By Charles Babington and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 15, 2006

Who knew that members of Congress were such a literary bunch?

More than a dozen lawmakers reaped book royalties ranging to millions of dollars last year, according to their annual financial disclosure reports, released yesterday. And when they weren't at their writing desks, some were at gambling tables or lottery kiosks, netting a few thousand dollars from casinos or winning tickets.

Meanwhile, scores of House and Senate members and their spouses traveled the world as guests of think tanks and corporations, even though recent lobbying scandals have prompted some to curb their wanderlust.

Rank-and-file lawmakers received salaries of $162,100 last year, but several boosted that income by writing or contracting to write books. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) collected $847,167 from Random House, the first installment of $1.9 million that he will receive for writing two nonfiction books and one children's book. He said $200,000 of that amount will be donated to charity. Obama, 44, also received $378,239 in royalties for his 1995 memoir, "Dreams From My Father," which remains in print.

Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) also listed either advances for or royalties from books.

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, an heiress, are listed as agreeing to write a book on the environment without any mention of advances or royalty payments.

The subjects of these tomes vary widely. One of Kennedy's recently published books is for children and is called "My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C." Kennedy also wrote a book on politics and policy, "America Back on Track."

The working title of Dorgan's book is "Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain Dead Politics is Selling Out America."

Bayh's proposed book is on fatherhood, with the proceeds going to charity. McCain's royalties also go to charity, the filings said. Both men, along with Biden and Kerry, are weighing presidential bids in 2008.

McCain also lists an agreement with A&E Television Networks for an option to produce a film based on his best-selling book, "Faith of My Fathers."

The reports confirmed that former president Bill Clinton has regained his lucrative speechmaking groove. Spouses' income must be reported, and Hillary Clinton noted that her husband raked in $7.5 million for delivering more than 40 speeches last year, in addition to those he made at no charge.

Bill Clinton earned more than $9 million a year for making speeches in 2001 and 2002, but his speechmaking income dropped to $4.4 million in 2003 -- when he was writing his memoirs -- and less than $1 million in 2004, when he had heart problems.

For some lawmakers, 2005 proved to be a particularly lucky year. Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), now the House majority leader, was driving through Michigan when he stopped for a bathroom break at a casino, where he dropped "a few dollars" in a slot machine, his office said. The result: a $2,700 payoff.

Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski (D-Pa.) did even better, reporting $19,500 in winnings from a New Mexico casino. But no one topped Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Budget Committee. He reported a Powerball lottery winning in the category $100,000 to $1 million. (The financial disclosure forms allow lawmakers to list assets, liabilities and transactions in broad, imprecise ranges.) His exact winnings -- $853,492 -- made national headlines last October when Gregg announced his good fortune.

Many lawmakers bought and sold stock in 2005, but it was a total sell-off for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). In 75 transactions, he sold holdings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The stocks were held in companies such as Emerson Electric, Harley-Davidson, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Target Corp. and Walgreen Co.

Reid instructed the Nevada bank that manages his investments to sell all of his shares and buy broad-based stock mutual funds. His spokesman, Jim Manley, said Reid "felt the move would make his financial documents more transparent."

Members of Congress traveled as guests of private firms last year, although the financial disclosure forms released yesterday do not always divulge such trips. Senators, in particular, may omit trips if they file separate reports with the secretary of the Senate within 30 days of their travels.

Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for example, listed no travel on the report released yesterday, although he previously had disclosed that he was among 17 lawmakers who traveled to Ireland last August as guests of the Aspen Institute. The weeklong conference in Dublin focused on U.S., Russian and European relations.

Also on the trip were Sens. Bayh, Boxer, Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), plus Reps. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), Susan Davis (D-Calif.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), George Miller (D-Calif.), David E. Price (D-N.C.), Victor F. Snyder (D-Ark.), and Roger F. Wicker (R-Miss.).

Most of the lawmakers took their spouses along. Largely because of different airfares, the reported value of the Ireland trip ranged from $4,844 (Cooper's reimbursement) to $9,846 (Bennett's reimbursement).

One of Congress's busiest travelers last year was Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho), chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He reported a dozen privately financed trips, 11 of them domestic. Craig and his wife spent five nights in India as guests of the McLean-based Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. He traveled to Houston for three days, and to Alaska for four, at the expense of the National Rifle Association.

Another frequent flier was Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He traveled to Paris; Stuttgart, Germany; and Liechtenstein in February 2005, sponsored by the International Management and Development Institute. A November trip to Tokyo was hosted by the U.S.-Japan Legislative Exchange Program at George Washington University. He traveled to Australia in May and June as a guest of the American Australia Association.

Sensenbrenner, heir to a paper manufacturing fortune, voluntarily listed his precise net worth as $10,767,523.96.

Several lawmakers listed legal fees and liabilities in their reports. Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.) cited legal debts of at least $2.1 million. Hastings was impeached and removed as a federal judge in 1989.

Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), the former House majority leader who left Congress this month and faces money-laundering charges in Texas, paid legal expenses of more than $1 million last year to seven firms. He collected $588,320 in his legal defense fund. DeLay took 10 privately funded trips, including one from Fox News Sunday in October. He traveled to Kona, Hawaii, in January 2005 as a guest of the American Association of Airport Executives.

Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), who is under scrutiny for his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, listed only two assets: a savings account worth no more than $1,000 and his wife's second home, in Greece, which produced $15,000 to $50,000 in rental income. Lawmakers do not have to list their primary residences.

Research editor Lucy Shackelford and researchers Alice Crites and Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.