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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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And the next thing the idiots on the left will come up with, is that Newt's father was from Nigeria!
If that's a reference to Obama's heritage inquiries that whole ludicrous fiasco was from the conservatives(right).
This is Republican on Republican smear. The only original ideas Republicans can muster is lies about opponents, distortion, misrepresentation, false promises (jobs, jobs, jobs), and new ways to rephrase failed policies. Their last contribution to America was two endless wars, six trillion dollars of national debt, and the biggest recession since 1929. Now they want to reintroduce their failed economics and provoke Iran into war. Of course, when they are in power, "Debt doesn't matter." - D. Cheney. Neither does peace on Earth and good will to mankind.
Maybe he baked cookies for the bake sale.
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
You've convinced me!
I am going to vote Obama in 2012!
I am going to vote to send his worthless ass back to Nigeria where he belongs!
Gingrich has a truckload of baggage, plus Romney's smear and lies to deal with. It is amusing to see two Republicans using the tactics they usually reserve for the general election, on each other. Republicans have been busy smearing Obama for five years. They had better be careful. Any man that was able to be born 3700 miles away from his mother may be able to call upon other supernatural powers. Republicans already give him credit for negative events all over the planet.
When you sign pledges like to Grover Norquist, you have a contract with a lobbyist, when you sign the DOMA, you have signed a contract with lobbyists, if you sign DOMA and are named Newt Gingrich, you are a hypocrite! Personhood acts etc. Who are you working for not America as a whole, just special interest groups!
This is Republican on Republican smear. The only original ideas Republicans can muster is lies about opponents, distortion, misrepresentation, false promises (jobs, jobs, jobs), and new ways to rephrase failed policies. Their last contribution to America was two endless wars, six trillion dollars of national debt, and the biggest recession since 1929. Now they want to reintroduce their failed economics and provoke Iran into war. Of course, when they are in power, "Debt doesn't matter." - D. Cheney. Neither does peace on Earth and good will to mankind.
Yea...But President Obama's birth certificate is a fake and he uses a teleprompter for the first time ever in the History of the Presidency.
So There!
LOL
Good Post.
When you are payed that kind of money they expected some kind of results.
Don't expect Romney to produce any tax returns from his Bain Capital years. One habit Bain had was taking all pension assets out of failing companies, knowing that those funds were federally guaranteed and taxpayers would restore the money out of the Treasury. Wall Street interests have many ways of raiding the Treasury and many ways to avoid paying into it. Obama lowered taxes for the middle class anyway, to stimulate buying and selling. Republicans are calling for more tax breaks for the wealthy. Ultimately, the middle class will lose through loss of Social Security and Medicare or huge tax increases, perhaps both. However, Republicans will find a way to regulate sexuality and provoke Iran into a war.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will still look good on paper.
None of this is going to get our country back on the right track.....These people are magicians with politics and words.....Politics as usual, nothing has changed....I thought Obama would bring the change, and he hasn't.....He continues to bail out every entity that has survived the 2008 economic turmoil....NOTHING HAS CHANGED AT ALL...
The cuts in defense etc. are not real cuts, just cuts in projected future spending... So the one thing you can count on, is at least 1.2 trillion dollars in more debt every year in the future....WE are living on borrowed money, and all our leadership does is SMILE, SMILE, SMILE...
If it walks like a lobbyist, talks like a lobbyist and reports directly to a lobbyist. IT IS a lobbyist.
You have a Lobbyist and the 1% that the lobbyist represents, the GOP has a lot to be proud of!!!
Dear William,
It depends on what the definition of lobbying is, infuence peddling is lobbying. If you are paid to consult, I think you would have a defined work product such as a weekly or monthly or annual reports listing what your schedule was, who you spoke to and certainly written reports. If Newt cannot produce reports then he effectively was an illegal lobbyist and should be charged. I wonder how many other illegal lobbyist there are?
Same ole, same ole. Attack the successful, and try to make it seem they committed crimes when they have not. More and more of the socialist/marxist tactics of class warfare's dumbing down of the people. This administration was/is dead set against our free enterprise economic system.
well said and nothing but the truth
The thing though is Gingrich is only succesful in making money. Remember he was kicked out of Congress and as Speaker of the House.. He fails as a human being with compassion. He could not even let his first wife die in peace, He had to serve her divorce papers while she was on her death bed. He has screwed how many women and he screwed how many Americans so his bank account would grow without concern and the people of America accounts became smaller. You have to be succesful as a caring, compassionate human first and foremost and he does fit that character at all. That is so much more important than large bank accounts and plastic looking wives.
Jim, his first wife is alive. If you don't know that, then there is something amiss about your ability to read. Apply that bs to a major portion of our Presidents, and we would not have had a few great presidents. The ethics issue was politics as usual, 84 charges by the democrats who had lost their forty year control of Congress. They hated him for taking what they took what they viewed as their right to control Congress, and it was just a democrat hissy-fit in retaliation. Newt accepted Congress' assessed cost of the ethics investigation, something that Rangel and other democrats have never paid, even if found guilty. Newt wanted the silly ethics charges stopped, and the only way was to resign. Many republicans were asked by Newt to vote for the cost assessment.
Freddie Mac and Fannie may should NEVER have been Wallstreet traded companies. EVER. A government backed agency has no right to be used a speculative trading vehicle with insider trading information manipulating the share price. Delist Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. How many shares of either company does Mitt Romney own or has he owned?
M-356362, I agree with your analysis of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's origin. I don't see why you bring up Romney in your last sentence. Romney didn't make the laws that brought those entities into existence. Even if he did/does own some of those public traded stocks, it was not illegal. Your last sentence betrays your anti-successful stance.
Newt has one of the worse records as a politican. He was kicked out by his own party the Reublicans for his dirty ethics and illegal doings. So him trying to tell the Nation that he was never or presently a loobyist is just anoter lie. I mean he is lying even before he gets the nomination (hopefully not). Then he has the balls to ask forgiveness of the American people and God for his multiple affairs while still being married. He was cheating with #2 Marianne while his first wife was dying and actually served her divorce papers on her death bed. This slob has no moral, scruples, or compassion. If he had compassion he would have waited to marry #2 until after #1's death. He could not even let the poor woman die in peace. Teh n while still married to Marianne #2 he started a fling with wife #3 Calista. So if he were to become President I wonder who will be wife #4?
He was and is a lobbyist and a cheating scum boat. God can forgive him but when his times come he has to stand before our maker and explain.
Gringrich is the rushbo running for office. The guy has nearly the same characteristics as the rushbo and has the same strengths & weaknesses. They guy twists the truth a lot. He attacks the press to cover his vulnerabilities like immoral behavior. Ultimately a loser.
Here's all you need to know abouyt the earlier contract with Freddie. Bloomberg looked into this months ago:
Gingrich’s first contract with the mortgage company was in 1999, five months after he resigned from Congress and as House speaker, according to a Freddie Mac press release.
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, according to three people familiar with aspects of the business agreement.
During that period, Gingrich consulted with Freddie Mac executives on a program to expand home ownership, an idea Delk said he pitched to President George W. Bush’s White House.
Bush signed the American Dream Downpayment Act into law in 2003. It reduced the minimum downpayment required for HUD, Fannie and Freddie loans to 3%. Do you need any more proof that Gingrich helped start the housing crisis?
Gingrich was a "consultant, Rahm Emmanuel served on the board, Obama filled his cabinet and financial and financial advisors with people who took millions from wall street during bush's tenure as president. Gingrich, Emmanuel, Obama, and many other politicians are the problem with our country. We need to make sure that gingrich and obama aren't in the president's office after this race. Wake up America, lets get this election right
The sad thing is that there is not anyone else that would want the job and if they do they are not rich enough or powerful enough to win. If someone got into the office and actually fought for the American people he or she would be assinated by a consortium of big business empires. This consortium does exist and it runs our Nation and basically the world.
If the contract to pay Newt's firm was idiotic, then it is the idiot who offered it to them that is the culprit, not the man who accepted it.
So If I offered you a dollar to jump off a bridge....and you did.
That would make me an Idiot?
Hmmmm.....Don't think so.
Newt is responsible for his actions period.
I don't care about the contract or what Newt chooses to call his work with Freddie Mac. What people need to be concerned with is what was Newt telling them. Was his "historical" advice what helped lead Freddie into the position they were in, did his recommendations involve more use of public tax revenue. It would seem that if he was still getting paid for his work, then Freddie must have been pleased with what he was telling them. This also means that they must have been incorporating his advice into their operations. Why else would any company continue to hire him if they didn't believe in his advice and plan on using it. Obviously the things Newt told them helped to dictate policy and operations, which all lead to what happened at Freddie. This is the real question that America deserves an answer to.
It is funny how alot of comments on here are bashing Newt and Romney for starting a business making it work, and because they where so successful they get pounded by the left and nobody is talking about obama and his bad dealings he has done not to mention his very bad ideas that has not nor will work. If people want to be wealthy get a education and work hard so you can better yourself. I am a middle class person that makes less than 100k a year sent 4 daughters to college with no school loans, now they are very successful young women that make more mony than I do thats is what you suppose to do make the next geniration better off than you are nothing is free you must earn it not given to you like most libs think.
Scotty, there are more Republicans "bashing Newt and Romney" than liberals.
Scott, anyone that is successful is placed in the crosshairs of the socialist/marxists, and some republicans are envious of someone that could be more successful than them.
By definition, anyone who consults for a lobbyist .... is a lobbyist. Newt made millions selling his influence in DC. To say he didn't is not being truthful.
I can just picture newt ala Nixon style shouting "I'm not a crook' all while his head explodes.
Mitt 'self-deportation' Romney did himself no favors either - he stunned newt with his attack, and then at the same time once again puts his foot in his mouth. Too stupid!
We are being manipulated by the media, they love this mitt and newt show, no-one really cares about the issues or who gets nominated. Day in, night out we get the spin from the talking heads, the media blacks out Ron Paul, marginalizes Santorum, and gives us the Newt and Romney show .. or is that the dog and pony show. Its so blatant, its a disgrace!
I had to wonder about the Ron Paul blackout, and it occurred to me, news coverage sells/garners votes. The MSM from Fox to MSNBC is so scared of Ron Paul that the only way the have of dealing with him is to pretend like he does not exist. That they do this indicates an agenda - free and fair - balanced news reporting - its a joke. Bain, Clear Channel etc - they do not want to give Paul a second more airtime than they can spare. Just goes to show, its not onlt the super PACs and the candidates campaign that promote the candidate - that's just 50% the other half is manipulation by the media. I can just imagine after last nights debate the debate organizes sitting down and discussing what a good job they did 'promoting' THEIR candidate, or what they did to manipulate public perception etc. Last nights debate, it was like, ok we are a bit tired of the newt/romney thing time to give a dog a bone, and they gave Santorum a little space to get back in the thing.
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