Posted on 01/24/2012 7:19:11 PM PST by TBBT
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich began receiving payments from Freddie Mac in 1999 under a contract that paid his consulting business $25,000 a month to work with the mortgage giant's chief lobbyist, according to a second agreement released Tuesday night. The contract specifically excluded lobbying services, stating "nothing herein is or shall be construed as an agreement to provide lobbying services of any kind or engage in lobbying activities." The Center for Health Transformation, founded by Gingrich, provided the second contract a day after releasing a 2006 agreement for Gingrich's services. The two contracts paid Gingrich's consulting business just over $1.6 million and required Gingrich to report to Freddie Mac's lobbying office. The 1999 contract was renewed through 2002, and the 2006 contract was renewed for one year in 2007, said Susan Meyers, a spokeswoman for the Center for Health Transformation. Gingrich's work with Freddie Mac has received renewed scrutiny as GOP rival Mitt Romney has criticized the arrangements as influence peddling by the former House speaker. Gingrich has blasted Romney, saying he has mischaracterized his work in a desperate attempt to regain momentum in the Republican presidential race. Romney has pressed Gingrich to release details of his work for Freddie Mac, including any work product or reports completed for the company that would show exactly what type of services he provided. Gingrich urged the consulting company he left last year to release the contracts, but no other materials have been released.
(Excerpt) Read more at canadianbusiness.com ...
Watched Romney cry last night during the debates at the “vicious” attacks on him in S.C. HEY MITT! you brought this on in Iowa along with your sidekick and shrill shill...Michelle. Newt attempted to keep the debate about Obama and not attack each other but Mitt and his pacs strayed from the real issues.
Newt even went so far as to tell the super pacs attacking Romney to remove anything that was not true and even remove HIM from their endorsements. Newt supporters are more willing to vote for (gag) Romney than vice versa.
As for me..I prefer the candidates discuss the UN and why the US pays so much...we should get out! I want more info on foreign aid to nations that do hate us...I want school choice and most of all..I want the govt OUT of my life.
Gingrich did NOTHING wrong serving as a private consultant and using his expertise to make a living..isnt that what America is about? FOLKS..I am fed UP with the gop establishment, the MSM and even with Fox News and their analysts. I prefer to do my own homework and do it in depth. I have watched the debates intensely, done my homework and concluded Newt is without a doubt the most conservative and intelligent candiate running for president. His knowledge on so many issues is impressive. His record is impressive. NO to anymore establishment rinos...the Tea Party folks fought long and hard to get rid of them. GO NEWT!
Three months ago I was pro-Gingrich. He seems to have all the answers. Slowly his past started to surface. The more I found out about his dealing the less he appealed to me. He is flat out Pro Individual Mandate Healthcare. If elected he will do nothing to change the law and after four years it will be too deeply embedded in rules and regulation to undo.
How can a true conservative vote for someone backing Individual Mandate for Healthcare (remembering that Obamacare allows Roe vs Wade with taxpayers funds). As we get closer to election conservative voters will distance from him as soon as they realize he favors Big Government. Today forward, I will avoid writing about Gingrich to honor JR wishes.
Enough said, “The contract also states that “neither The Gingrich Group nor Newt Gingrich will provide lobbying services of any kind nor participate in lobbying activities on Freddie Mac’s behalf.” END of story Mitt! let’s talk a little more about Romneycare
Wrong. Newt does NOT support individual mandates. This is from his site newt.org.Mandate to Purchase health insurance
Newt opposes Governor Romneys health insurance mandate, and Newt opposes President Obamas health insurance mandate. Newt believes mandates to buy health insurance are wrong on principle, and in the case of the Obamacare health insurance mandate, unconstitutional as well.
With respect to President Obamas health insurance mandate, Newt believes it is an unprecedented and unconstitutional expansion of federal power. If the federal government can coerce individualsby threat of finesto buy health insurance, there is no stopping the federal government from forcing Americans to buy any good or service. It is a serious and unconstitutional infringement of individual liberty.
With respect to Governor Romneys mandate, we have observed that it doesnt achieve its goal of providing low cost catastrophic coverage for the uninsured. The intractable problem we have learned from experience with health insurance mandates is this: once you have a mandate, the government has to specify exactly what coverage must be included in insurance for it to qualify. This introduces political considerations into determining these minimum standards, guaranteeing that nothing desired by the special interests will be left out.
In the 1990s, Newt and many other conservatives, such as the Heritage Foundation, proposed a mandate to purchase health insurance as the alternative to Hillarycare. However, the problems outlined above caused Newt to come to the principled conclusion that a mandate to purchase health insurance was unconstitutional, unworkable and counterproductive to lowering the cost of healthcare.
Today, Newt carries the banner in fighting for the repeal of Obamacare and advocates for a patient power replacement that will create a free market framework for healthcare, provide affordable, portable, and reliable healthcare coverage, and establish a healthcare safety net focused on those truly in need. This system moves us towards the goal of healthcare for all with no unconstitutional mandate of any kind.
In response to a question, Newt talked about his duties at Fannie, and was kinda laughing when he said as a historian, I told them this model has no chance of working. Something along those lines. The crowd's laughing with him sort of obscured the rest of what he said though.
Immediately the LSM started laughing about his being paid for being a historian, when that is not what he said at all.
Newt has repudiated this, hasn't he? Didn't I watch Newt on YouTube reject the mandate and say he now believes it to be unconstitutional?
Now I don't know what to believe...
Go to newt.org and read what he says. Or there’s always On the Issues. It has quotes from all politicians.
Duh, because he is the best paid historian in the universe.
Thats it. Its enough. Newt needs to draw the line. Newt also needs to ask Willard where those laptops are that got scrubbed of all the Romneycare work product to the tune of $100,000.
Do you really believe the double talk. He can call it whatever he wants but he praised Obamacare after it passed. Go look on youtube PLENTY of Newt calling for Individual Mandate of Healthcare.
Newt makes Sen. Kerry look like honest Abe.
THEY ALL ARE WHORES. Corruption at it’s best.
Watch it, I’m in the business world and as an investor I understand Rommey. I want a brain not a mouth handling the people’s money and life. God bless.
Watch it, I’m in the business world and as an investor I understand Rommey. I want a brain not a mouth handling the people’s money and life. God bless.
You might want to rephrase that friend.
“Remember when the Bush administration was trying to strengthen regulation of Fannie and Freddie, a move that just might have prevented the worst of the housing market crash? “
It wouldn’t have prevented the worst of the crash, the most extreme lending and all of the derivatives came from investment banks and hedge funds, not Fannie and Freddie.
IIRC the Bush administration was only trying to reduce the leverage that F&F were using, but most all financial firms were dangerously leveraged during the bubble.
Yep - another lie by Mitt and another bit of proof that Newt has been up-front honest. Let's hope enough folks make the distinction and value honesty.
BUMP!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.