There’s a good chance that Sen. Ted Cruz took a family friend to his senior prom. Ted Cruz probably makes it lightly drizzle at the strip club only to pocket money that lands on the couch. Ted Cruz probably used half of his book advance buying books because...wait, he really did that.
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According to a financial disclosure filed Monday, Cruz reportedly received a $320,000 book advance in 2020 and then his campaign spent $153,000 at Books-a-Million three months after his book hit stores, Forbes reports.
“The FEC has issued a long series of advisory opinions allowing members to use campaign funds to buy copies of their own books at a discount from the publisher, provided that the royalties they would normally receive on those sales are given to charity,” Brett Kappel, an attorney specializing in campaign finance at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg told Forbes.
Of course, Cruz’s campaign did not say what books they purchased but it is possible that all of his campaign staff is studying for the SAT, LSAT, PSAT, QSAT, and the FSAT and we all know that those books can be expensive AF. Or maybe all of his staff joined Oprah’s famed book club and decided to buy all the books that have ever received the coveted stamp at full price.
Because surely that would explain why Cruz’s latest book, One Vote Away: How a Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History, which was released on Sept. 29, 2020 and two weeks later, Cruz’s campaign spent $40,000 at Books-a-Million, according to his committee’s 2020 year-end report, Forbes notes.
“On Oct. 30, the campaign made a second purchase from that merchant, this time for $1,500. And on Dec. 1, the campaign spent an additional $111,900 at Books-a-Million. Campaign-finance filings describe all three purchases as, simply, ‘books.”
A spokesperson for Cruz’s campaign would not comment on what books were purchased during this time, Forbes reports.
“Cruz’s campaign also bought $5,000 worth of Facebook ads to promote One Vote Away, according to Salon. The Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog, later filed complaints with the FEC and Senate Ethics Committee.”
Forbes notes that beyond any royalties Cruz could’ve received on the sale of his book—which his campaign totally didn’t buy up to inflate the numbers—the purchases through a retailer and not the publisher could help the book reach bestseller lists.
“According to his disclosure, Cruz’s March 2020 deal with Regenery called for an advance of $400,000 payable in three installments, 15% of net sales on the hardcover edition, 7.5% of the paperback, 15% of foreign net proceeds, and 25% of net proceeds from the ebook,” Forbes reports.
It’s not unusual for a senator to write a book. In fact, in 2020, three senators made a lot of money from book sales: Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) earned $382,000, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) received $278,000 and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) hauled in $202,000, Forbes notes.
All three of the lawmakers used campaign funds to buy books but they got them from the publisher and each spent less than $20,000, which follows the law.
Forbes notes that anyone wanting to read Fat Wolverine’s blatherings can purchase his book from the official Ted Cruz for Senate website, which offers autographed copies of his book in exchange for donations of at least $77.
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