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Rex Johnson, Former president Hawaii Tourism Authority to Get $290,000!

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:November 5, 2008

Former president Rex Johnson is getting more than $290,000 along with unused vacation pay for resigning as president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the state agency that promotes tourism to Hawaii.

The HTA’s board of directors announced Tuesday that Johnson would receive payment representing the balance of an amended base salary under his employment agreement. The board said it negotiated the resignation payment with Johnson as expeditiously as possible in order to focus on more significant tourism issues.

Johnson resigned Oct. 8 after coming under fire for forwarding sexist, racist and pornographic material on his office e-mail account, which led to HTA reprimanding him by docking his salary by $40,000 to $200,000.

“The board considered the alternative of potential litigation, associated legal fees and costs as well as the continued distraction to the state, industry and HTA,” said Kelvin Bloom, HTA chairman. “On the balance, the board believed this was a reasonable compromise.”

Bloom said $208,000 equals the salary Johnson would have received through August if he had been fired without cause. The rest of the payment is for his unused vacation time.

A phone number listed for Johnson was busy Tuesday. In a statement he issued when he resigned, Johnson thanked the community, staff, and friends and said he intended to continue supporting Hawaii tourism.

Johnson was one of the highest paid and most powerful state employees with a four-year contract worth $240,000 annually — more than double the salary of Gov. Linda Lingle.

His troubles began after a state audit found 23 pornographic e-mails on his government computer. That led the board to reprimand Johnson, cut his salary to $200,000, and shrink the term of his contract to one year from four years.

Then, about a month later, it became known Johnson had also received and forwarded e-mails with racist and sexist jokes from his government computer. One e-mail from March 22 referred to Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with derogatory words.

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