Mark Levin educates Chris Christie, Romney on Gingrich 'ethics violations' - YouTube
Brian Bertha
In an effort to be Fair and Balanced
Fritz
a $300,000 fine are very difficult to discount. But of course we are
talking about a legal violation. Gingrich's ethical violations constitute a
much larger subject.
Fritz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5icfNKtboY
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Greg Scandlen
Correa, Richard A Sr SGT RET
Always in the news but never exactly beloved by the public at large, Gingrich saw his image further damaged in 1997 when he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. After a disappointing Republican showing in the 1998 election, Gingrich resigned the Speakership and his seat in Congress.
CNN Nov 6, 1998:
Earlier in the day, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston of Louisiana had announced he would oppose Gingrich if he ran again for speaker. But he wont be alone. Gingrichs stunning announcement is drawing more hats into the ring.
Rep. Christopher Cox of California, chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, said during an interview on CNNs Larry King Live that he would be a candidate for speaker. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer of Texas said he, too, was considering a run and would deliberate on his decision over the weekend.
Sources say Gingrich made the choice when he was told that as many as 30 Republicans would refuse to vote for him on the floor of the House. A close associate of Gingrich said the speaker did not want to be the center of attention and distract his party for the next two years.
The Republican conference needs to be unified, and it is time for me to move forward, Gingrichs statement said.
Rumors of a leadership shakeup surfaced quickly after Tuesdays election when the GOP suffered a surprising loss of five seats in the partys slim House majority. Just weeks before, Republicans had been confident they could add to their majorities in the House and Senate.
With his party in turmoil, Gingrich was closeted at his Georgia home, calling dozens of colleagues to assess whether he could survive the latest leadership challenge.
Though he received support from members of the caucus he spoke with, Gingrich reached only 40 to 50 people, meaning that many were not returning his calls.
Tampa Bay Times, Jan 23, 2012:
It’s accurate for Romney to point out that Gingrich had a long-running ethics problem while serving in Congress. As we’ve written before, the case primarily involved a course at Kennesaw State College that Gingrich taught while in Congress. The organizers of the course solicited financial support from "individuals, corporations and foundations," promising that the project qualified for tax-exempt status. But the ethics committee concluded that the course was "actually a coordinated effort" to "help in achieving a partisan, political goal" -- something that would run afoul of its tax-exempt status. A further problem for Gingrich was that during the investigation, he submitted letters from his lawyers for which "the subcommittee was unable to find any factual basis." Gingrich "should have known" that the information in the letters "was inaccurate, incomplete, and unreliable," according to the ethics committee.
The allegations were largely adjudicated by January 1997, with Gingrich agreeing -- in what amounted to a plea bargain -- to pay a sum of $300,000 and admit that he had "engaged in conduct that did not reflect creditably on the House of Representatives." The settlement of the charges won approval from the full ethics committee by a 7-1 margin, and the entire House passed the ethics report 395 to 28, including by a 196-26 margin among Republicans.
He became the first speaker in history to be sanctioned in this fashion by the House. (Here’s a time line of the full case.) The episode caused damage to Gingrich’s reputation -- but it did not, by itself, lead to Gingrich’s departure as speaker.
"He survived the hit, retained his speakership and served through the next two years," said Norm Ornstein, a congressional analyst with the American Enterprise Institute.
Experts we spoke to pointed to two factors that precipitated Gingrich’s downfall in addition to the ethics investigation -- Gingrich’s overall approach as speaker, which Ornstein calls "erratic and impulsive," and the Republicans’ weak performance in the 1998 midterm elections.
About six months after the ethics charges were settled, a number of House Republicans, including some of his fellow leaders, mounted a coup against him in the summer of 1997. The coup failed -- Gingrich remained speaker -- but the episode was widely seen as demonstrating uneasiness within his own ranks about Gingrich’s choices of strategy and tactics. Making matters worse for Gingrich’s standing among his own colleagues were widespread rumors about Ginrgich’s infidelity, which were later proven to be true.
Washington Post,Jan 22, 1997:
The House voted overwhelmingly yesterday to reprimand House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and order him to pay an unprecedented $300,000 penalty, the first time in the House's 208-year history it has disciplined a speaker for ethical wrongdoing.
The ethics case and its resolution leave Gingrich with little leeway for future personal controversies, House Republicans said. Exactly one month before yesterday's vote, Gingrich admitted that he brought discredit to the House and broke its rules by failing to ensure that financing for two projects would not violate federal tax law and by giving the House ethics committee false information.
"Newt has done some things that have embarrassed House Republicans and embarrassed the House," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.). "If [the voters] see more of that, they will question our judgment."
There's plenty more Greg but the bottom line is you don't make a 'plea bargain' and pay a $300,000.00 fine if your innocent. Further, those that made you speaker do not desert you in droves if you haven't done anything wrong. The man is no different than the current occupant of the White House, and like the current occupant he doesn't deserve to be there.
Fritz
Hmmm. Suggesting that cheating on one’s wife is not an ethical problem?
Fritz
Greg Scandlen
Eighty four politically motivated ethics charges were filed against Newt when he was Speaker of the House regarding the use of tax exempt funds for a college course he taught titled “Renewing American Civilization.” Eighty-three of the eighty-four charges were found to be without merit and dropped. The remaining charge had to do with contradictory documents prepared by Newt’s lawyer supplied during the course of the investigation. Newt took responsibility for the error and agreed to reimburse the committee the cost of the investigation into that discrepancy. In 1999, after a 3 1Ž2 year investigation, the Internal Revenue Service (under President Bill Clinton, nonetheless) concluded that Gingrich did not violate any tax laws, leading renowned CNN Investigative Reporter Brooks Jackson to remark on air “it turns out [Gingrich] was right and those who accused him of tax fraud were wrong.”
Greg Scandlen
Yes, the WSJ tried the same story in today's edition. But a guilty plea anda $300,000 fine are very difficult to discount. But of course we aretalking about a legal violation.
Fritz
The $300,000 was a generous contribution to the House of representatives?
Correa, Richard A Sr SGT RET
----- Original Message -----
From: Greg Scandlen <GMS...@comcast.net>
Date: Sunday, January 29, 2012 6:11
Subject: Re: {Tea Party Patriots} Mark Levin educates Chris Christie, Romney on Gingrich 'ethics violations' - YouTube
To: tea-party...@googlegroups.com
> someseats in the 1998 election (while retaining a majority.)
Correa, Richard A Sr SGT RET
Greg, come on now, the guy is worse than Nixon.