Aide Says Wright Told Him to Work on Book

In 1984, Rep. Jim Wright (D-Tex.) assigned a member of his congressional staff to help prepare a 117-page book that earned Wright about $55,000 in royalties and is now a focus of requests for an ethics investigation of the House Speaker.

Matthew Cossolotto, a full-time staff assistant to Wright from 1983 until early this year, said in an interview that he spent about 200 hours working on the book project during office hours, including typing proposed excerpts into a computer in Wright’s Longworth Building office. Cossolotto also said he flew to Ft. Worth and spent nearly three weeks doing final editing on the book with Wright’s publisher.

The House ethics manual says congressional compensation is only for “official duties” and states: “Employees may not be compensated from public funds to perform non-official, personal or campaign activities on behalf of the member.”

Cossolotto said that at the time he worked on the book his salary was about $27,000 and he received no additional compensation from Wright, his office or political campaign. For about two months, the book took up most of his time, he said.

Work Termed Proper

In a lengthy telephone interview Sunday, Wright said Cossolotto’s work on the book was proper. He said he felt the amount of time the aide spent on the project during office hours was “rather negligible” and added: “I’ll guarantee you the public gets full dollar value from everyone on my staff. . . .

“If he gave some time to try to help put together a book that would demonstrate to the public my philosophy, my basic beliefs, that wouldn’t be too far afield from the public business,” Wright said. He said the entire book project “was perfectly legitimate and constructive.”

The book, “Reflections of a Public Man,” a compilation of speech excerpts and anecdotes, was the first book published by Carlos Moore, a longtime Ft. Worth friend of Wright’s. Moore was paid more than $250,000 by the congressman’s campaign committee during the same 1985-86 period that Wright was earning royalties. The Washington Post reported last September that Wright said he received $3.25 from every copy sold of the $5.95 book. At 55%, the royalty is unusually high, roughly three times the rate received by best-selling authors.

The book arrangement is cited in two recent requests for a House ethics committee investigation of Wright. The citizens lobby Common Cause and 72 House Republicans have asked the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, which meets Thursday, to inquire whether the book royalties amounted to conversion of campaign funds. Wright has said he will cooperate fully with any investigation.

Royalties Exempted

Outside income for a member of Congress is limited to 30% of salary, but royalties from books and other printed material are exempt from the cap. Wright, who was already an author, requested the royalty exemption when House ethics rules were tightened in 1977. None of the books Wright has written for established publishing houses were as lucrative for him as the one Moore printed.

Wright said Sunday that he thinks it is unfair to “harp” on his 55% royalty arrangement when other public figures, such as David A. Stockman and Donald T. Regan, received $1 million or more in advance royalties. He said his main reason for publishing “Reflections” was not to make money but “to have a document to distill the essence of some of the things I had written so people could know me.”

Cossolotto said Wright assigned him to the book project at a staff meeting in mid-1984, when he announced his intention to publish another book. The former aide said the book, about 24,000 words, was compiled from previously published articles, books and speeches.

When first asked Sunday, Wright said no one from his office had helped to prepare the book. When asked specifically about Cossolotto, he said: “Matthew? He may have. Come to think of it, if anyone did it would have been Matthew.”