On Friday, Gov. Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet, following two days of campaigning in frigid Wisconsin, will head south for a weekend in the warm, tax-friendly climate of the Cayman Islands. The Huckabees are noted lovers of the outdoors (Janet’s a crack shot) but they won’t be doing much scuba diving there.
The governor is scheduled to make a paid speech at the Young Caymanian Leadership Awards banquet, where he was keynote speaker in 2000. The money (campaign aides declined to say how much) won’t go to his presidential campaign but into his pockets. Since he left the governor’s office in Little Rock a year ago, Huckabee’s primary source of income has been paid speaking engagements, making one or two every few months. “This is his job,” campaign manager Chip Saltsman told reporters on the plane from Little Rock to Wisconsin on Wednesday. “It’s his livelihood.”
The last paid speech Huckabee gave was at a church in San Antonio, Texas, where the money he earned was funneled back to his church in Little Rock. Saltsman warned against drawing any conclusions about a candidate leaving the country in the middle of the campaign trail to go make a paid speech; the Cayman’s speech “has been on the books for months,” he said.
At a press conference following an event in Waukesha, Wis., Wednesday evening, Huckabee pointed out that as the only presidential candidate not getting a regular government paycheck, and someone who’s not personally wealthy, he faces far more financial constraints than the other candidates. “Especially with McCain-Feingold,” he said, referring to the campaign-financing law. Asked if it bothers him that he has to take off in the middle of an election cycle to go raise money so he can pay his personal bills, Huckabee replied, “No, it bothers me more that I have to pay for my opponents’ bills. As a taxpayer, I’m subsidizing my opponents’ campaigns.” He quickly dispelled any ideas that he might be taking advantage of the Caymans friendly tax rates. “I’m not parking my money in the Caymans. My money is coming back to the U.S. where it’ll be taxed at 40 percent.”
As part of his Fair Tax pitch, throughout his campaign Huckabee has railed against the “$12 trillion” he says is parked in offshore tax havens and is such a burden on the American economy. A tax on consumption and not income, he argues, would send much of that money back home. Though never asked directly, his point seems to be that we need to end the flow of dollars into the Caymans and other offshore financial centers. Does that count as a contradiction then with his upcoming trip? It does not, he said last night before quickly ending the press conference and walking away with Saltsman from the podium, a very un-Huckabee move, as he’s usually more than willing to take extra questions these days. Maybe he had to go buy some sunscreen.
