Nikki Haley Resigns
Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and former governor of South Carolina, has resigned from the board of Boeing, opposing the giant aerospace company’s efforts to obtain $60 billion of federal assistance amid the 737 MAX and the coronavirus pandemic.
When former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley abruptly submitted her resignation in October 2018, she stayed mum about her next move, only assuring that she would not challenge President Trump in 2020 primaries for the Republican nomination. However, a few months after her resignation, Haley, with White House and South Carolina influence, was tapped for a seat on Boeing’s board of directors. Haley’s new assignment earned her a minimum annual compensation of $315,000 as of 2017. In November 2019, she also published her memoir.
Boeing is a major employer in South Carolina, with a plant that manufactures the company’s 787 jetliners
Now, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Haley abruptly resigned from the Boeing board on March 16, after less than a year. She joined the board last April.
“Ambassador Haley informed the Company that, as a matter of philosophical principle, she does not believe that the Company should seek support from the Federal Government, and therefore decided to resign from the Board.”
In her letter of resignation, Haley wrote, “As we encounter the Covid-19 crisis, Boeing, along with many other companies, face another major set of challenges. I want to be part of helping the company as it pushes through it. However, the board and executive team are going in a direction I cannot support.
“While I know cash is tight, that is equally true for numerous other industries and for millions of small businesses. I cannot support a move to lean on the federal government for a stimulus or bailout that prioritizes our company over others and relies on taxpayers to guarantee our financial position. I have long held strong convictions that this is not the role of government.”
Widely viewed as a future potential GOP presidential candidate, Haley’s decision could be a way to insulate herself from future charges that she supported a taxpayer-funded bailout of a private company.
Boeing is seeking assistance to the tune of $60 billion as part of a package of relief for the aerospace industry, which has been hard hit by a sharp drop in travel due to the coronavirus crisis. Boeing has also been struggling as a result of fatal crashes involving two of its 737 Max passenger jets.
President Trump said this week that he supports federal assistance for the company.