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Newt 2012
Fact Check: Latest Ad by Pro-Romney Super PAC “Restore Our Future” Contains Numerous Lies and Falsehoods

Atlanta, GA - Newt 2012 released a fact sheet today responding to the latest dishonest attack ad aired by pro-Romney Super-Pac “Restore our Future”:

Falsehood: Freddie Mac paid Newt $30,000 an hour - $1.6 million.

The Truth:

“I think less than maybe once a month, they [Freddie Mac] would drop by. We’d spend an hour [talking].”
-Newt Gingrich, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, 11/17/11

It is this remark which the Super-Pac uses to justify this gross distortion.

First, Freddie Mac was a client of the Gingrich Group, a firm with thirty employees and offices in three cities. The client fees were not paid directly to Newt, they were paid to the company, and the vast majority of it went to staff salaries, health insurance, rent and other overhead.

Second, like any consulting firm, a great deal of work and research goes into the recommendations given. Newt and his staff spent time preparing for these meetings, putting in hours of research to bring a well informed opinion. To report that a one hour meeting is the extent of their work is ignorant of standard business practice.

Falsehood: Gingrich teamed up with Nancy Pelosi on global warming.

The Truth: Newt absolutely opposes “cap and trade,” which Nancy Pelosi supports, as well as any system of taxing carbon emissions. He testified before Congress against the Nancy Pelosi-backed cap and trade effort in 2009 and led a grassroots effort while he was the Chairman of American Solutions to block its passage in the House and Senate. Newt repeatedly states there is no scientific evidence to justify a large government, centralized response.

Falsehood: Together [Gingrich & Pelosi] they co-sponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year to a U.N. program supporting China’s brutal “One Child” policy.

The Truth: Newt never voted for this legislation and this never became law. Additionally, Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy was in place in 1989, which would have prevented any money going toward abortions in support of China’s One Child Policy:

“As to US contributions to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, their continuation will be conditional on “concrete assurances” that no part of the US monies will be used for abortion and the Fund does not support abortion or coercive family planning programs.”
-US Policy Statement for the International Conference on Population, 1984

This policy applied to any legislation passed through 1993, and implicitly prohibits any US funds from going to China’s One Child policy.

Falsehood: As Speaker, Gingrich even supported taxpayer funding of some abortions.

The Truth:

“House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Sunday supported the availability of federally- financed abortions for poor women who are victims of rape or incest.”
-Chicago Tribune, April 10, 1995

Newt supported Hyde amendment language, which prohibits federal funding for abortions. This language often makes exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother, and is supported by conservative members of Congress. These clauses were found in the Republican supported Stupak Amendment to President Obama’s healthcare bill. Newt recognized that an outright ban on federal funding of abortion would not be signed by Bill Clinton, and worked to remove federal abortion funding as much as possible in the existing political framework.

Falsehood: [Newt] was fined $300,000 for ethics violations by a Republican Congress.

The Truth: Eighty-four politically motivated ethics charges were filed against Newt when he was Speaker of the House regarding the use of tax exempt funds for a college course he taught titled “Renewing American Civilization.” Eighty-three of the eighty-four charges were found to be without merit and dropped.

The remaining charge had to do with contradictory documents prepared by Newt’s lawyer supplied during the course of the investigation. Newt took responsibility for the error and agreed to reimburse the committee the cost of the investigation into that discrepancy. The agreement specifically noted that the payment was not a fine, but instead a “cost assessment.” The House vote affirmed this agreement.

In 1999, after a 3 ½ year investigation, the Internal Revenue Service (under President Bill Clinton, nonetheless) concluded that Gingrich did not violate any tax laws, leading renowned CNN Investigative Reporter Brooks Jackson to remark on air “it turns out [Gingrich] was right and those who accused him of tax fraud were wrong.”

For more facts about Newt Gingrich’s record, please visit Newt.org/answers.

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Contact: R.C. Hammond
rch@newt.org