For Ex-President Clinton, Talk Isn’t Cheap

Former President Clinton made more than $9.2 million delivering speeches last year while his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), received $2.85 million as an advance on her book, according to congressional financial disclosure reports released Friday.

The Clintons still owe more than $1.75 million in legal fees--even after paying $1.3 million last year--for their defense in White House investigations, the reports show.

The first detailed look at the ex-president’s financial opportunities show that he delivered about 60 speeches last year, traveling from Omaha to Trinidad and beyond. He fetched as much as $350,000 for a speech.

The fees are “almost certainly a record for a former president,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Clinton is extending to his own bank account the same skills that made him, during his presidency, one of the most prolific political fund-raisers ever. Naturally, as with most things Clintonian, controversy follows.

“He is cashing in at a level one would expect of former President Clinton,” said Gary Ruskin, director of the Congressional Accountability Project, a government watchdog.

Julia Payne, a spokeswoman for the former president, said: “He is the most requested speaker on the lecture circuit in the world.” She said that the ex-president could be booked every day for the next three or four years if he wanted.

The former president received $450,000 over three days from MIKI Corp., a Japanese company that manufactures vitamins and a nutritional supplement, and $400,000 for three speeches in three days in Scotland and England from the Jewish National Fund.

In nearly all cases, Clinton charged at least $125,000 per speech, with 12 at the price of $200,000 or above. The London School of Economics got the former president for a bargain: $28,100. Among others paying to hear Clinton were Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., Oracle Corp. and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Many of his speeches focus on globalization and “interdependence” of nations on one another, Payne said.

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Not the First to Cash In

Clinton is not the first ex-president to be well-paid on the lecture circuit. Former President Reagan received about $2 million for two 20-minute speeches in Japan in 1989. And former President Bush has collected around $4 million annually for making speeches.

An aide to Clinton said some of the ex-president’s paid appearances were in conjunction with fund-raisers for charitable causes.

In 2001, the Clintons paid in excess of $1.3 million for legal fees they and some former staff members incurred during investigations in the 1990s. That is separate from payments made by their Legal Expense Trust, which has paid $7.2 million, including $350,000 in 2001, according to a Clinton aide.

The former president’s speaking prowess is hardly a surprise. As a candidate, Clinton was famous for his tireless political fund-raising skills, often attending back-to-back banquets and attending at least 237 money-raising events during the 10 months leading to the 1996 election to raise more than $119 million.

“It’s just amazing,” Sabato added. “I’ve told students for years: The presidents should pay us. It’s a ticket to multimillionaire status.”

Sen. Clinton reported receiving a portion of her $8-million advance from Simon & Schuster for a book due out in 2003 on her years as first lady. A Clinton aide said the senator over the years has donated about $1 million to charity from sales of her book “It Takes a Village.”

Sen. Clinton also reported that she and her husband had assets of at least $1 million in a blind trust. She reported no income from the trust for last year because of losses in the stock markets, an aide said.

The filings show that more than one-third of California’s delegation is made up of millionaires. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her husband have so many investments that her form runs 124 pages. She and her husband, San Francisco financier Richard Blum, listed assets worth at least $34 million.

The forms also show that the Senate remains a millionaires’ club. And they show that in some cases, lawmakers suffered the same financial blows as ordinary investors in 2001, losing money on stock in Enron Corp. and Global Crossing, for example.

It is difficult to determine a lawmaker’s precise net worth from the forms since personal assets and liabilities are reported in only broad ranges, from $250,001 to $500,000, for instance. But the forms offer a glimpse into how lawmakers responsible for managing the taxpayers’ money manage their own.

Lawmakers are not required to list their salary, which is $150,000 this year. Nor do they have to specify the amount of their spouse’s salary. They do not have to include the value of personal residences unless they receive rental income from them.

Among the outside income reported by lawmakers was $3,500 in “winnings” that Sen. John B. Breaux (D-La.) said he earned from a tennis tournament. Income from activities other than salary and investments was limited to $21,765 in 2001.

A number of lawmakers received honoraria, such as fees for appearing on the TV show “Politically Incorrect,” but that money must be donated to charity.

Among potential presidential contenders, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) reported that his wife, Hadassah, received $328,000 for speeches, mostly at $16,000 per speech and mostly to Jewish groups. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) reported that his wife, Teresa Heinz, of the ketchup fortune, held stocks and bonds worth at least $88 million. Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) reported stocks and bonds in a blind trust worth $5 million to $25 million, plus other assets.

The reports show that some lawmakers made unlucky investments.

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Caught Up in Enron

Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) and her husband owned 200 shares of Enron stock worth about $16,000 in January 2001. At the end of the year, after Enron declared bankruptcy, their stock was worth $52, an aide said. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) reported that his wife, Wendy, a former Enron board member, is owed more than $500,000 in deferred compensation, but the form suggests she believes she has little chance of getting it.

Some politicians also considered energy stocks a risky investment politically.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who has accused energy companies of gouging consumers during the 2000-01 California energy crisis, dumped her stock in El Paso Energy Corp. and Mirant Corp., while placing her and her husband’s million-dollar-plus investments in a blind trust.

Congressional leaders, in contrast to some of their colleagues, were of relatively modest means. The eight-page report filed by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) listed assets ranging from $451,000 to about $1.3 million. Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) listed assets ranging from $126,000 to $540,000, with $60,000 to $115,000 in liabilities.

Among House leaders, Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) received more than 200 contributions totaling about $428,000 for his legal defense against a lawsuit filed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The suit was dropped. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) listed assets ranging from roughly $405,000 to about $1 million, with liabilities ranging from $215,000 to $500,000.

Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), who is retiring, listed a $20,000 teaching fee from Southern Methodist University. Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) listed assets of from roughly $134,000 to $610,000, with liabilities of $65,000 to $150,000.

In addition to California’s two senators, at least 16 of the state’s 52 representatives are millionaires. At the other end of the spectrum, Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) reported that he sold his Washington, D.C., condominium and listed no other income or assets.

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Times staff writer Michelle Munn contributed to this report.