Ethics Committee Clears Sen. Clinton on Book Deal

The Senate Ethics Committee has cleared New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of any violations of Senate rules in connection with her $8-million book deal with a New York publishing house.

Committee counsel Victor Baird said the book contract did not violate Senate rules allowing terms of payment that fall within “usual and customary” business patterns.

The contract “falls within the normal business arrangements of the publisher and its terms appear to be usual and customary in the publishing trade,” Baird said in a letter, dated Tuesday, to Gary Ruskin of the Congressional Accountability Project, who had questioned the deal.

Clinton’s book about her White House years as first lady attracted huge publishing interest and an $8-million advance, the second largest ever for a nonfiction book and the largest for an elected official.

“I am pleased that the Senate Ethics Committee has found my agreement with Simon & Shuster fully complies with the Senate’s ethics rules,” Clinton said in a statement.

The publisher is owned by Viacom, a huge conglomerate with frequent interests before Congress and holdings that also include CBS and UPN television networks, Paramount movie studio, Blockbuster video stores and the MTV and VH-1 cable channels.

The size of the advance and the possibility of legislative conflicts of interest sparked immediate criticism of the deal from public interest groups.

It also evoked Republicans’ memories of the Democratic fury at a large publishing advance given former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995. Gingrich eventually declined the $4.5-million deal with publisher Rupert Murdoch.

Clinton’s attorney, Robert Barnett, said the senator has not received the full $8-million payment. So far, he said, she has been paid one-third of that amount, with the rest to be paid over the course of several years.

He said Clinton submitted the contract to the Ethics Committee for review on Jan. 11.