Word: gingriched
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...Gingrich's victory was a rebuke to the House's Old Guard Republicans, a breed typified by the congenial minority leader, Bob Michel of Illinois. The chunky, blow-dried Gingrich represents the party's Young Turks, ultra- conservative Republicans, many of them elected in the '80s, who are fed up with their elders' deference to the majority. The Old Guard, Gingrich said, "tends to say, 'Oh, gee, ((the Democrats)) are in charge. How can we be nice enough to them that they'll let us pretend we're part of the game?' " In contrast, he declared, "I represent the wing...
While the whip's basic job is to count votes, getting a sense of where lawmakers stand on an issue, Gingrich is more likely to use the post as a bully pulpit for his legendary Democrat bashing. In 1984 Gingrich enraged then Speaker Tip O'Neill by vehemently accusing Democratic lawmakers of blindness to the Communist threat. It was Gingrich who fomented the House Ethics Committee's investigation of O'Neill's successor, Jim Wright of Texas. In a characteristically antagonistic oratorical flourish, Gingrich accused Wright, as well as other Democratic leaders, of having a "Mussolini-like...
...Gingrich may find himself caught in an ethics scandal similar to Wright's. One of the main charges against Wright is that he used an unusual royalty arrangement for his book, Reflections of a Public Man, to get around limitations on campaign contributions. The book was sold primarily in bulk to such political supporters as the Teamsters Union and Washington lobbyist John White. The Speaker pocketed a 55% royalty. The Ethics Committee is expected to release next week a potentially damning report on Wright's activities...
...Gingrich employed a different device. According to the Washington Post, he persuaded 21 supporters to contribute $105,000 to promote Window of Opportunity, a book on the "American future" that the Georgian co-authored in 1984 with his wife Marianne and a science fiction writer, David Drake. Though the book sold only 12,000 hard-cover copies and failed to make a profit for its publisher, the investors reaped tax benefits for their contributions. They also paid Marianne Gingrich nearly $10,000 for her efforts. Gingrich admitted last week that his book deal was "as weird as Wright...
Democratic lawmakers plan to ask the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate Gingrich's book arrangement. After Gingrich's election last week, Wright sent the new whip a copy of Reflections of a Public Man with a pungent inscription: "For Newt, who likes books too." When asked how Gingrich, in his new leadership role, would deal with Wright, Gingrich replied, "Politely...