Carter Wouldn’t Take $2 Million--or Rap Reagan

CORONADO, Calif. â€”  Former President Jimmy Carter says he wouldn’t accept a $2-million appearance fee like the one his successor, Ronald Reagan, received during his recent trip to Japan.

“I’ve never been offered that much,� Carter joked Tuesday night before speaking to San Diego County business leaders about Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group that helps low-income families worldwide build their own homes.

Carter refused, however, to criticize Reagan directly for reportedly accepting $2 million in speaking fees during his trip to Japan, including $1 million for a single speech to the Fujisankei Communications Group last week in Tokyo.

“I’ve never criticized what Presidents Nixon, Ford or Reagan do with their post-White House years,� he said when asked about Reagan’s fees. “But that’s not what I want out of life. We give money, we don’t take it.�

Carter, who has devoted much of his time since leaving the White House nearly nine years ago to the Habitat organization, did criticize the scandal-plagued government housing programs of the Reagan Administration.

“It was absolutely disgusting to see a whole bunch of rich friends of the President stealing millions of dollars from a program that had already been robbed of 85% of its resources,� Carter said.

Congress is looking into what happened to billions of taxpayer dollars intended to help shelter the nation’s poor through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.