Murphy’s sweetheart deal gets sweeter

THE REVIEWS ARE IN - Philadelphia Magazine called U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy's book "banal," with "hardly an interesting idea or observation in the entire book." Murphy received a $100,000 advance for his efforts from a politically-connected agent.

U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy’s sweetheart deal to publish his 33-year-old life’s story keeps getting sweeter.

According to the website of Henry Holt and Company, which is publishing Murphy’s upcoming memoir, the freshman Congressman kept for himself “first serial rights,” which would allow the Pennsylvania Democrat to sell excerpts of his book to magazines, newspapers or other periodicals, and pocket the proceeds.

Murphy is the only first-time author able to do so, among 19 writers whose upcoming hardcover books are listed on Holt’s 2008 catalogue.

But according to an earlier New York Times report on the publishing industry, Murphy’s motive may be more than making some extra cash. Maintaining first serial rights would allow the Pennsylvania Congressman to keep the book under wraps, avoiding potentially bad reviews and subsequent negative publicity prior to publication.

“Sometimes a book is potentially so controversial or it is such a lemon (or both) that the publisher wants to give it some shelf time in the stores before it is buried in a wash of bad reviews or mocking news stories,” the Times article noted.

The only controversial aspect of Murphy’s book appears to be the $100,000 advance he received at a time when official House records showed he was heavily in personal debt. Those records stated Murphy and his wife amassed between $55,000 to $165,000 in credit card and student loan debt by the end of 2006, and had two mortgages on their primary residence at the end of 2005, bringing their total debt to as high as $765,000.

With little more than two weeks remaining before its scheduled release, Murphy has largely avoided public scrutiny of his book.  But Philadelphia Magazine’s February issue paints an unflattering portrait of the first-time author’s effort, raising new questions on why Murphy was able to command an unusually high, six-figure advance for the work.

“Unfortunately, on the page, Murphy’s saga falls well short of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington heroics,” reviewer Tom McGrath writes. “The details of his climb turn out to be rather banal, and his self-congratulatory ‘toughness’ and lack of sophistication about the world — there’s hardly an interesting idea or observation in the entire book — make him hard to root for.”

Murphy’s book, entitled “Taking The Hill,” will “share stories of his blue-collar Philadelphia childhood and his times as the youngest professor at West Point and a captain in the 82nd Airborne. He will also take readers to the front lines in Iraq, the campaign trail in Pennsylvania and the halls of Congress,” according to a May, 2007, announcement by Publisher’s Weekly.

Since majorityap.com broke a series of investigative stories raising ethical questions about Murphy’s book deal, the freshman lawmaker has had to answer questions back home about the timing and size of his six-figure advance.

While House members are prohibited by ethics rules from accepting book advances, the Bucks County freshman cut his deal days before taking office, thereby eluding the ban and cashing in on his razor-thin election over incumbent Republican Michael Fitzpatrick.

Equally troublesome is the cast of bold faced names central to Murphy’s publishing deal.

Murphy was paid his advance by literary agent Esther Newberg, a publishing powerhouse whose stable of best-selling authors include Caroline Kennedy, crime-writer Patricia Cromwell, and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman.

How an unknown, first-time author could garner the services of one of the most powerful women in the entertainment industry led to a series of majorityap.com investigations, unraveling a web of Democrat operatives who played a role in Murphy’s deal.

Newberg began her career working in Democrat politics, as an aide to Senators Robert F. Kennedy, Edmund Muskie and Congresswoman Bella Abzug, among others. She was at one time an associate of Ari Emanuel, the younger brother of U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel, former Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). It was Emanuel who made Murphy’s election to Congress a priority of his committee.

Quizzed about Murphy’s book by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the younger Emanuel did nothing to dispel the notion he played a role in brokering the deal. He merely “downplayed the fee,” saying that, to him, the $100,000 received by Murphy was “not a big deal.”

The Inquirer found that yet another party activist, Democratic National Committee member Robert Zimmerman, served as a go-between for Newberg and Murphy.

While Murphy was paid by Newberg in December, he is yet to answer questions about when the book was actually sold to Holt, or how much the publisher paid. Holt did not announce that it would publish the book until May, five months into Murphy’s term. Murphy himself first spoke publicly about the book that same month.

Murphy’s $100,000 book advance is unusually high for a first-time author in a genre that often fizzles at bookstores. In fact, if Murphy’s book earns back the $100,000 advance, he would be the most successful author in Congress not running for President of the United States.

“Speaker: Lessons from Forty Years in Coaching and Politics,’’ by former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-IL, the longest serving Republican Speaker in U.S. history is selling on Amazon.com for “about a penny, plus $3.99 for shipping and handling,” according to a September report in the Capitol Hill publication Congressional Quarterly (CQ). That’s the same price as “Lessons Learned the Hard Way: A Personal Report,” the 1998 autobiography of another former GOP Speaker, Newt Gingrich, R-GA.

The New York Times reported that Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott’s “Herding Cats,” sold only 11,000 copies, while Roll Call reported Hastert’s book “made an inconsequential sum in royalties.” Murphy is a freshman Representative, Hastert is the longest-serving GOP Speaker in American history.

Other recent authors, such as Emanuel and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are yet to report any income for their respective books, “The Plan: Big Ideas for America,” and “Positively American.”

Murphy’s Pennsylvania colleague, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, earned only $24,507.11 for his 2001 memoir, "Passion for Truth: From Finding JFK’s Single Bullet to Questioning Anita Hill to Impeaching Clinton."

While Presidential candidates have fared better, notably Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, even running for the highest office in the land is no guarantee of success.

An Associated Press study found “big book profits are not a reality for many White House hopefuls, even if they're well-known.”

As majorityap.com previously reported, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, made only $89,200 for his election year book, “A Call to Service.”

Among other Presidential candidates, the AP article revealed that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's 2005 memoir, "Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life," earned “somewhere between $15,000 and $50,000,” selling about 11,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's 2004 book, "Turnaround," also sold about 11,000 copies.

According to publishing industry research, the typical royalty on a book is between four and eight percent. Using the higher end figure of eight percent, Murphy’s book, priced at $25.00, would have to sell 50,000 copies just to break even.

Facing increased public scrutiny over his questionable publishing deal, Murphy capitulated in September (ten months after being paid by Newberg), and wrote that he will now donate a portion of proceeds from the book’s sale to charity.

Murphy did not, however, offer to share his $100,000 advance, meaning that he will have to sell more than four times as many books as recent Congressional authors in order for any charity to receive funding.

Murphy will begin hawking his book February 18, when he is set to appear at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. According to the Constitution Center’s website, “a book sale and signing will follow (Murphy’s) program.”

Admission to Murphy’s book signing costs as much as $15 a head, with an additional $7 for parking, and the book’s $25 cover price. For those who don’t want to shell out as much as $47 for a copy of Murphy’s book, Overstock.com is taking orders for “Taking the Hill” at $15.68 a copy, 37 percent less than the book’s cover price.