Newt's $300,000 question
REES, MATTHEW
Newt's $300,000 Question by Matthew Rees On his successful trip to China, Newt Gingrich was treated as America's second or third most important politician. Now that he's back, the House speaker...
...scarborough acknowledges that "if remaining speaker is the most important thing in [Gingrich's] life, he'll pay the $300,000 out of his own pocket...
...The one sure thing, however, is that whatever Gingrich does he will be criticized...
...The argument will be that since he admitted mistakes, he should pay for them...
...They recognize that to do anything else would put the issue back in the spotlight, and few have the stomach to defend him against more ethics complaints...
...The least controversial option would be for Gingrich to pay the $300,000 out of his own pocket, but he doesn't want to do this...
...His days would be numbered" as speaker, says shays, echoing the comments of many other House Republicans and Gingrich advisers...
...Now that he's back, the House speaker has resumed his less glorious role as Washington's most famous deadbeat...
...Thus, Gingrich loyalist Rep...
...Gingrich agreed to a $300,000 fine in his settlement with the House Ethics Committee, and sometime in the next three months he'll pay up...
...Another problem could be Gingrich's Gop colleagues...
...For starters, he doesn't have the money...
...The prevailing opinion among House Republicans is that Gingrich should pay out of his own funds even if it bankrupts him...
...Joe Scarborough of Florida, a Gingrich critic, says that if members of Congress were henceforth expected to ante up personally for fines, many would be driven out of Washington...
...Besides, paying through a legal defense fund still prompts the basic objection: Gingrich wouldn't be paying his own fine, which is what most Republicans and Democrats think he should do...
...He's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't," admits scarborough...
...Extreme though that course might seem, it could be better than having his House colleagues make that decision for him...
...He won't get credit for contributing his own money, and doing so will be an admission there's something unseemly about having the legal defense fund pay the bill...
...so would House Democrats, led by Gingrich nemesis David Bonior...
...Another obstacle is Gingrich's wife, Marianne, who is fervently opposed to dipping into the family finances or taking out a loan to pay the fine...
...Yet this overlooks the fact that Clinton's fund hasn't exactly been free of controversy and that there's a fundamental difference between the situations facing the speaker and the president: Gingrich has admitted wrongdoing, Clinton has not...
...Complicating Gingrich's position are some House Republicans who don't want him to pay out of his own pocket, for fear this would set a bad precedent...
...Most of his $470,000 in pretax earnings from the famous book deal (that saw him return a $4.5 million advance) was used to buy a house in Marietta, Georgia...
...one option that would solve all of Gingrich's immediate problems—and relieve him of having to pay the $300,000—would be for him to resign as speaker and quit the House...
...At the moment, he's leaning toward a payment plan—he'd pay $50,000, a legal defense fund would raise the rest—guaranteed to touch off an anti-Newt firestorm in the media and Congress...
...But if Gingrich doesn't pay out of his own pocket, he will face a tidal wave of criticism...
...Matthew Rees is a staff writer at The Weekly Standard...
...Norman ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, highlights the problem: "Given that the charges against Gingrich involve manipulating the tax code, people will assume he's once again skirting the rules if he doesn't pay the fine himself...
...The potentially explosive payment plan currently in favor among Gingrich's inner circle—which includes representatives Dick Armey, Bill paxon, and John Linder, Gingrich confidant Joe Gaylord, and Republican operative Ken Duberstein—would have the speaker contribute $50,000 and a legal defense fund pick up the rest...
...And though his annual salary is $171,500, his most recent financial disclosure form put the value of Gingrich's assets at between $85,000 and $262,000...
...Gingrich is considering numerous other options, such as suing his former lawyer, Jan Baran, for malpractice (Baran's replacement, an Atlanta lawyer named J. Randolph Evans, specializes in professional liability) and paying the $300,000 in increments...
...Chris shays says that for Gingrich not to pay the $300,000 personally would be "a serious mistake...
...That seems clever—but if Gingrich goes down that road he might as well keep his $50,000 and have the legal defense fund make the whole payment...
...But it's a sign of Gingrich's weak position that scarborough's concern over his own and other House members' possible exposure to ethics fines outweighs his concern for Gingrich's survival as speaker...
...How serious...
...The legal defense fund idea is popular because president Clinton has one, thus presumably neutralizing attacks...
...Many told me they would have been willing to cut Gingrich some slack—except that he agreed to pay the fine as part of his settlement with the Ethics Committee, and, they say, he can't look as if he's going back on this...
...He's also got outstanding legal bills in excess of $191,000...
...The Washington press corps, which loathes Gingrich, would say as much...
Vol. 2 • April 1997 • No. 30
