Outgoing Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley plans to join the paid speaking circuit shortly after leaving office next week, making appearances at business conventions and other gatherings across the country.
“I’m going to be giving some talks around the country for the next couple of months,” O’Malley said in an interview. He characterized the decision as part of an effort to make “my family as secure as I can for the next few months as we weigh a big decision.”
O’Malley has said he will decide sometime this spring whether to launch a 2016 presidential bid that would likely pit him against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
While speaking appearances could help broaden O’Malley’s exposure, advisers said part of his motivation is the income. The outgoing governor said he is also “open to teaching at a college or university during the first part of this year. We’ll see what comes with that.”
O’Malley, a father of four, has spent the past 15 years in public office, serving as mayor of Baltimore for seven years before he becoming governor in 2007. His wife is a district court judge in Baltimore.
O’Malley said he has signed up with the Washington Speakers Bureau, a service that connects public figures with a wide variety of audiences for fees that often range into the tens of thousands of dollars. Aides would not disclose what O’Malley is expecting to make, and a representative of the speakers bureau did not return phone calls Wednesday.
Other former governors advertised on the Web site include former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R), who is gearing up for a 2016 presidential bid; former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R), who was her party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012; former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman (R), who is also a former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge (R), who is also a former homeland security secretary.
Hillary Clinton has been very active on the paid speaking circuit. Her appearances typically command fees of $200,000 or more.