Former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is resigning from the board of the Boeing Company–after disagreeing with the company’s plan to lobby the federal government for a hefty bailout.
Haley’s reasoning: “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 that is not the role of government,” Haley added.
Haley served on the board of Boeing since April 2019, but her relationship with the company goes back nearly a decade.
In 2013, while Haley was the Governor of South Carolina, she successfully convinced Boeing to build a huge new manufacturing facility in North Charleston, South Carolina, which employs nearly 7,000 workers.
Haley also served for two years as President Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations, from January 2017 to December 2018–a role that brought her huge attention for defending Trump’s foreign policy and American interest on the world’s largest diplomatic stage.
Boeing has requested $60 billion in bailouts from the federal government. Since the Coronavirus crisis began, air travel has come to a screeching halt with many of the world’s airlines teetering on the edge of insolvency.
But Boeing’s problems run even deeper: their top-selling Boeing 737 MAX jet has been grounded since March 2019, after two fatal crashes revealed major defects.
Boeing has since been criticized for hiding the nature of these defects: just yesterday, Southwest Airlines–the nation’s biggest operator of the 737 MAX–sued Boeing for “concealing” the problems on the pricey jet.