Speeches Pay Better Than Books, Senate Forms Show

The Iran-Contra book that Majority Leader George J. Mitchell wrote with a fellow senator brought him $22,500 in royalties last year, but he remained one of the Senate’s least wealthy members.

Mitchell’s annual financial disclosure form, among the 100 filed by all senators and released today, showed that making speeches was more lucrative than helping write a book. The Maine Democrat earned $42,500 in speeches, above the limit, but gave $8,000 of that to charity, which brought him into compliance.

His co-author on the book “Men of Zeal”--fellow Maine Sen. William S. Cohen, a Republican--reported that he received $25,763, and that included royalties from a spy novel he co-wrote years ago with former Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.).

The annual disclosure forms of income in 1988 showed that in many cases the chief providers of speaking fees and free trips were the groups interested in legislation before the committees on which a senator sits.

For instance, Wyche Fowler of Georgia, a Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, earned $28,000 for speeches and $16,000 came from agriculture, food, beverage and tobacco interests. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) received $10,000 from energy groups. He sits on the Energy Committee.

But speaking fees weren’t the only pluses for being a senator. Trips figure largely in many senators’ lives. Among many that Johnston listed was one to Alaska, paid for in part by Alaskan Oil & Gas and Conoco.

Both Oregon senators, Republicans Bob Packwood and Mark O. Hatfield, accepted free trips to the Far East with their wives, from different sources. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.C.) took four expense-paid trips with his wife that included Puerto Rico and the Kentucky Derby.

Albert Gore of Tennessee, a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, received a round trip for himself and his wife to Acapulco, Mexico, paid for by Lomas Financial Group of Dallas. Gore listed $26,800 in honorariums; $16,000 of that came from food, beverage and tobacco groups.