Scott Brown Wants To Use Campaign Funds To Buy Thousands Of Copies Of His Book

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is hoping to use an upcoming book tour as, ostensibly, an alternative vehicle for advancing, publicizing, and even funding his 2012 Senate campaign.

Daniel Winslow, a lawyer for the governor of Massachusetts, wrote the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday morning requesting rulings on a whole host of book-tour related activities that potentially blur legal lines.

First and foremost, Brown is proposing to "use campaign funds to purchase up to several thousand copies of the book to be used solely in campaign related activities." Those books would serve as gifts for financial contributors and other "political supporters."

Winslow also asks for a ruling as to whether Brown's campaign committee could put ads for the book on its website as well as "other social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook." He follows that by requesting that the committee be able to use "its email and mailing lists to promote Senator Brown's book" in certain instances and that it be able to "collect email addresses from people who attend the book signing events, for purposes of future solicitation."

If the relationship between book tour and political campaign weren't blurry enough, Winslow finally requests an FEC ruling as to whether Brown can fund-raise at stops he's making promoting his work: "Against All Odds."

"[A] fundraiser would merely be ancillary to his presence in that area," writes Winslow, noting that the senator would cover all his expenses beyond those already covered by the publisher.

Combined, this is, as POLITICO's Ben Smith notes, a noteworthy frontier in the book publishing business. And it would be curious to see how the FEC rules on each of these matters (some having more logical explanations than others).

In his letter, Winslow said that Brown would not use the money generated from the additional book sales to pad his own pockets. The publisher wouldn't pay him royalties for books sold at campaign-related events. And if he were paid, he could simply donate that money to a charity.

And yet, money isn't the only benefit that Brown could gain from synthesizing his 2012 run and his book tour. The bulk sale of "Against All Odds" will, undoubtedly, help the book's rankings on best-seller lists. That, in turn, could give Brown a bit more cache and news coverage than were his work to be simply discarded alongside most other candidate-authored political fodder.

Comments

[BlacknProud310]

01:36 PM on 02/16/2011

Isn't that kinda like money laundering?

[WOODSTOCKER51]

08:22 AM on 02/09/2011

HE MAKES THE PEOPLE IN HIS STATE ...PROUD..............ROFLMAO

[BowlingForRevenge]

06:00 AM on 02/09/2011

So, he's gonna use money donated to his campaign to buy his own book to give to newer donors.
IF he will forgo his commission I don't have a problem with it.
IF he refuses or gets a kickback from the publisher ...no dice
IF the extra sales kick in extra change in Brown's pocket..no way.
It seems he's essentially just another Sister Sarah...who probably suggested the idea in the first place.
SP to SB: Ya know, Scott..ya cen buy yer own book at a discount and "give it away" fer a donation 10 X it's worth AND make a commission. Eh? That's what I do.

[KsWrangler]

06:55 PM on 01/30/2011

dignity
dig·ni·ty (dĭgˈnĭ-tē) -noun
Archaic. the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect;
self-regard, self-respect, self-worth
______________________________
[Middle English dignite, from Old French, from Latin dignits, from dignus, worthy; see dek- in Indo-European roots.] Meaning lost following elections of 2008

[BoyInBOYCOTT]

06:38 PM on 01/30/2011

Scottie this is a step down from nude modeling.....this is more lap dancing/stripper pole stuff

[Angel R1240]

01:24 PM on 01/29/2011

He wants to buy thousands of copies of his book because he wants to make more money off of his books this is what Sarah Palin did when her PAC bought thousands of copies of her book. How did anybody in Massachusetts vote for this guy? I can't figure it out.

[MC88]

02:14 AM on 01/29/2011

I loathe politicians. Such narcissists.

[Bobbygoode]

07:56 PM on 01/27/2011

Massachusetts will be able to correct their Scott Brown wrong in 2012. As this stunt reminds us, it will seem like a long time to suffer till then.

[lasjazzman]

07:01 PM on 01/27/2011

What the............................................................

[garystartswithg]

03:42 PM on 01/27/2011

Who does he think he is? Sarah Palin?

[onlyinvegas]

10:48 AM on 01/27/2011

Regardless of which side your politics is at. I just have to say that this is so wrong. Is this why the senator was elected. To buy his own book with tax payer money.

[LittleMs Random]

09:40 AM on 01/27/2011

As a bookseller, it is obvious that he is doing this to push his book up the charts and gain more media attention. Rather than sell by his own merit, he is going to ensure his book a spot on bestseller lists that it doesn't deserve.

[Brett Tonaille]

04:29 AM on 01/27/2011

It's a great way to have it both ways. He's not campaigning per se - which must help him escape a variety of strictures - but he's getting his name out there and bringing in additional funds while he does it.
If nothing else, it seems like a legitimate use of campaign funds. It will probably be more effective than a lot of campaign speeches in building his base.

[pita143]

08:16 PM on 01/26/2011

This is the same stunt that Palin got caught doing and forced to pay back her own PAC. She had a deal with Murdoch that gave her a kickback for large purchases, she used her own PAC money to buy the books and donated them to conservatives to push up sales and rise up the charts faster, THEN she pocketed the kickback money. The IRS said no way.
We need to remove all bulk sales from the rankings of books and only count individual sales.

[mass maritimer]

12:21 AM on 01/30/2011

And I get an audit over a $32,000 dialysis bill?

[hairydodger]

07:37 PM on 01/26/2011

DIRT BAGGER buys his own books to make it to the New York Times best seller list. Interesting process.