Bill Clinton Made $10 Million From Speeches

Former President Bill Clinton speaks at the City Year opening ceremonies at Saint Anselm College. Manchester, N.H. Monday June 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter) (Cheryl Senter - AP)

Several of the financial disclosure reports released today, in addition to those of Clinton and McCain, were from lawmakers who are running for president.

The assets of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) fall somewhere between $456,000 and $1.14 million, his disclosure form shows.

Another contender, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), reported $5,000 to $15,000 in rental income from a cottage he owns in Ireland, as well as a $30,000 advance for a book about his father's experiences as a prosecutor at the Nuremburg war crimes trials after World War II.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) listed assets ranging from $62,000 to $405,000.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), a libertarian running for president on a platform that includes opposition to the Iraq war, has assets ranging from about $3.6 million to $8 million, his disclosure form shows.

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) lists assets in the $251,000 to $517,000 range.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) has holdings worth at least $3.3 million and possibly as much as $9.7 million.

Disclosure rules require reporting of the earnings of lawmakers' spouses, but not everything must be revealed. For example, Bill Clinton received a book advance from the Random House publishing firm, but he was required to say only that it was greater than $1,000. Nor was he required to specify how much he earned as a partner in the Yucaipan Global Opportunities Fund, an investment firm based in Los Angeles, or from "nonemployee compensation" from InfoUSA, a database marketing firm whose payments to Clinton have prompted a shareholder lawsuit.

Sen. Clinton's disclosure form listed the payments to her husband only as "over $1,000." The Washington Post reported last month that Vinod Gupta, InfoUSA's founder and chairman, gave the former president a $3.3 million consulting deal and offered his presidential library a six-figure gift, in addition to providing the Clintons with $900,000 worth of travel to various international destinations on his corporate plane over the past four years. In a lawsuit, shareholders complained that hiring Bill Clinton was a "waste of corporate assets."

According to Sen. Clinton's disclosure form, the couple have two accounts -- a bank account and a blind trust -- that are each worth between $5 million and $25 million. The financial disclosure rules allow the listing of assets, liabilities and transactions in broad ranges, making it impossible to glean precise dollar amounts unless the lawmakers specify them voluntarily.

Candidates for president are required to issue separate personal financial disclosure reports, and the wealth of many of the leading contenders had previously been reported. Disclosure forms released last month showed that at least 10 of the major candidates are millionaires, with the field as a whole worth at least $250 million combined.

Bill Clinton's speech-making prowess has also been reported previously, although today's disclosure form added specificity on his earnings, cementing his reputation as one of the world's highest-paid public speakers -- as well as an exceptionally busy one.

For example, Clinton earned $750,000 from three speeches over three days in February in Australia and New Zealand and $1.74 million from six speeches over four days in September in England, Ireland, South Africa, Germany and Denmark. The latter total included $450,000 for a single speech in London on Sept. 26 at a gala dinner of the Fortune Forum, a nonprofit group that aids international charities.

Clinton made 352 speeches last year, but only 57 of them were reported on today's form as having generated personal income. The others were given for no fee or for donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a charity he founded to promote causes such as fighting HIV/AIDS and global warming.

Clinton has earned more than $40 million in speaking fees in the past six years, records show. After leaving office, he made more than $9 million a year in 2001 and 2002. His income from speeches dropped to $4.4 million in 2003, when he was writing his memoirs, and less than $1 million in 2004, when he had heart surgery, before picking up in 2005, when he pulled in $7.5 million.

Researchers Lucy Shackelford, Madonna Lebling, Alice Crites and Rena Kirsch contributed to this report.