Unsold Author Lavelle Says She’s No Felon

WASHINGTON — Rita Lavelle, the former EPA Superfund director, defended her right today to sell her book describing the events that led to her conviction and prison term.

“I am not a felon,” Lavelle said, but a victim of a White House vendetta.

Lavelle conceded that she cannot find a publisher because of her six-month prison sentence for perjury and obstructing a congressional investigation. But she insisted “there’s interest in publishing it.”

“The question is that there’s a belief in this country right now that a felon should not make money on whatever (his or her) crime was,” Lavelle told the “CBS Morning News” program. “I certainly agree with that, but I argue I’m not a felon.

“Yes, I spent time in prison. For what? I think that’s the question that the American public has.

“Why were millions of their dollars spent in putting me away, prosecuting me. What was the charge? I attempted to corrupt Congress by lying about a day, the 20-day discrepancy? It’s incredible. It’s just fantastic that that would lead to criminal prosecution and putting me in jail.”

The book, Lavelle said, details the behind-the-scene “political positioning and shenanigans” during her tenure at the Environment Protection Agency. She also discusses what it was like “being a woman in the Reagan Administration, and finally how the environmental movement has been set back.”