I mentioned last week that John Edwards, despite attacking FoxNews and NewsCorp as enemies of the Democrats, had taken $500,000 in advance money and $300,000 in expense money to write a book.

Well guess where the $300,000 went --to Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan prince, and to the candidate's own daughter, Cate Edwards.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards recently defended taking a lucrative book contract from a publisher controlled by Rupert Murdoch -- whose News Corp. empire Edwards has sharply criticized -- by insisting that “every dime” of his $500,000 advance went to charity.

Left unmentioned by Edwards, however, was that MurdochÂ’s HarperCollins paid portions of a $300,000 expense budget for the book to EdwardsÂ’s daughter and to a senior political aide, Jonathan Prince.

The sums paid to Cate Edwards and Prince, who are listed as co-authors on the little-noticed 2006 coffee table book, "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives," have not been made public, but were confirmed by two sources with first-hand knowledge of the book deal.

Edwards demanded that all Democrat candidates return all money from Fox executive -- and even adopted a policy of not allowing any contribution from any Fox employee, no matter how low on the food chain. But until he demands that this senior campaign staffer and his own daughter divest themselves of the "tainted" cash, he is just one more liberal hypocrite.

Unless, of course, he is willing to fire Prince and disown Cate so that they can keep the filthy lucre obtained from the evil Rupert Murdoch -- but we know that isn't going to happen.

Oh, and for what it is worth, the whole book deal itself smells, given that Edwards received advance and expense payments that sales of his book never even remotely covered.

The book was sold to HarperCollins without an auction after that publishing house showed decidedly more interest than any other, a person familiar with the book's sale said.

The person said the Edwards campaign dealt with editor Joe Tessitore and HarperCollins President and CEO Jane Friedman (who didn't respond to calls and emails seeking comment), but never with Murodch.

The doubters, however, appear to have been validated by the book's sluggish sales. Nielsen Bookscan, which is thought to account for between 60% and 70% of domestic sales, reports that it has sold about 20,000 copies so far, and thus perhaps about 30,000 overall.

Publishing economics are notoriously murky, but with a cover price of $29.95, those sales might have earned back roughly $100,000 royalties, a fraction of the $500,000 advance, publishing industry sources said.

Indeed, the book's gross sales, at full price, would have roughly covered Edwards' advance and expenses -- and publishers usually net roughly half of that gross sum, and then pay authors a relatively small percentage of that net.

So Edwards, his daughter, and his staffer have received payments far in excess of the actual value of what Edwards' book -- and the contract for the book was arranged THROUGH HIS CAMPAIGN. Doesn't it therefore appear that Edwards used campaign dollars to feather the nests of a senior staffer and a family member, as well as himself? I wonder what campaign finance laws have to say on that sort of thing?

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Posted by: Greg at 12:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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