Clintons lead way with $8m in royalties and fees

Financial Times ^ | 6/15/06 | FT Staff

[Oshkalaboomboom]

Bill and Hillary Clinton earned more than $8m (€6.4m, £4.4m) last year, most of it from speeches the former president gave around the world, according to congressional disclosure forms released on Wednesday. Mr Clinton earned $7.5m for 43 speeches in 15 countries, for which he was paid between $125,000 and $350,000 each.

Presidential hopeful Mrs Clinton, on top of her $162,100 salary as senator for New York, earned $872,891 in royalties from her memoirs, Living History. The Clintons reported assets of between $10m and $50m held in bank accounts and a blind trust.

But the Clintons were not alone. In a nation where the average annual household earnings are $44,473, the disclosure forms that must be filed by every member of Congress once again underscored the wealth of many of the US's elected representatives.

Senator Bill Frist, Senate Republican leader and another aspiring presidential candidate, earned more than $5m from one of his five blind trusts and more than $1m from another.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, listed her ownership with her husband of a vineyard in

St Helena, the heart of California's Napa wine country, which is valued at between $5m and $25m. Dennis Hastert, the Illinois-born House Republican leader, listed shares in farms in his home state and in Wisconsin valued at up to $5m.

The largest disclosure by far was that of 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry, the wealthy Democratic senator who is also married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, the billionaire heiress of the Heinz catsup fortune. The inch-thick document includes investments in hundreds of companies and tax-free municipal funds.

Book royalties also proved surprisingly lucrative for several members of Congress.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

It doesn't report how much the Clintons gave back to the community or how much they received in tax breaks for underwear donations.

[RexBeach]

"Hey, man, I never touched that chick! 'Mr. Winkie' did!"

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

[ncountylee]

Any report on the bent one's score card?

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Every time I hear these charlatans use the term "Public Service" to describe their life's work, I cringe. The two of them didn't have the proverbial "pot to p*ss in" in private life. Then, Bill becomes President, (and, after using the sink in the Oval Office to do even worse than p*ss in), he and that vulture he's married to now have incomes worthy of rock stars or MVP third basemen.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Any report on the bent one's score card?

3 inches, slight dogleg to the left.

[al baby]

Any report on the bent one's score card?
3 inches, slight dogleg to the left


Ok now what about Bill?

[Oztrich Boy]

Presidential hopeful Mrs Clinton, on top of her $162,100 salary as senator for New York, earned $872,891 in royalties from her memoirs

All things considered, her earning capacity hasn't risen all that much since she made $100K in a couple of months 25 years ago, buying and sellng imaginary cows.