December 14, 2011
Let’s take a look at the past. On January 21, 1997, the House voted overwhelmingly 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. Exactly one month before the 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.
This week, a former Freddie Mac official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gingrich was paid at least $1.5 million for consulting contracts between 1999 and 2007. Freddie Mac was at the heart of the housing crisis. Gingrich said he was a historian, whatever that means. Four former Freddie Mac executives dispute Gingrich’s description of his role at the company, saying he was hired to identify political friends on Capitol Hill. Gingrich was supposed to use his clout with the Republican party to built intellectual support for the agency.
Let’s not forget he has admitted he committed adultery. But, he has asked God’s forgiveness for his adultery and has taken a pledge to not commit adultery. That would actually be the fourth time Gingrich has taken a no-adultery pledge. He took the first one in 1962 when he married Jackie Battley, and then again in 1981 when he married Marianne Ginther and made a third one to Callista Bisek (now Gingrich) in 2000. Gingrich’s first two marriages ended because he was having an affair with a woman who would later become his wife
TF: So, how could anyone be convinced that he has the right ethical values to be our next president?