legislations recruited by major industries. He passed the medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 at midnight that was written by Pharma in 2003 and in 2004 he went to work for them as head of Pharma (Pharmaceutical lobby) for an annual salary of $2.5 million. In 2009 he negotiated a sweetheart deal for Pharma as part of the Health Care Act which by conservative estimates would make tens of billions of dollars for drug companies. In a third world country, a person like him would be call corrupt and corrupting. But as long as you know the law, you can go around them so that they don't violate any statues, you are not considered corrupt or corrupting.