Unsold Author Lavelle Says She’s No Felon

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.”