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Subscribe to RSSThe consulting firm founded by Newt Gingrich on Monday night released a copy of its 2006 contract with Freddie Mac showing it was paid $300,000 to provide unspecified "consulting and related services" for one of the federally sponsored housing agency's top lobbyists.
The contract between the Center for Health Transformation, an arm of the Gingrich Group, and Freddie Mac shows that Gingrich reported directly to to Craig Thomas, who at the time served as the agency’s director of public policy and was one of its registered lobbyists on Capitol Hill.
But a spokeswoman for the firm said it was unable to find an earlier contract dating to 1999 and renewed until 2002. The spokeswoman, Susan Meyers, also could not say whether Gingrich or any of its employees produced any written reports for Freddie Mac as part of the nearly $1.8 million in consulting fees it was paid.
"I have no idea if there were any written reports," she said. "This is all we are authorized to release."
The 15-page contract, signed with a Gingrich Group executive, sheds little light on what Gingrich actually did for Freddie Mac -- a question that has become an issue in the presidential campaign. It states only that the Gingrich Group will that provide unspecified consulting services for Thomas.
One of the provisions states that consulting "will provide status reports" to Freddie Mac on its work and supply it with copies "of any disclosures or reports it may be required to file by law, such as reports filed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act."
Gingrich, who originally said he provided advice "as a historian," has adamantly denied he did any lobbying for Freddie Mac, an assertion repeated by Nancy Desmond, the CEO of the Center for Health Transformation.
“As noted under the scope of work section on Page 14, the contract was solely for consulting purposes and not lobbying," she said in a statement posted along with the contract on the group's website.
According to Meyers, the firm originally signed a contract with Freddie Mac in late 1999 for the same $25,000 a month, which was renewed until 2002. The firm was unable to locate that document and the renewals, she said. After lapsing, the Freddie Mac consulting agreement was signed again in 2006 and was renewed in 2007.
All Freddie Mac reports are now controlled by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The agency did not respond to requests for comment Monday. It recently rejected a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, for any and all records that Freddie Mac may have had on the Gingrich Group, stating in a Dec. 6, 2011 letter: "A search of FHFA records located no documents responsive to your request."
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Hmm. A choice between a lobbyist, who became a 1 percenter selling his influence as former Speaker of the House and a Bankster.
gayguy,,,,,And that is STILL better then that America bashing socialist lib puke of a president in there now!
Obamass is the dumbest, laziest, useless, brainless, dickless moron ever as a prez...Wow it's gonna be fun watching Newt tear this paper girl toy in pieces. obamass the half a sissy will be crying on stage that day. Then we can restore America to it's proud heritage of people with pride and honor instead of the loser ows crowd and obamass supporters...
Yup. The hoot who sold influence to Fannie and Freddie. Well, they did so well on his advise. Must have been great advise as they paid him 1 million 800 thousand dollars. He laughed all the way to the bank.
WASHINGTON —Since President Obama took office, the debt has shot up 42 percent, to the current level of $15.1 trillion. Of that amount, $10.4 trillion is borrowed from the public, and $4.7 trillion consists of special-issue Treasury securities held by Social Security and other government trust funds. Debt held by the public, considered by many economists to be the more significant indicator, is 65 percent higher now than in January 2009.
Newt loves for his opponents to lose their cool. He feeds on it. It helps him to focus his fire. While not necessarily a bad trait to have, deny him that and he'll quickly get wild-eyed and desperate. The successes and failures of his presidency aside, Obama is as cool as a cucumber in most situations. Does anyone in the conservative party seriously believe that Newt won't completely explode before this is all over? He does have a bit of a... questionable history when faced with adversity. Perhaps someone should've checked to see how much powder was in the keg before they lit the fuse.
wasteland and you truly are - IN YOUR DREAMS - plus take your ignorant hate elsewhere
All you teatards, birthers, flat earthers, religious fanatics, mindless dittoheads, evolution deniers, Fox noise cultist and all around 15th century Republicans, you better get used to President Obama because he's not leaving office until January 2017. And if your Republicans field a similar collection of worthless candidates such as Slick Rick Perry, Pizza Man Cain, Flip-flop Romney, insane whacko Bachmann, and washed up has been, never was Newt the con-man, big government Bible thumper Santorum for 2016 like you have for 2012, a Democrat will win that time around too.
Why don't you go suck on omamadick some more...
WASHINGTON — President Obama will ask Congress this week for $1.2 trillion in additional borrowing authority, which would raise the federal debt limit to $16.4 trillion and avoid the need for further increases before the 2012 elections, administration officials said Tuesday.
It is quite obvious that, the reason the government did not release any of the details of Newt's contract with Freddie Mac is because, the administration has access to those "details", and they may contain information which would prove detrimental to the Gingrich campaign.
That is not to mention that, when Newt was forced out of the Speaker of the House position, Nancy Pelosi was a member of that investigating commitee. Newt RESIGNED the position, the guy is a firecracker, short tempered ego maniac. The Democrats have so much on Gingrich that he is now, and would be later an even greater embarrassment to the GOP, and more than that, Gingrich cannot, and will not, beat Obama.
Not so sure about your Freddie Mac claim, but I agree with you otherwise. Gingrich is not electable. He has a well documented history of unethical and improper behavior.
The Tpubic hairs seem pretty afraid to me. Newt is good at ripping people apart, particularly right wingers. However, all four of these useless people looked like wimps tonight. One of them might have rose to th occasion if they had actually answered a question. Hell, John the whinner could have done a better job. Can't wait to see the POTUS tear the last avoiders apart. Obama/Biden = 2012.
Wasted...You doing the same drugs as your hero Rushbo?
Well said guy.
What does bother me is that they never give Ron Paul anytime or when he gives good answer's like straightening out Newt, on his time in the house! He doesn't get the respect he deserves. Is he invisible?
I think Ron was sleeping, it's not polite to be drinking a bottle of GERITOL on stage .
Always can count on someone's rudeness.
I agree hummbird......Ron Paul is the only politician in my whole life I have seen who has integrity. Past few days I've gotten into this primary.
I've watched many interviews from all the candidates. Only Ron Paul stands by his word. He has been standing by his word for his whole public life. Over twenty years now and he is still standing up strong not changing his views.
I notice how the media treat him. Just tonight it was all Mitt and Newt. More then 70% of the debate was just of those two talking their dumb pointless barking.
When do people wake up? No one person will hold everyone's views on things. Whats most important is someone with integrity. Someone who you know will not do something behind your back behind closed doors. That's what matters.
Everett Andrews - I respect your opinion - however why does your guy speak for five times to the John Birch Society - why does your guy name his son after Ayn Rand who believed in objectivism , and last and not least why did your guy put his name and collected $943,000 on racist and homophobic periodicals?
Sorry you hooked your star to a falacy- homophobic - racist - and living in his own dream world - good luck with that one
Very well stated. Sort of like good old Thurm.
WASTELANDPAST.
YOUR remark to Charlie is just so typical, I am impressed. !!! LOL It is little backwoods, inbreds, little peepe peckerwoods like yourself that when confronted with reality, and, a VALID argument resort to that kind of reply.
When empty ignorant, reactionary, antiprogressive gray matter cannot generate a cohesive, intelligent answer, or properly debate and issue, it has nothing left but to utter some idiotic offensive noise whic makes the actor feel better, and everyone around realize that we are dealing with an idiot.
Roger, based on what Wasteland posted, you know he is too stupid to articulate your comments.
South Carolina open your eyes ! Newt Ex-wives affairs with other women,Freddie Mac ,while average Americans lost money Newt made money!If I cant sit with the President on Air-force One the Government will be shut down! Newt I say NO WAY!
But if Neutered is given the GOP nod he does not stand a chance in winning. His odds are equivalent to winning the PowerBall. IMHO.
Newt goes all around the subject, then does a little side step and people are saying"what did he say"!!!
What a politician!!!
Politician:
1. a person who is active in party politics.
2. a seeker or holder of public office, who is more concerned about winning favor or retaining power than about maintaining principles.
lobbyists: a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest; a member of a lobby.
YEs, we sure are the party of NO. We're fighting for our nation, our ideals, our dreams. No to foreign oil, no to helping illegal aliens invade us, no to Obamacare, no to higher income taxes, no to bigger government, no to reducing our aid to the armed forces (ours), and no to everything the commies, Radical libs, Democ-rats, socialists, America-haters, and no, especially, to the unions, the liberal media, and no to everything that Obama stands for, including Islam in America. When we see something that's good, and right, and decent, we will say YES.
And the democrats will say no to the return of the "Robber Barons".
Right on lixard.
And we are the party of NO, to a second term for der Feuhrer, Herr Obama, the Saudi Arabian candidate.
Obama and his friends have a special love for you, Gordon Levy. His kind creates special programs for special people like you. You'll have special classes, special teachers... even a special bus to take there! They don't care how they're going to pay for it, because it really doesn't matter. It's just the right thing to do. They believe everyone deserves a chance at something. Even if it amounts to nothing more than posting inflammatory, pseudo-intelligent, lunatic ravings on the Internet. Stay special, my friend.
Newt must have forgotten the old saying: You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. Newt and his firm either lobbied or he split the cash with whoever gave him the contract and he did nothing.
Even Erin Burnett and two CNN pundits all three agreed having had time to read Newt's contract that he was a lobbyist and I think that history teacher crap will come back to haunt him big time. What Mitt needs to do is drive home the fact the a Community Organizer didn't work out too well and the last thing we need now is a Lobbyist Historian in the White House. Good night for Romney, bad night for Obama who desperately wants to run against Newt. But there's a long way to go.
An astute observation. Obama can play it cool with Newt and the history teacher will self-destruct in time for a landslide victory. Mitt should simply concentrate on how he can better run the country than Obama. I'm sure the possibility of facing Mitt shakes at least a bit of the smugness out of the current administration. Of course, the big bombshells are yet to fall, as you said. The circus has been awesome and terrifying so far, just as it should be. I have my cigarette and lighter on the nightstand... I sure hope the climax is worth it.
Ya know, we Conservatives would really love it if you food stamp, welfare, gimme gimme, wha wha, Obama loving ANTI-AMERICAN SOCIALISTS would just deport yourselves to Syria, Egypt, Libya...take your damn pick...and don't forget that idiot you call a leader...and don't forget your Occupy Protestors...you can also take that whining, begging...say anything to get elected Romney with you also...Newt Gringrich will soon have the opportunity to debate that socialist you call a President, and he will nail his deceiving lips to the sidewalk...it is so hard to be tactful when stupidity runs so rampant!
Any of these men running for president are better than our current and for all of you that think America isnt worth fighting for you guys must of got you head screwed on wrong America has so much to offer if men an women still think its worth dieing for then to me that a good enough reason to love this great country even more and its sad that people are going to disrespect America our vetrans and our active duty military personel GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like run-on sentences with zero punctuation until a certain key seems to stick at the very end. I think everyone's points are made so much clearer when they're rambled off quasi-coherently, tangentially and exclaimed with an "America! F*** yeah!" at the end.
Big thumbs up, jeffrey.
jmwhite540... Thank You. I really needed some levity. Now, back to real life. :)
Hey, it's 2AM, I'm sitting in a hotel, surfing the web for politics and various other issues of the day and some guys on TV are catching alligators bare-handed. Why even bother being serious? Life's a circus... Grab some peanuts, pull up a chair and let's heckle the performers!
Besides, jeffrey thinks there's this giant group of Americans that hate the troops serving in our armed forces. It's possible, yes, but much more likely that this alleged coalition hate the extended, multiple theater military operations that are draining the much-needed resources of this country. I've yet to meet someone who actively hates military personnel individually. But hey, if people are willing to wrestle alligators just for sh*ts and giggles and some weekly face time on TV, I guess anything's possible.
I look at these socialist libs crying about Newt! The same party that re-elects a mayor smoking crack with a hooker in a motel room after a prison term, or a democrat that runs gayboy hookers out of his D.C.townhouse given a chairmanship on the ways and means committie, or a N.Y. senator that year after year cheats on his taxes after he was the one to write the tax laws! Let us not forget the one who let a woman drown and put on a pedistel as the "liberal lion" ,or even now we have a puke of a president that appoints another tax cheat to run Americas finances! That is the top of the class libs we get and you know what runs downhill!!!!
Politicians are corrupt and notoriously human? Say it ain't so! The lists are lengthy and it doesn't matter which party they claim as their own.
It pretty much boils down to electing the man who will screw up the least by the time we demonize him ad nauseum and run him out of office. Get real.
thunder,,, Go back to your John Birch Society & hide under a desk... You shame this country
All of their grandiose pipe dream agendas are massive government spending
What happened to their "Smaller Government"? All of them seem to be talking about "Big Government" including Paul tonight
And everyone is yelling for more war, except Paul...... Great job trying to define your foreign policy as closer to Obama's than the otters Ron, but I'm a Veteran & no Veteran will forgive you for excusing conservatives for cutting our funding far more than Obama has then blaming it on the President of the United States
Republicans have attempted to cut veterans compensation and other disability benefits 3 times this year. First, Michelle Bachmann (MN) suggested disabled veterans had it too good. She thought disability pay should be reduced by $4 billion. Later, Paul Ryan (WI) suggestion gutting VA Healthcare by $6 billion, which would have cut 1.3 million veterans out of the program.
http://www.disabledveterans.org/2011/07/18/obama-republicans-seek-23-billion-disability-pay-cut/
I was shocked that Gingrich won the race in SC considering his well documented propensity for lying and unethical behavior. He claims he was consulting Freddie Mac by giving them "historical information"? Ridiculous. How can anyone believe that? He was a strategic adviser, likely meeting with their lobbyists and giving them advice and meeting with no more than 1 representative per quarter.
I respect SC's right to vote, but you should be collectively banging your heads against a wall.
If Gingrich becomes the GOP candidate, it is a "theta complete" -- Obama will win the next election. Gingrich is not electable.
Not to mention the GOP will look like idiots for offering such an inappropriate choice for POTUS.
Florida, give us someone we can vote for in November.....please.
What did Newt do? He cashed checks. Like he said: he's an historian on Newt Freddie Mac check-cashing history. The rest: just details. Except: where's the work?
You may like my video about Newt's three marriages at
There are chickens in it. Everybody loves chickens!
It also ends with a splash of Santorum!
The charge - Gingrich was in some way connected to Fannie May and/or Freddie Mac.
The facts - Gingrich says he was a consultant.
The innuendo - Gingrich was actually a lobbyist.
The definition of a consultant is; adviser, mentor, counselor, expert, specialist.
The deffinition of a lobbyist is; supplicant, requester, asker, activist, campaigner, client, petitioner.
This story has been in the so called news for the past several months and a lot of accusations have swirled around regarding just what Gingrich was paid over a million dollars for. He states he was a consultant not a lobbyist.
I would just like to point out that not one politician has stepped forward, not one investigative reporter has provided information that proves that Newt Gingrich lobbied anyone. No one has shown any proof that Ginrich sat in the office of any politician, took one politician out to lunch or on a working vacation or any other activity that would fit the definition of a lobbyist.
On the contrary the worst that can be said is the he was a consultant for the two organizations. We do not know what the information was that was provided to these two oranizations or if they took his recommendations or not.
Just a lot of normal political bull crap from the elite media to disparage Gingrich and derail his campaign. There are other issues that could be more damaging to Gingrich such as his position on allowing 12-20 million illegal aliens to become legal. This story has fallen off the radar because the elite media and the current President of the United States of America totally agrees with this position.
It seems to me that the reason the elite media and the democratic political operatives are attacking Gingrich is because they truly believe that he would be harder to beat than Romney.
romney is leading in polls against obama, and appeals more to moderates than newt, so i'm not sure your theory holds water.
the "elite media" "attacked" palin, bachmann, perry, and cain too...all of whom were not electable, so I think your logic is far from proven.
The thing about poles is that they change from day to day and from week to week. The only pole that will be of any use is the one on election day.
The numbers for or against any candidate goes up and down. There are only two good uses for polls;
1 - for the stripper to wrap her legs around; and 2 - to stick up the electorates butt to convince the undecided what they should think, it's called follow the leader.
Anybody you listen to on both sided of the isle admits that Gingrich is the person with the big ideas and that is what will count between the nomination and the election. All the other personal B.S. will be put aside in this election. Romney has one big idea; to be elected President.
Whats the difference between Newt Gingrich and a catfish?? Well one is a scum sucking slimy bottom feeder and the other one is just a fish!
jimpa.... I just love your intellectual views, you are so insightful your mommy must be proud she spent all that money on your education.
Speaking of Mommys, I got yours here with me now!
Once more you prove my point! And speaking of my mommy I hope you had fun digging her up since she passed away.
I guess jimpa used up his two drops of intellectual capacity.
All of the GOP hopefuls are selling the US public platitudes about getting "America" back on the right track, hoping you will worship the symbols they present with blind patriotism.
It does seem to be possible to ellicit kneejerk patriotism from many people,...that is dangerous.
They "say" "I think the American public respects hard work and success" (we do !!),...implying that the all of the 1%ers are so much more clever or hard working than the rest of us,....and then they side step the abuses of our system which have given them outrageous advantage and allowed them to very nearly destroy the middle class to become SUPER RICH.
Enough is enough. We need the guiding hand of government to keep greed from eating us alive.
Hard work and success ARE good, American values, but they are not limited to conservatives alone.
The common man and the working class need a fair shake to succeed and be allowed to continue their hard work in a world dominated by corporate interests.
The GOP are just creating the illusion of the promise of a United America so that they can get everyone to sign up for another four years of Bush era corporate servitude.
This ain't your father's GOP. They'd make Reagan look like a communist.
Look closer. Do your homework.
If you elect them, prepare to beg. Don't say nobody ever told you so.
Just say "No" to the GOP.
Vote for America. Vote "We the People". Vote Obama in 2012....unless, of course, you are a millionaire .