Romney Campaign Press Release - Business Leader: Newt Gingrich Praised Private Equity in Paid Speech

"And the thing that bothers me about Newt Gingrich, if I may, Newt Gingrich spoke at my annual meeting two years ago. We paid him $40,000, and this gentleman praised private equity more fulsomely than I could ever do it." - Paul Levy, JLL Partners Managing Director Bloomberg TV January 18, 2012

Segment From Bloomberg TV:

PAUL LEVY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, JLL PARTNERS: "As I said to somebody the other day, Mitt Romney is playing with a strong suit. Bain Capital is a fantastic firm, it has a great reputation. I've met several of the people along the way, they are wonderful people, they are thoughtful people. Bain is known for its careful analysis, the work that they do, they are an outgrowth of Bain Consulting which is a fantastic firm as well. It makes no sense, the limited partner community, the investment community knows how good Bain is. They have rewarded Bain with higher-than-average incentive fees, and God bless them. They have done a great job, and by the way, they are not alone. There are, really, there are dozens of high quality firms. These people, I think, should step forward and speak to their achievements. And by the way, not every deal goes well. And the thing that bothers me about Newt Gingrich, if I may, Newt Gingrich spoke at my annual meeting two years ago. We paid him $40,000, and this gentleman praised private equity more fulsomely than I could ever do it. Ok, I can -"

BLOOMBERG'S STEPHANIE RUHLE: "Do you have that on video?"

PAUL LEVY: "I can give you the check. Ok? A copy of the check."

BLOOMBERG'S ERIK SCHATZKER: "The canceled check?"

PAUL LEVY: "Yeah. We paid to the Washington Speakers Bureau for Newt Gingrich to come and speak. He was great, he gave a great evening, everybody had fun, he fielded a lot of questions, he gave us a lot of time. But nobody praised private equity, risk taking, --"

STEPHANIE RUHLE: "Wow."

PAUL LEVY: "-- capital, more fulsomely than Newt Gingrich."...

ERIK SCHATZKER: "I was going to thank you for coming here and standing up for the industry, because this is a debate that is not going away. People like you need to come and answer questions from people like me and Stephanie. But that was much better. Paying Newt Gingrich $40,000 in fact we would..."

PAUL LEVY: "We did, we were happy to do it, he was great."

ERIK SCHATZKER:  "-- love to see a copy of the canceled check."...

ERIK SCHATZKER: "This debate clearly isn't going away."

Click HERE to watch the clip