11/22/2011
Yes — Money Feels Good!
Peter Bradley’s valuable reminder this evening that Newt Gingrich was pivotal in wrecking Affirmative Action repeal in the 90s meshes with my own blog documenting that he is also appalling on immigration — so much so that Matthew Richer wrote Newt Gingrich:The Aspiring Americano President for us.
But another significant Gingrich issue is coming to light: he has spent the past few years cavorting in a deluge of Lobbyist cash.
Gingrich-Founded Think Tank Collected $55 Million in Past Decade by Alicia Mundy The Wall Street Journal November 21 2011 reports:
"The Center for Health Transformation, founded by Newt Gingrich, released a statement Monday outlining some of the think tank’s activities, its membership fees and the money it has generated… The statement from the Center for Health Transformation puts its revenues for the past decade at $55 million…
The center’s statement, from Chairman Nancy Desmond, differentiates between the Mr. Gingrich’s center and the many lobbying firms, communications firms and think tanks that populate Washington. “We do no lobbying,” it says."
This follows a Washington Post story last week: Gingrich think tank collected millions from health-care industry By Dan Eggen November 17 2011
"A think tank founded by GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich collected at least $37 million over the past eight years from major health-care companies and industry groups…offering some of them “access to Newt Gingrich” and “direct Newt interaction,” according to promotional materials."
This story nastily observes the think tank
"…advocated, among other things, requiring that “anyone who earns more than $50,000 a year must purchase health insurance or post a bond,” a type of insurance mandate that has since become anathema to conservatives.
The group also pushed proposals to build centralized electronic medical records and use such data to research treatment effectiveness, both central features of President Obama’s health-care reforms."
Then there was the Bloomberg News contribution: Gingrich Said to Be Paid About $1.6 Million by Freddie Mac By Clea Benson and John McCormick — Nov 16, 2011
(This is a particularly interesting story as the Freddie Mac version ties Gingrich directly to the Minority Mortgage Meltdown
"His primary contact inside the organization was Mitchell Delk, Freddie Mac’s chief lobbyist, and he was paid a self-renewing, monthly retainer of $25,000 to $30,000 between May 1999 until 2002…During that period, Gingrich consulted with Freddie Mac executives on a program to expand home ownership…"
Gingrich is now claiming exactly the reverse.)
So far the MSM has preferred not to look into the finances of another Gingrich outfit, American Solutions for Winning The Future — according to ThinkProgress heavily funded by gambling billionaire and ardent Zionist Sheldon Adelson:
"Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands corporation is by far the largest donor to Gingrich’s 527 group, American Solutions, giving $1 million each in 2010 and 2006, and a whopping $5 million in 2008."
Gingrich Praises Extremist Marchers In Jerusalem Who Chanted “Slaughter The Arabs’ By Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton Jun 13, 2011
American Solutions closed down in July 2011 after Gingrich left it in March to run for President, citing funding difficulties — proof that it was basically a Gingrich pay-off mechanism:
"In its heyday, the group raised more money than any other such organization, collecting more than $52 million in its first four years … "
Newt Gingrich’s former group, American Solutions, shutters its doors by Karen Tumulty Washington Post August 26, 2011
So why were all these plutocratic organizations swamping Gingrich with cash? Were they buying his wisdom?
Or just him?
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.