Pubdate: Sat, 23 Oct 1999
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 1999 The Dallas Morning News
Contact:  P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265
Fax: (972) 263-0456
Feedback: http://dmnweb.dallasnews.com/letters/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Forum: http://forums.dallasnews.com:81/webx
Author: Pete Slover, The Dallas Morning News
Note: Staff writer Bill Marvel in Dallas contributed to this report. 
MAP's shortcut to Gov. George Bush items:
http://www.mapinc.org/bush.htm 

PUBLISHER RECALLS BUSH BIOGRAPHY OVER AUTHOR'S RECORD

AUSTIN - As copies flew off the shelves, a publisher scrambled Friday to
recall a biography of Gov. George W. Bush after the author turned out to be
a felon who hired a hit man in a 1987 car bombing.

"We have enough information from our own investigation to make the decision
that the book must be pulled," said a statement by Sally Richardson,
president and publisher of St. Martin's Press trade division. "We strongly
believe it would be irresponsible to continue to keep the book in the
marketplace."

Meanwhile, interviews and records revealed new information about the
publishing history of J.H. Hatfield, author of Fortunate Son: George W.
Bush and the Making of an American President. 

The co-author of Mr. Hatfield's earlier published books is also a paroled
felon, a fellow inmate from Mr. Hatfield's days in an East Texas prison who
was convicted of attempted murder in 1988.

Mr. Hatfield, who is on parole in Arkansas until 2003, could not be reached
for comment.

A lawyer for St. Martin's Press said that Mr. Hatfield, 41, continues to
maintain through his lawyer that he is the victim of mistaken identity.

The book had gained some attention for its allegations that Mr. Bush has
concealed a 1972 cocaine arrest, a charge attributed to anonymous sources
but unsubstantiated by evidence.

The governor has denounced the report as false.

Officials with the publishing house would not say what persuaded them to
recall the book, publication of which had been suspended a day earlier
after The Dallas Morning News disclosed the author's criminal background.

Friday's recall was ordered after investigators were dispatched to Arkansas
and Dallas and after the publishing company reviewed a police photo of Mr.
Hatfield published by The News. 

Major bookstore chains and online booksellers said they would honor the
recall request. Late Friday, they began removing copies and online listings
of author Mr. Hatfield's book.

The publisher had shipped 70,000 copies of the book to retailers and had
20,000 more warehoused, a company spokesman said.

The recall came as sales were surging after the publisher's announcement
Thursday that it would halt printing and distribution but that booksellers
were free to sell copies on hand.

By late Friday, when the publisher requested the recall, it was ranked 21st
on the Amazon.com index, which measures the comparative rate of sales of
more than 1 million titles in the online bookseller's inventory.

"That's very high. Over the last 24 hours, it has really climbed," said
Amazon.com spokesman Paul Capelli, who said the company does not disclose
the actual number of books sold.

Mr. Capelli said the company would stop taking orders for the book and fill
any orders received before the stoppage. The book was still available late
Friday on the company's Web page.

Sales were brisk in person, too.

"I sold out the second they put the story in the paper. I had 10 copies. I
sold them this morning," said Katie Surtees, owner and manager of the
independent Dallas bookstore Shakespeare Beethoven & Co.

Barnes and Noble bookstores and online sales would honor the recall, too,
said company spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keeton. A small number of copies
remained available in Dallas branches of the store in the hours before the
action was announced.

Mr. Hatfield was sentenced in 1988 to 15 years in prison after he admitted
paying a hit man $5,000 to blow up his former boss's car in downtown Dallas
in February 1987. The intended victim, a witness against him in a federal
investigation, survived.

Court records also show that Mr. Hatfield pleaded guilty in 1992 to charges
stemming from that investigation, in which he was indicted in the theft of
more than $34,000 in federal housing funds. Mr. Hatfield served five years
in state prison and a brief period in the federal penitentiary before
moving to Arkansas on parole in 1994.

After initial Texas prison system screening, state records show, Mr.
Hatfield's first stop was the Beto prison unit in Palestine, in August
1988. The same month, Mr. Hatfield's future co-author arrived at the
prison, records show. That man, George T. Burt, was serving a 15-year
sentence for attempted murder in Harris County. Details of that case were
unavailable Friday.

Records show that both men were housed at the prison until December 1990,
when Mr. Burt was transferred to another unit. Mr. Hatfield was paroled in
April 1993, and Mr. Burt was paroled two months later.

A Texas parole officer said Friday that Mr. Burt is the same George "Doc"
Burt listed as Mr. Hatfield's co-author on at least five books published
since 1996.

According to the Amazon.com listings, titles authored by the pair included
a series of "unauthorized" television trivia books and a book about a Star
Trek actor, Patrick Stewart: The Unauthorized Biography. 

"Yes, he [Mr. Burt] did write the Patrick Stewart biography. That's what he
claims, anyway," said parole officer Carrie Bentley.

Mr. Burt, 58, could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Hatfield summed up the men's relationship in the foreword to his Bush
biography:

"I cannot fail to mention George 'Doc' Burt, my former writing partner and
blood brother for life, who was the driving force in making certain that my
dreams became reality," Mr. Hatfield wrote. "As they say in Texas, 'May
your horse get fat from eating the grass off your enemies' graves.' "

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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake