Romney Campaign Press Release - Connie Mack: Gingrich's Freddie Mac Contact Raises More Questions Than Answers

"[H]e has failed in his leadership since leaving office by influence peddling with Freddie Mac and now not telling the truth about it. I mean, yesterday he decides to do, I guess what they would call a document dump that was incomplete, raised more questions than it did answers. But a couple things it did point out, was that Newt Gingrich reported to the lead lobbyist and also that there's more to be learned about his relationship with Freddie Mac. I think, at the end of the day, the book on Newt Gingrich will be that he was a failed leader, both erratic and dangerous." — Rep. Connie Mack

Rep. Dave Camp and Rep. Connie Mack

"A Look Back At Gingrich's Failed Leadership" Press Conference Call

January 24, 2012

Click Here To Listen To The Full Audio Of The Call

Highlights from Today's Romney Campaign Press Conference Call:

RYAN WILLIAMS, REGIONAL PRESS SECRETARY: "Thank you and thank you all for joining us. I also want to thank Congressmen Camp and Mack for being on the call. We're here today to talk about Speaker Gingrich's failed leadership and his record and we'll start off today with Congressman Mack."

REP. CONNIE MACK: "Thank you very much and first of all, you know, I'd like to say that I thought last night—the debate—showed a clear difference in leadership. And it's clear to everyone—but apparently we need to do a conference call—that Newt Gingrich failed the test of leadership when he lost control of his Republican majority. They found him divisive and erratic. Clearly Newt engaged in activities that were unethical and wrong. So severe, in fact, that he was censured and fined by his own Republican majority $300,000. And since that time, he has failed in his leadership since leaving office by influence peddling with Freddie Mac and now not telling the truth about it. I mean, yesterday he decides to do, I guess what they would call a document dump that was incomplete, raised more questions than it did answers. But a couple things it did point out, was that Newt Gingrich reported to the lead lobbyist and also that there's more to be learned about his relationship with Freddie Mac. I think, at the end of the day, the book on Newt Gingrich will be that he was a failed leader, both erratic and dangerous. You know, we're not looking for a game show host for President of the United States. That's, frankly, scary to think that. We're looking for a president who can lead and Mitt Romney has the ability to lead this country. He has proven it every step of the way in his life. And, you know, that's why I'm supporting Mitt Romney."

...

REP. DAVE CAMP: "Well, thank you. Dave Camp from Michigan. I would just say that after three years, it's clear the president's policies have failed to turn the economy around. In fact, have made things worse. And I think we can see from history that Mitt Romney is a proven leader that will bring steady leadership to this unstable economy. His career in the private sector, where he provided the leadership and the vision to turn around troubled companies in order to create jobs, as he said last night, many of them middle class jobs. And that's what we need in our president. Again, he showed leadership when he turned the Olympics around which were mired in scandal and financial disarray. Again, he's had executive experience in government as Governor of Massachusetts by helping turn Massachusetts around and fighting one of the most liberal legislatures in the nation. So I think he's got a proven record. He will get it done. He will turn things around. He has done that in his record. Again, I would just area, particularly welfare reform, which I was active in. And I think by anyone's measure, they would say that was one of our biggest accomplishments as Republicans in the '90s while Newt was speaker. But I will say that there was a time—and everyone may not remember—but President Clinton vetoed that legislation twice. And, as speaker, Newt wanted to force him to veto it a third time. And at that time, Representative John Ensign and I gathered over a hundred signatures of Republicans to go against our leadership and against Newt. We were fighting to get good conservative, Republican policies into law. And if had not stood up, at that time, to our leadership, welfare reform may never have happened. So again, our unemployment rate has been over 8 percent for thirty-five straight months. States like Michigan, my home state, and Florida have been hit hardest by this recession. We again are in a jobs crisis and the middle class is getting crushed. The president has made it harder to get a job, harder to buy a home, harder to send our kids to college, harder to believe that tomorrow is better than yesterday. That's why I'm supporting Mitt Romney because he can get the job done, he can turn this economy around and he can help put government in a place to help foster job creation and employment again in this country. Thank you."

...

(10:41)

OPERATOR: "Our final question in queue is Scott Powers with the Orlando Sentinel. Please go ahead."

SCOTT POWERS: "Thanks very much and thank you Congressmen for holding this conference call. Congressman Mack, you started off by saying that the releases of the Freddie Mac documents raised more questions than they answered. Specifically what questions are on your mind?"

MACK: "Well, first of all, it's only one year and we know that the contractual relationship with Newt was much longer than that. That's number one. Two, in the documents, it's very vague. It doesn't give any detail. A lot of the exhibits that were supposed to be included weren't and I think that the reason there are more questions is because Newt Gingrich failed to tell the truth last night about his relationship in these documents. You know, it doesn't pass the smell test. Clearly, from I think most respects it looks like they're hiding something. And in Florida, where the housing crisis has been so severe, you have a candidate running for President who was lining his pockets from Freddie Mac and reporting directly to the lead lobbyist for Freddie Mac. So I think there's a lot of questions that Floridians would have. What was Newt doing? We're not buying this story. He needs to come clean, tell us what the relationship was, what his influence was, what he was offering in suggestions, suggesting to Freddie Mac. And I think it's an important issue in Florida, where the housing crisis and the decline in jobs are so important to the voters of Florida."

POWERS: "Thank you Congressman."

MACK: "You're welcome."

OPERATOR: "Our next question comes from Marissa Shultz with the Detroit News. Go ahead."

MARISSA SHULTZ, DETROIT NEWS: "Hi, just a follow-up: with Florida and Michigan, as you both have noted, with high unemployment and foreclosure problems, what lessons, if any, can we learn in Michigan, based on how this campaign shakes out in Florida this week?"

CAMP: "Dave Camp here. Let me start and then Connie, if you want to jump in, go ahead. Look, I think we've got to look at the economy and it's all about jobs. And we are, as I said earlier, this is the longest period of sustained high unemployment since the Great Depression. And the President has dismissed his economic team, Secretary Geithner wanted to leave, he wouldn't let him. He's basically dismissed his entire economic team and he is the architect of all of these economic policies that have failed and has failed to turn the economy around and has actually made things worse. The economy is still very unstable and that's why we need Mitt Romney's proven leadership, his steady leadership. And as Connie noted, if Newt was an historian, we're going to have a flood of history majors in every college across America because he was the most highly paid historian in America. But we really do need that experience and understanding of how the private sector works. And the leadership that was brought there, that helped create jobs, middle class jobs. And again, he's been able to be a leader at whatever area or venue he's been in, whether it's been in the private sector, whether it's been in non-profit at the Olympics or whether it's been as Governor of Massachusetts in an executive role. And so those are the reasons why I think... I think those are going to be important in Michigan. He does have a plan. I think certainly tax reform is something that will help up get the economy moving again and as I've said will help job creation and economic growth. Those are, I think, going to be important points that people want to hear about in Michigan. The ability to lead us as President of the United States. And also implement, not just have one idea after another, and actually get those ideas implemented to a successful conclusion with a large organization and I think those are really important points that will be important in Michigan as we move forward."

[CROSSTALK]

MACK: "I was just going to add, you know, in Florida, clearly this whole issue with Freddie Mac is a very important one because, I mean as you drive up and down the streets just here in my home town of Ft. Myers, there are empty homes, foreclosed homes. I get calls all the time from friends, constituents that have been really hurt by this. And Newt Gingrich's involvement with that is very troubling. The other issue—I'd say—that's coming out of Florida is jobs. We're at about almost 10 percent unemployment and still, you know, we have Newt Gingrich, who seems to want to take credit for job creation when he was speaker and we all know that the job creators are the individuals—they're my neighbors, they are the individuals that I go to church with. They're the ones that take risks. And I just—again it just points to this erratic, kind-of dangerous, unreliable—if you want to call it leadership from Newt Gingrich. That I think will be a failure for America."