For those who may have forgotten or if the eighties were before your time, there was a Speaker of the U.S. House named Jim Wright, a Texas Democrat who was forced to resign his speakership—and Congress—over a questionable book deal that allowed him to circumvent federal campaign finance laws. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/12/us/behind-jim-wright-s-book-his-friends.html?pagewanted=2
That was in 1988. Six years later, in 1994, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, announced he would not accept a $4.5 million book advance following sharp criticism of his cashing in on Republicans’ victories in the November elections. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/31/us/gingrich-gives-up-4-million-advance-on-his-book-deal.html
Four years later, he resigned. http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,15676,00.html
And then you have Bobby Jindal’s Super Pac, Believe Again. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/01/22/jindal-supporters-file-paperwork-for-super-pac-believe-again/
Previously known as Stand Up to Washington, the Super PAC was established in January 2015 to help fund his all but imaginary presidential campaign. Of course, federal campaign finance laws prohibit his conversion of Super PAC money for personal use.
Later that same year, he published his second ghostwritten book, American Will. Though marked down to $21 by Amazon.com, the list price for the book was $28.
Jindal, who, in his continuing efforts to make himself relevant, claims to have personally built the Louisiana House of Ethics brick by brick, then was said to have done something that smacks of Jim Wright and New Gingrich and most certainly not something expected of the architect of Louisiana’s “Gold Standards of Ethics.”
Sources have told LouisianaVoice that Jindal “sold” 5,000 of his books to Believe Again. At first blush, it would appear that deal was done so that he could give books to supporters—although an estimate of 5,000 supporters (nationwide, much less in Louisiana) might have been a tad on the high side.
Left unsaid was that by selling the books to Believe Again, approximately $140,000 was transferred from the Super Pac to Jindal’s personal bank account—money he otherwise would not be allowed to convert to his own use.
And presto! He’s $140,000 richer.
And he probably still has most of those 5,000 books gathering dust in a closet somewhere.
And he’s still laying claim in speeches and op-eds to raising governmental ethics to new heights in Louisiana.
Perhaps this title and book cover would have been more appropriate:
Louisiana Voice 