No, of course, Gingrich wasn't a lobbyist, selling his influence and contacts and trying to get benefits for his clients.
He says so. He specifically consulted an attorney so as not to look like a lobbyist. Good for him.
Good plannin', Newt!!!!
The proof that he was not lobbying for Freddie Mac: He urged House Republicans to vote against the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Good guy. He wouldn't cash in as a D.C. insider! He's too ethical.
Oops, he was reprimanded for ethics by the house. They originally brought 84 charges against him, but he got them to narrow it down to one. Cost him $300,000, which he might have had to borrow from Bob Dole..
Oh, but his reply was that it was partisan.
Oops, my earpiece tells me all committees and groups were by rule composed of equal numbers of each party.
And then they voted to reprimand him, only 392 to 28.
But he has an explanation. He told them to vote yes, to get this 3 1/2 year thing out of the way.
I guess his party got too enthusiastic with his instructions, as we only needed a majority vote.
Hmmmmmmm!
Of course, the following had to be a lie: "House ethics subcommittee declared Friday that House Speaker Newt Gingrich's misuse of tax-exempt funds for a politically tinged college course reflected a pattern of years of "disregard and lack of respect for the standards of conduct" a congressman should follow."
Oops: The Ethics Committee's Special Counsel, James M. Cole, concluded that Gingrich had violated federal tax law and had lied to the ethics panel in an effort to force the committee to dismiss the complaint against him.
Oh, another oops: Gingrich himself was among the 450 members of the House who had engaged in check kiting; he had overdrafts on twenty-two checks, including a $9,463 check to the Internal Revenue Service in 1990
Anyway, back to lobbying.
Because he gave brilliant advice, though poor when the ethic fine was rendered, he's worth over $6 million now.
He is one smart dude.
Freddie Mac thought he was such a great historian that they paid him over $1.6 million. Later, he said it was for consulting., after repeatedy insisting he was employed as a historian.
Gingrich Lobbied To Deregulate Insurers, While Accepting Hundreds Of Thousands From Health Insurance Corporations: Through his for-profit healthcare consulting firm, Gingrich accepted up to $200,000 in annual fees from insurers like WellPoint and UnitedHealth. [Of course, it was just good consulting advice...but did he say who to go to and how to lobby them? Or was he pure and really worth $200,000?)
During this blitz of what many would consider lobbying-like activity, the BlueCross & BlueShield Association and AHIP, the umbrella lobbying group for the health insurance industry, paid Gingrich fees as well.
His Center for Health Transformation advertised that $200,000-per-year clients would gain “contacts at the highest levels” of government and “increase your channels of input to decision makers.”
Oh, well, it's just influence peddling, where he had lots of fun and made lots of money.
What is that smell of something rotten in this room?
“
