Dear Editor:
In her column ("They must really think we're morons" - Creators
Syndicate Columnist Molly Ivins - January 10, 2006), Molly Ivins writes
falsely that Newt Gingrich was "fined $300,000" for "misusing nonprofit
organizations for political purposes, personally benefiting from
political contributions, cutting a sleazy book deal and giving false
statements to ethics investigators."
Ms. Ivins has been around long enough to have known the facts.
Democrats filed 84 politically motivated ethics charges against Speaker
Gingrich. All of them were found to be without merit. The last three
were dismissed on October 10, 1998, including the charge of using
tax-exempt foundations for political purposes. The fact is, not a
single ethics charge filed against Speaker Gingrich was ever found to be
based in fact - not one.
During the investigation into the bogus charge of using a tax exempt
foundation for political purposes, a letter responding to an inquiry by
the Committee prepared and filed by a Gingrich lawyer contained an
inaccuracy which was that it characterized GOPAC as an educational
foundation. It was not. It was well-known at the time to be a
political organization. When Gingrich learned about the discrepancy, he
personally accepted responsibility for the misstatement, corrected the
record, and agreed to reimburse the Ethics Committee for the cost of
that investigation. The agreement specifically noted that it was not a
fine as Ms. Ivins incorrectly states in her column but a reimbursement.
The voluntary reimbursement did not stem from the phony charge, but was
paid because of the error made by counsel during the investigation - an
investigation that concluded no wrongdoing by the Speaker whatsoever.
The actual charge of using tax-exempt foundations for political purposes
was dismissed by the bipartisan Ethics Committee as was the case in all
83 of the other charges. Part of the fallout led the IRS to wrongfully
revoke the tax exempt status of two groups that organized a non-partisan
college course, "Renewing American Civilization," about American culture
and history taught by Speaker Gingrich.
However, in April 2003, the IRS recognized its own mistake and reversed
itself and restored the tax exempt status of both foundations and
apologized to them because there was nothing wrong with Dr. Gingrich, a
former college professor with a PhD in Modern European History teaching
a nonpolitical class on a college campus. Moreover, a Federal Judge
concluded the same thing when it was brought to court by the Federal
Election Commission. The college course was found to be just that, a
college course and not in any way a political activity.
Ms. Ivins is also aware of the fact the Speaker Gingrich turned down a
lawful $4 million advance by Harper Collins for his book "To Renew
America" and instead only accepted a single $1. The book went on to
become a best seller based on its merits as did several other books
authored by Gingrich. I would not have expected Ms. Ivins to like the
book, but it's gratuitous to characterize a legitimate book deal by a
proven, bona-fide, and best-selling author as "sleazy".
Ultimately, Speaker Gingrich was cleared of wrongdoing by the bipartisan
Ethics Committee, the IRS and a Federal Judge, but apparently not by Ms.
Ivins. It is obviously unacceptable to her to allow a conservative to
teach college courses, write books, or be Speaker of the House.
But to the point, Ms. Ivins can try to ignore the facts, but Speaker
Gingrich was vindicated and it is simply wrong to mislead readers by
writing that Speaker Gingrich was fined for violating House rules
because the record shows that he did not or that a book deal was
anything other than a book deal. The fact that he took responsibility
for an error during a politically motivated investigation and reimbursed
the Ethics Committee from his personal funds marked a new day in
Washington and today, despite what Ms. Ivins may think, makes him
perfectly suited and extraordinarily well-qualified to be an outspoken
critic on the current and very real ethics scandal.
Best regards,
Rick Tyler
Communications Director and Spokesperson
Gingrich Communications
Speaker Newt Gingrich
www.newt.org