Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich (born June 17, 1943) is a conservative politician. Representing Georgia, Gingrich served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999, preceding J. Dennis Hastert and succeeding Thomas Foley. In 1995, Time magazine selected him as the Person of the Year for his role in the House, ending 40 years of the Democratic Party being in the majority. Gingrich's leadership in Congress was paramount in providing political balance and opposition to many of the policies of the Clinton Administration.

As a co-author of the 1994 "Contract with America," Gingrich was considered to be a leading mastermind of the Republican revolution that swept Congress in the 1994 elections. Under his leadership as Speaker, Congress passed welfare reform, managed to obtain the first balanced budget in a generation, and passed the first tax cut in sixteen years. In addition, Congress restored funding to strengthen the United States' defense and intelligence capabilities, an action later lauded by the bipartisan 9/11 Commission.

By 1998, Gingrich had become a highly visible and polarizing figure in the public's eye, and his approval rating was at 45% in April 1998. Although Gingrich had been handily reelected to an 11th term in that election, the Republican party had lost 5 seats in the House in the 1998 midterm elections — and Gingrich suffered much of the blame for it, making him a target for Democratic congressional candidates across the nation. Thus, he announced on November 6 that he would not only stand down as Speaker, but would leave the House as well. Gingrich's congressional career ended in 1998 when he resigned. Commenting on his departure, Gingrich said, "I'm willing to lead but I'm not willing to preside over people who are cannibals. My only fear would be that if I tried to stay, it would just overshadow whoever my successor is."

Speaker of the House

Commemorations

President Ronald Reagan meets with Speaker Newt Gingrich in the Oval Office, May 20, 1985

• All ten items in the Contract With America were brought to a vote in the U.S. House in the first 100 days (the promise was to bring them to a vote). Nine of the ten items passed the House. The sole exception was term limits which received a plurality but required a two-thirds majority as a Constitutional Amendment.
• Committee Chairmen were term-limited as was the Speakership.
• The Legislative branch was cut including the Speaker's office. Also reduced were committee sizes. Unnecessary perks like the House barbershop, shoeshine and ice service were eliminated.
• The Congress was forced to live under the same laws as the rest of the land - OSHA, disabilities, workplace laws, members, staff etc.
• A big six accounting firm audited the U.S. House's finances for the first time in history.
• The Budget was balanced for the first time in a generation. When Time Magazine named Gingrich their Man of the Year in 1995, they said that because of Newt a balanced budget was no longer a question of if, but when.
• Tax rates were cut for the first time in 17 years. Included were a lowering of the capital gains tax rate, a $500 per child tax credit and new tax credits for tuition to college and voc-tech schools. The cap gains tax actually ended being scored as a revenue increase, a shift in tax policy debate due to Gingrich's success.
• Military spending increased for the first time in over 10 years including funding for a national missile defense.
• The line-item veto passed and was signed into law.
• Six of the bills were signed into law by the President. (In 1996, President Clinton pointed to 13 separate reforms that were contained within the Contract with America at the Democratic National Convention.)
• More women were appointed to leadership positions in the House than anytime in history.
• Increased funding for the Violence Against Women Act by 700%.
• Megan's Law was passed.

Ethics Sanctions

Eighty-four ethics charges, most of which were leveled by House Democratic Whip David Bonior, were filed against Speaker Gingrich during his term, including claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. Eighty-three of the 84 allegations were dropped. Gingrich denied the charges over misuse of tax-exempt funds; however, he admitted to providing inaccurate statements during the probe over the college course and agreed to pay US$300,000 for the cost of the investigation. The House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules. The full committee panel did not reach a conclusion about whether Gingrich had violated federal tax law, instead they opted to leave it up to the IRS. In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations.

"Democrats filed 84 politically motivated ethics charges against Gingrich. All of them were found to be without merit. The last three were dismissed on Oct. 10, 1998. The fact is, not a single ethics charge filed against Speaker Gingrich was ever found to be based in fact -- not one. Gingrich was cleared of any and all wrongdoing.
The fallout in the case resulted in an IRS investigation and a federal court case. Ultimately, Speaker Gingrich was cleared of any wrongdoing by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, the IRS and a federal judge."

Post Congressional Activities

• Started the Center for Health Transformation, January 2003.
• In late September 2007, Gingrich founded American Solutions for Winning the Future. The stated mission of the group is to become the "leading grassroots movement to recruit, educate, and empower citizen activists and elected officials to develop solutions to transform all levels of government." Gingrich spoke of the group and its objectives at the CPAC conference of 2008 and currently serves as its General Chairman.

On National Security

In an interview with The Economist Newt Gingrich stated, "As a British court noted, waterboarding is not torture." Gingrich also believes the George W. Bush policy of "aggressive national security" kept the US safe and "blocked a number of planned attacks," but he admitted that "In the larger and longer war with the irreconcilable wing of Islam, it is clear we are not yet winning". In terms of national security, Gingrich commented, "...we are watching the Obama administration return to the criminal-justice attitudes that failed to keep [the U.S.] safe in the Clinton years," and he also claimed, "The Obama team is even more pro-terrorist rights and anti-national security than the Clinton team was."

2012 presidential speculation

Gingrich warned, "If the Republicans can’t break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third party movement in 2012." Gingrich thrashed Republicans for allowing increased spending during the Bush administration and for not doing enough to block President Barack Obama's early initiatives. In an interview from On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Gingrich said, "I am very sad that a number of Republicans do not understand that this country is sick of earmarks. They are sick of politicians taking care of themselves. They are sick of their money being spent in a way that is absolutely indefensible ... I think you're going to see a steady increase in the number of incumbents who have opponents because the American taxpayers are increasingly fed up." Gingrich noted how, at American Solutions, the organization is "working to help people with the April 15 taxpayers parties," because it was good for those Americans who are fed up to communicate how ready they are to fire some of their incumbents next year. But when asked if he is thinking of running in 2012, Newt replied, "I want to spend all of 2009 trying to develop good policies at American Solutions ... trying to defeat bad policies, like the effort to take away your right to a secret ballot before being forced to join a union. We need to focus everybody on 2009 and finding solutions this year because we are on the edge of being in big trouble."

Quotes

• "There is no attack on American culture more deadly and more historically dishonest than the secular effort to drive God out of America's public life."
• “All free people stand on Reagan's shoulders. His principled policies proved that free markets create wealth, that the rule of law sustains freedom, and that all people everywhere deserve the right to dream, to pursue their dreams, and to govern themselves.”
• “The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.”
• If Thomas Edison invented electric light today, Dan Rather would report it on CBS News as "candle making industry threatened".”
• “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
• “It is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS and with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read”

Writings

As an author, Gingrich has published nine books including the best sellers, Contract with America and To Renew America and his most recent book, Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America. In June 2005, Never Call Retreat concluded Newt's series of active history studies in the lessons of warfare based on a fictional account of the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath. And in Saving Lives & Saving Money, Gingrich demonstrates how to transform health and healthcare into a 21st century system. On May 19, 2009 Newt Gingrich was a guest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Gingrich made an appearance on the television program to talk about his book, 5 Principles for a Successful Life, and he also discussed current political issues that have affected the Republican Party.

Personal Life

Newt Gingrich has publicly admitted to having been engaged in an extra-marital sexual relationship during the period he was pushing for Clinton's impeachment. ""The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity. "The President of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."

Newt and Callista

• In 1962, Gingrich married Jackie Battley. They had two daughters together. Gingrich divorced Jackie Battley in 1980.
• Gingrich married Marianne Ginther in late 1981. Gingrich divorced his second wife, Marianne, in 2000 after his attorneys acknowledged Gingrich's relationship with his current wife, Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide.
• By August 2000, Gingrich married Bisek.
• The Gingrich family includes two daughters, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren.

External links

• Official Biography