First lady and New York Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to accept a US$8 million advance for a memoir about her eight scandal-fraught and politically tangled years in the White House, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
The advance from publisher Simon & Schuster is just shy of the record US$8.5 million Pope John Paul II got in 1994 for his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, the Post reported.
Citing a source close to Clinton, the report said her book would include "a dignified discussion" of her marriage and her husband's impeachment. Clinton did not submit a written proposal for her memoir, opting instead to make her pitch in person, the Post said.
Simon & Schuster beat out Talk/Miramax and Penguin Putnam in a bidding war for the Clinton memoir, according to the Post. Simon & Schuster has published three other books by Clinton, It Takes a Village, Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids Letters to the First Pets, and the recently released An invitation to the White House. Clinton's White House memoir is expected to be published in 2003.
Clinton is making a transition from first lady to US Senator, having been elected New York's junior senator last month. She is the first wife of a seated president ever to run for or win public office.
"Hillary has been privileged to live an extraordinary eight years in the White House and, as she's closing out one chapter in her life and beginning another, she just wants to share her experiences," her spokesman, Howard Wolfson said Thursday.
She intends to donate a portion of the money from any deal for her memoirs to charity, he added. All of Clinton's profits from her previous White House books went to charity.
Clinton is not covered under Senate ethics rules until Jan. 3 when she takes office and under those rules, book advances are not limited by restrictions on outside income.
However, the sheer size of her book contract sparked debate about the propriety of the deal.
Aides to Senate Republican leaders told the Post Friday there has been no talk among Republican senators about Clinton' book contract and that it was unlikely they would publicly comment about a new member.
However, the New York Daily News reported that Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, had suggested that it be reviewed by the Senate Ethics Committee.
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