So I’ve got the inside info on what’s taking so long for Bob Kerrey to take the million-dollar-a-year job to become the new chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America.
It turns out he’s not dying to come to work so fast.
TheWrap broke the story almost two months ago that the studio moguls had tapped the former Democratic presidential candidate to replace Dan Glickman who replaced Jack Valenti, as the head of the movie industry’s lobby in Washington DC.
At the time, we reported that there was no back-up candidate, and that all the moguls agreed on the charismatic former senator – the job was “his to lose.”
Bob Pisano has been acting as interim chairman since January, and the studio chiefs are eager to have the permanent chairman take over as soon as possible.
None of them believe that it is good to be without a strong Washington presence with a still-weak domestic economy.
It hasn’t happened yet. Kerrey’s contract as the president of the New School is not up until June 2011, and the former Nebraska Senator is apparently in no hurry to move to Washington.
And despite a very contentious relationship with New School faculty and students, Kerrey is still well liked by his board of directors. Furthermore, the job is pretty damn cushy: in addition to a generous salary Kerrey gets use of a swanky brownstone on 11th Street.
Additionally, Kerrey has told close friends that he has interest from several other organizations that want him to be a lobbyist, particularly big pharma, which are seeking to benefit from Kerrey his longstanding Washington ties.
One studio chief confirmed this weekend that Kerrey “has the offer,” and that the search for a candidate has stopped. But, this mogul added, “none of us wants to wait a year for him to take it.”
Last week Kerrey gave an interview to Don Imus in which he hinted that he was close to taking the job.
And that is apparently what is going to happen. “I think he’s taking it,” the mogul confirmed.
The only question is: When?