Problems With a Globe-Trotting Father

Since leaving the White House in 1993, George Bush has sought to maintain his ideal of a dignified retirement from the nation’s highest office. He has turned down offers to sit on corporate boards, steered clear of political wrangling and largely stayed out of the public eye.

But Bush sometimes cuts a different figure when it comes to his international dealings. Overseas, he has collected six-figure speaking fees, occasionally weighed in with foreign governments for private companies and sometimes sparked controversy.

In Japan, the former president spoke to 50,000 disciples of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in a stadium rally--drawing protests from Christian leaders and other critics of Moon’s Unification Church.

In Argentina, he wrote then-President Carlos Menem on behalf of Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn, which helped touch off a parliamentary inquiry about Bush’s possible influence in the country’s internal affairs.

In Indonesia, he jumped into a hot dispute over gold mining rights, contacting then-President Suharto to praise a Canadian company that had retained the former president as an advisor.

And in Kuwait, the Arab oil state freed from Iraqi occupation in the Persian Gulf War, the former president interceded with the emir’s government on behalf of a U.S. oil company.

Makes $4 Million a Year on Circuit

No other former president has created such an international profile. And no other former president has made so much money on the global lecture circuit in such a short time--about $4 million a year in speaking fees. For a single engagement, he received stock that rose in value to more than $13 million at one point.

Normally, such good fortune would be of only passing interest. But George Herbert Walker Bush may be on the verge of an unusual, sensitive new role: father of the next U.S. president. And if Bush’s son Texas Gov. George W. Bush wins the White House in November, he could face the ticklish challenge of reining in his dad’s far-flung activities.

Potential conflicts of interest loom if the son occupies the Oval Office. Would U.S. and foreign companies seek to curry favor by steering business to the father’s associates? Would any future overseas flaps involving the former president escalate into diplomatic incidents?

Both Bushes, father and son, said that there is no cause for concern.

“I will expect the highest ethical standards of the members of my family,” the governor said through a spokesman.

The 75-year-old former president, when asked whether his son’s election would influence his future global pursuits, said through a spokesman: “I am sure that it would.” But he declined to say how.

Another aide, chief of staff Jean Becker, said: “President Bush understands better than anyone the absolute necessity of avoiding even the appearance of impropriety, especially when it comes to a president’s family and friends. President Bush would never do or say anything that would interfere in any way with, or raise questions about, how George W. Bush is conducting himself as president.”

But a source close to the former chief executive acknowledged “increased sensitivity to the groups that President Bush now speaks to because of his sons in public life”: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as well as George W. Bush.

Nevertheless, one expert on the post-presidency is troubled by some of Bush’s current activities.

Since leaving the White House, the elder Bush has projected a “public persona [as] the happy World War II veteran who is letting the American people see him jumping out of airplanes and being the good family man,” said Douglas Brinkley, a historian at the University of New Orleans. “And the covert persona is going around giving talks with people like Rev. Moon and representing American corporate interests in foreign countries.”

Brinkley, who wrote a book about Jimmy Carter’s post-presidency, added: “If his son becomes president, he needs to distance himself from all corporations and from going abroad and taking speaker fees.”

The matter of how the ex-president’s global profile may affect George W. Bush is especially sensitive because, if the Texas governor is elected, he is expected to lean on his father--as well as his father’s former White House aides--for guidance on international affairs. George W. Bush says that, while his father would have no formal role in his administration, “of course, I will seek his advice.”

Moreover, during a presidential campaign, many foreign powers look for opportunities to ingratiate themselves with a potential incoming administration. And when a former president visits a foreign country, he attracts attention.

On his frequent journeys to Beijing, Bush usually meets with President Jiang Zemin. His expenses often are paid by U.S. companies pursuing business in China.

A 1998 mission to China was sponsored in part by the Chubb Group of Insurance Cos., which has been seeking an insurance license from the Beijing government. Bush discussed the Asian financial crisis with an American business group, one of six talks for Chubb worldwide.

“If you’re unknown in China and trying to get known and you’re trying to get a license there, having a former president at a reception might get people to come who might not come otherwise,” said Mark Greenberg, Chubb senior vice president. “We get to rub shoulders with them and get to know them better.”

It is unclear to what extent Bush’s overseas involvements could affect his son’s presidential duties because the former president is not required to disclose any information about his activities or income. His office declined requests for a list of speaking fees, appearances and business sponsors.

There are no federal regulations that address how former presidents earn a living. They are entitled to a pension of $157,000 a year, round-the-clock Secret Service protection, office space and a $96,000 annual allowance for personal staff. And they enjoy full use of U.S. embassies abroad. The public cost for each former president is about $4 million a year, Brinkley said.

Bush has rejected one perk available to former GOP presidents--$150,000 a year from the Republican National Committee for administrative expenses. “He just simply didn’t think it was necessary,” Becker said.

Bush and Gerald R. Ford have been particularly aggressive among recent ex-presidents in pursuing financial opportunities. Ford joined the board of directors of at least eight firms but has scaled back to three. He has been a paid consultant and has given speeches as well.

Former President Reagan created a stir in 1989 when he received $2 million from a Japanese firm for delivering two speeches in Tokyo. But even before the 1994 announcement of his Alzheimer’s disease, Reagan had been less active than Bush as a paid speaker. Carter’s international prominence is based largely on his peacemaker role in various conflicts.

Bush, whose net worth was about $3.7 million while he was president, makes about 50 speeches a year. He serves as an orator-for-hire for about 40 companies, trade associations and universities annually--a pace he has kept up since 1993, said Gian-Carlo Peressutti, Bush’s spokesman. The number of paid trips abroad varies each year, ranging from four to eight. Sometimes he visits more than one country on a single journey.

For his standard speech--a behind-the-scenes look at his presidency and his view of current events--Bush commands about $80,000 for domestic talks and about $100,000 plus expenses for foreign engagements.

He Raises Big Sums for Charity

Instead of taking cash for a 1998 speech in Tokyo, Bush accepted stock in Global Crossing Ltd., a technology start-up company. His holdings were worth about $13.4 million in November when he filed papers to sell some shares.

Bush also raises large sums for charity and is active with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the Points of Light Foundation and other causes.

After losing to Bill Clinton in 1992, Bush returned to Houston to carve out his role as a retired president. He decided that he would neither serve as a corporate director nor advocate specific positions for any interest group.

“He did not want to be put in a position of supporting or lobbying for one American company over another,” Becker said. “He also did not feel it was an appropriate use of his past government positions or influence.”

But Bush has bowed to entreaties from U.S. companies and friends to weigh in on their behalf with foreign officials.

In 1998, he made “an exception to his black-and-white rule about lobbying for a company,” Becker said, when he sent a letter to the Kuwaiti oil minister at the request of the Chevron Corp., which was competing for business there. Bush acted because Chevron was the only U.S. company bidding and specified in his note that he had no stake in the deal, she said.

And Bush has twice taken a position as a corporate advisor. Becker said that this role differs from a corporate director because Bush does not participate in decision-making.

One firm he advises, the Carlyle Group, is a Washington-based investment company that acquires and manages defense, aerospace and other corporations worldwide. Frank C. Carlucci, Reagan’s Defense secretary, is Carlyle’s chairman, and James A. Baker III, Bush’s secretary of State, is a senior counselor.

Although Carlyle touts Bush’s position on its Web site, its executives did not return calls about his capacity as senior advisor of Carlyle’s Asia Advisory Board.

Last year, Bush visited South Korea with Carlyle associates who were seeking to purchase three South Korean firms. Bush met with government officials, including then-Prime Minister Kim Jong Pil, and joined Carlyle members in greeting the South Korean companies. Becker said that Carlyle pays Bush only to give talks to company advisory boards, clients and prospective clients. His meetings with heads of state “are personal in nature and not official in any way,” Becker said. They are strictly “social calls” that do not include discussions of business deals, she said.

Carlyle also co-sponsored a 1998 Bush mission to China, one of his numerous trips to that country. As a post-presidential visitor, he has expressed views on sensitive policy issues, advocating permanent normal trade with Beijing and recognition for China’s progress on human rights.

Such a continued role in China for the elder Bush could complicate dealings between a second Bush administration and Beijing. Relations with China have proved challenging for recent U.S. presidents, who have sought to balance a desire to increase trade and foster democracy with concerns over human rights.

In 1995, Bush was recruited by another high-powered friend, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, to become a senior advisor to the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold Co., a Toronto-based mining firm. Bush was paid about $15,000 a year plus travel expenses to provide advice at four meetings in four years, Barrick spokesman Vince Borg said.

Bush helped in a Barrick campaign to gain approval to mine gold in Indonesia from what was believed to be the world’s largest deposit. He wrote in 1996 to President Suharto, with whom he had a long-standing relationship, to laud the company:

“I simply want to take the liberty of telling you how impressed I am with Barrick, its visionary leadership, technological achievements and great financial strength.”

At the time, Bre-X Minerals Ltd. of Calgary had exploration rights. But, soon after Bush’s letter, the Indonesian government decreed that Bre-X make Barrick a partner--and give it three-quarters of Bre-X’s revenue rights.

Angry Bre-X shareholders mounted a telephone blitz with investment markets and the press that led Suharto to approve a different joint venture without Barrick. Shortly thereafter, the gold deposit was exposed as a monumental fraud. Bush resigned from Barrick last year.

No president can be expected to completely control the behavior of family members. Indeed, history is replete with examples of first family relatives who have caused embarrassment.

Carter’s brother, Billy, created a furor over his dealings with the terrorist regime in Libya. Richard Nixon deployed a telephone tap to keep tabs on the potentially dubious ventures of younger brother Donald.

The senior Bush knows the feeling. His son Neil was a paid director in a Denver savings and loan that failed, costing taxpayers $1 billion. And President Bush’s brother, Prescott, helped arrange U.S. investment deals for a Tokyo company that, according to Japanese police, was controlled by an underworld kingpin.

The prospective Bush father-son presidential scenario is virtually without precedent in U.S. history. Only John Adams, the second president, had a son who became the nation’s chief executive. But Adams was out of office 24 years when John Quincy Adams took office in 1825, and he died a little more than a year into his son’s administration.

In contrast, only eight years would separate the Bush administrations if Gov. Bush is elected in the fall. And the elder Bush, who served as vice president, CIA director, United Nations ambassador and envoy to China, shows no signs of easing his foreign travels.

Some of the former president’s excursions drew notice because of his association with certain individuals and organizations.

The former president gave speeches throughout Japan in 1996 for the Women’s Federation for World Peace, which is led by Moon’s wife. The highlight was Bush’s appearance at the Tokyo Dome rally, which included a laser show and giant video screens. Bush’s speech on family values was followed by Moon’s wife praising her husband and his church.

The United Church of Christ and a group of 300 lawyers suing Moon’s church urged Bush to skip the event. The groups said that Bush’s participation would bolster the credibility of Moon’s church.

Detractors have criticized the messianic Moon and his recruiting and fund-raising tactics, likening his church to a cult. He also spent a year in a U.S. federal prison in 1982 for tax evasion and has publicly described America as “Satan’s harvest.” A Bush spokesman said that the nonprofit federation headed by Moon’s wife is separate from the church. Bush’ Japan tour was part of a series of speeches for the federation--some in the U.S.--for which he was paid several million dollars.

Bush made another appearance for a Moon-related organization that prompted headlines in Argentina. He was the main attraction at a black-tie dinner in Buenos Aires on Nov. 23, 1996, to launch Tiempos del Mundo, a Spanish-language daily newspaper owned by Moon.

As the reverend beamed nearby, Bush saluted him for starting the Argentine paper as well as Moon’s conservative Washington Times. A Unification Church bulletin said afterward: “Bush’s presence as keynote speaker gave the event invaluable prestige.”

Bush’s friend, then-Argentine President Menem, was scheduled to attend the dinner but backed out after his secretary for religious affairs called the Unification Church “blasphemous and anti-Christian.”

Bush was paid by Moon’s Washington Times Foundation. Peressutti, the Bush spokesman, said that the former president has not spoken to a Moon-connected group since 1996.

Bush’s closeness to Menem has led to considerable--and sometimes erroneous--speculation in the Argentine press. First elected in 1989, Menem, who served 10 years, is credited with modernizing and bringing stability to Argentina’s economy but has been tainted by allegations of corruption against members of his inner circle and former Cabinet aides.

Since leaving the White House, Bush has met with Menem during five trips to Argentina and three Menem visits to the United States.

In 1994, Bush traveled to Buenos Aires twice, delivering paid speeches to banker and pharmaceutical groups. That April, Bush also did a favor for gambling mogul Wynn, who often hosts the former president at his exclusive Las Vegas home and golf course.

Menem had issued a decree allowing construction of a casino in Buenos Aires. Wynn’s Mirage Resorts Co. wanted to build it. At Wynn’s request, Bush wrote Menem that Wynn was favorably known to him while stating that he had no financial interest in the deal, Peressutti said. Wynn thought the note would “establish his credentials,” said Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman.

After local officials objected to the Argentine federal government’s making such decisions, Menem withdrew his approval and Wynn’s casino project died.

Nevertheless, after Argentine news accounts of Bush’s visits and alleged Bush family meddling in government decisions, seven members of the country’s Chamber of Deputies sent extensive written questions to Menem about his relationship with the Bush family.

The lawmakers, including several prominent opposition figures, asked whether Bush went to bat for Mirage. They also inquired about Neil Bush, whose company was awarded oil exploitation rights by the Argentine government in 1987. They never got a reply.

But Menem’s former ambassador to the United States said in an interview that continuing suspicions in the Argentine press about Bush family activities in Argentina are unfounded.

Before Menem left office in December, his government provided $200,000 in seed money for a new Argentine Studies Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Menem spoke there in March and had lunch with George W. Bush at the Texas Governor’s Mansion.

Menem has expressed a desire to seek Argentina’s presidency again in 2003. His ties to former President Bush could prove sensitive if his son wins the White House.

Experts say that candidate Bush and his father should publicly outline what steps they would take to avoid any potential complications.

“It’s not too soon . . . to think about it,” said Charles O. Jones, a University of Wisconsin political scientist. “There would have to be tremendous caution on the ex-president’s part in doing what he’s been doing.”

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Times staff writers Sebastian Rotella in Buenos Aires and William C. Rempel in Los Angeles, and researchers John Beckham in Chicago and Lianne Hart in Houston contributed to this story.