[Conscience of a Conservative]

So all this talk about Newt getting “millions” or even “1.5 million” from Fannie Mae is BS. The money came in over a period of years, and as the contract indicates, it was paid at a maximum of $25,000 per month, at a completely reasonable billing rate for Newt’s services.

That's not exactly an accurate description of the contract's terms. He wasn't paid by the hour, he was paid a flat rate of $25,000 per month, without regard to how many hours he worked. The hourly rate people have been discussing in this thread is based on that monthly rate, and assumes that Newt worked 20-40 hours a week on this contract. There is no indication, in the contract or anywhere else, of how many hours/week Newt worked under this contract.

[maryz]

There is no indication, in the contract or anywhere else, of how many hours/week Newt worked under this contract.

Wouldn't it also have covered, say, research assistants, with the costs of overhead and secretarial calculated in?

[BagCamAddict]

True. Sort of. The flat rate is for each full month, so apparently it would be prorated for less than a full month (which is why I used the phrasing of "a maximum of $25,000 per month).

And we can certainly over-analyze it if we want to.

I broke it down to an hourly rate for easy mental comparison, because we can assume that the Gingrich Group did SOME work for that $25,000, as opposed to it being a "retainer" where the Gingrich Group does no work but is on standby in case the client needs to use them. The $25,000 was to be paid "in exchange for" the Gingrich Group providing "consulting and related services as requested."

So you're right, it was not an hourly rate, it was a lump sum for a full month, assuming SOME work was done during that full month.