The Democrats filed a convincing complaint with the state this
summer alleging that Dino Rossi’s “nonpartisan” nonprofit, Forward
Washington, was really a partisan front for Rossi’s gubernatorial
campaign [“What’s Rossi Up To?” Josh Feit, July 5].
“Nonpartisan” may not be the only adjective to put in quotes when
describing Rossi’s nonprofit, though. “Nonprofit” may be a bit of a
stretch as well.
In 2005, Rossi set up a for-profit group, registered at his home
address, called Forward Books LLC. Forward Books sells Rossi’s book,
Lessons in Leadership, Business, Politics, and Life. (Given the
large-print font and the color-by-numbers insights, I’m also tempted to
put “book” in quotes.)
Records show that in 2007 alone Forward Books made $150,000 in
revenues off sales of Rossi’s book.
But the book is listed at a lowly number 92,461 on Amazon.com (Newt Gingrich’s book is currently
at 8,000). And a manager at the downtown Bellevue Barnes & Noble
says,
“It doesn’t sell a whole lot.” (He says he
typically
carries one copy.)
So presumably Lessons in Leadership is selling somewhere
else. Well, Forward Washington hypes the book at Rossi’s speeches, and
gives autographed copies away when people make large donations. This
indicates that Forward Washington is stocked up on the book. And this
means that by promoting the book and giving the book away at Forward
Washington events, Rossi’s nonprofit is putting profits in Rossi’s
pockets (or at least a healthy dose of royalties).
It’s not clear if Rossi’s getting royalties along the lines of those
amassed by former Democratic U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright, who
resigned from Congress in 1989 after he circumvented speaking fee rules
by
using his speeches to sell his book, for which he received an
unusually high
royalty of 55 percent.
Because Forward Washington financial reports aren’t available, it’s
impossible to know how many copies of Lessons in Leadership have
been sold or given away by the group. While Forward Washington doesn’t
have to release donor information, they are supposed to release basic
budget and programming numbers. Weirdly, those records were not
available.
Certainly, Forward Washington is allowed to sell or give away
Rossi’s book. IRS rules allow nonprofits to sell merchandise.
I did not get a call back from Forward Washington, but I did get
this response when I called Forward Books: “You have the wrong
number.”
