Romney camp erred on date, context for Newt’s ethics ‘anniversary’

The Mitt Romney campaign, smarting perhaps at the possibility of another loss, issued a statement congratulating former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on the ‘anniversary’ marking the date of his reprimand by Congress.  The statement was released on the day of the South Carolina Primary, January 21.

As Carolinians headed to the polls starting at 7 a.m., Gingrich was leading.

It is also possible that Romney hopes to postpone releasing his income tax returns by focusing on his competitor’s past. This is standard in politics, and with Florida in sight, Romney is likely building as strong a case as possible for his candidacy in that influential state ahead of the Primary on January 31.

Gingrich is the only Republican candidate who has released his tax return.

However, the Romney camp erred on the real anniversary date. It is more likely that Gingrich would celebrate on February 4, 1999, the date IRS cleared his Foundation of charges. That came after the last of the 84 original charges against Gingrich was dropped in October, 1998.

There are numerous public records of the proceedings on the charges. Media reported:

“The speaker's office issued a statement noting that yesterday's dismissal of the last three charges means that 83 of the 84 ethics allegations filed by Democrats have been dropped.”
─Associated Press, Oct. 11, 1998; as reported by The Washington Post; ‘Ethics Committee Drops Last of 84 charges against Gingrich’

“The Internal Revenue Service has cleared an organization of charges that it violated its tax-exempt status when it helped fund a college course taught by former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), the organization said yesterday.”
─Associated Press, Feb. 4, 1999, ‘IRS clears foundation that aided Gingrich course’; The Washington Post

On Dec. 30, 1998, AP reported the $300,000 penalty Gingrich paid was to reimburse the committee for investigative costs. All the articles cited are archived at The Washington Post.

Factcheck.org put the charges in context:

“Democrats accused Gingrich of violating tax laws by misusing tax-exempt groups for political purposes. The allegations centered on Gingrich’s teaching of a videotaped college course called ‘Renewing American Civilization,’ which Democrats claimed he put together with improper help from his congressional staff, and which they said he illegally supported using tax-deductible charitable donations to meet ‘political, not educational’ objectives. In the end, 83 of the 84 charges were dropped. He was reprimanded for making misleading statements to the committee, and he paid $300,000 to offset the cost of the investigation. He accepted the committee’s findings as part of the agreement.”

Factcheck continued [boldface added]:

“The original complaints were indeed partisan, and overreaching, and an attempt to even the score for Gingrich’s role in the humiliation of former Democratic Speaker Jim Wright.

Bonior was seeking retribution against Gingrich for filing an ethics complaint in 1988 against Wright, who was ultimately cited for 69 violations of House rules, and later resigned as speaker and retired from the House.”

These events transpired more than a decade ago—Democrats of course were eager to regain control of the Congress they had exercised control over for nearly half a century prior to the Republican victories in 1994.

Furthermore, by the end of the proceedings, President Bill Clinton’s second term was ending and Democrats had no strong candidate to run in the General Election.

In the context of today’s political environment, Gingrich’s troubles pale in comparison to those of Democrats like Rep. Charles Rangel, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Attorney General Eric Holder and for that matter, President Barack Obama. Scandals like tax evasion, Fast and Furious, voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party and Solyndra and other alt-energy deals have become so frequent they are given little attention by media. High profile cronies of the president have been imprisoned. This is a small part of a very long list.

Romney’s political tactic is certainly in line with an overall strategy to win the nomination. However, it is likely that in today’s political climate, the proceedings against Gingrich would be viewed as no more than a blip, considering the scandals that have occurred since Democrats took control of Congress in 2006 (losing it again in 2010) and the White House in 2008.

As Gingrich received news of charges being cleared in 1999, Romney was about to begin running the Olympics in Salt Lake City (Utah). Romney resigned his position at Bain Capital that same year. The L.A. Times provided a backgrounder on that period in Romney's career.

Related Article at The US Report

A sampler of scandals and corruption Nancy Pelosi could talk about

(Analysis by Kay B. Day/Jan. 21, 2012)

Update on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 6:09PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

Courtesy of my Facebook connections, here is a period piece on the clearing of charges against Speaker Gingrich:

Newt is vindicated, but nobody knows it
Media Research Center