Christine Quinn, Age 45, Chooses A Unit Of News Corp. to Publish Volume 1 of Her Memoir, Tentatively Titled, ''I'm Still Here,'' an Allusion to How She Survived the City Council Slush Fund Scandal.
Why would a ''gay rights'' activist like New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn sign a contract with a sister company of FOX News to publish her memoir, if and only if it wasn't all about the money ? Unfortunately, Speaker Quinn has a record of selling out her principles when faced with making a choice between pocketing money and doing the right thing. For example, one would need to look no further than how Speaker Quinn accepted $30,000 in campaign contributions from the Rudin family in the time leading up to when the City Council would decide the fate of St. Vincent's Hospital. Speaker Quinn went to such lengths as to lock out her very own constituents from a critical City Council hearing, so that the City Council could fast-track the approval of the Rudin family's luxury condo conversion plan for St. Vincent's. Maybe Speaker Quinn might have more luck if she titled her book, Campaign Donations Don't Influence the City Council Agenda. Yeah, right.
Given how there is no such thing as a ''conflict of interest'' in New York City politics, it is a wholly untruth that HarperCollins (whose ''big brother'' and holding company are entangled in the phone hacking scandal in the U.K., mind you) is going to determine compensation for Speaker Quinn with guidance and assistance from the Conflicts of Interest Board. Remember how the Conflicts of Interest Board approved the Cathie Black deal to be schools chancellor ? Gimme a break.
This unethical book deal is just going to tarnish the tattered reputations of David Black, Henry Ferris, Jamie McShane, and still yet others. No good karma can be attached to this book deal, since its very inception is already so ethically compromised. Remember, Speaker Quinn has no integrity -- it makes us hope that HarperCollins is prepared to deal with its own scandal, similar to what happened when Random House published the semi-fictional A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.
Take a peek at what kind of ethics (or lack thereof) Speaker Quinn practices :
Speaker Quinn's editor, Mr. Ferris, already has a shaky record in publishing. Mr. Ferris did a horrible job supporting the 2003 HarperCollins title, Red Zone, by Aphrodite Jones. Red Zone was a notable non-fiction book by The New York Times bestselling author, Ms. Jones.
Look at the unimaginative book cover that Mr. Ferris approved for Ms. Jones's book :
The prospects of Speaker Quinn's book deal with Mr. Ferris doesn't sound promising, even if Speaker Quinn's book turns out to have even half the merits of Red Zone, considering the record Mr. Ferris had with Red Zone. Hopefully, Mr. Ferris won't give Speaker Quinn's book a shitty book cover at the last minute, with Courier Font and no pictures on either the front or back of the dust jacket. Given that Speaker Quinn is ethically challenged (see also the City Council Slush Fund Scandal) let's hope Mr. Ferris gives Speaker Quinn's book a memorable cover, since the least we can count on is that the book will be notorious. As has been said before, the karma around Speaker Quinn's book deal cannot be successful, and one would hope that HarperCollins isn't counting on this memoir to make money. The controversy around Speaker Quinn's ethics isn't going to drive book sales, but yet that's probably the spin that HarperCollins executives read in her book proposal. HarperCollins should have just passed.
No doubt that HarperCollins is hoping that Speaker Quinn will sell more copies of her pile of remaindered memoirs than the free hits some activists get on YouTube. Good luck.
Bloggers are waiting for word that after Speaker Quinn's memoir, Mr. Ferris would announce whether he plans on publishing Jenna Jameson's next installment of her autobiographical trilogy memoir, tentatively titled, Three Way ?
