Romney Campaign Press Release - Speaker Gingrich: Definitely Not a Lobbyist?

Gingrich Was Paid At Least $1.6 Million By Freddie Mac To Convince Conservatives Not To Dismantle The Mortgage Giant:

Gingrich Reportedly Was Paid Between $1.6 Million And $1.8 Million By Freddie Mac. "Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement. The total amount is significantly larger than the $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac that Gingrich was asked about during a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9 sponsored by CNBC, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing industry collapse." (Clea Benson and John McCormick, "Gingrich Said To Be Paid About $1.6 Million By Freddie Mac," Bloomberg, 11/16/11)

• First, Gingrich Claimed That Freddie Mac Paid Him For His Advice As An "Historian." "Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said during a Nov. 9 debate that he earned a $300,000 fee to advise Freddie Mac as a ‘historian' who warned that the mortgage company's business model was ‘insane.'" (Clea Benson and Kristin Jensen, "Gingrich Said To Be Paid By Freddie Mac To Court Republicans," Bloomberg, 11/15/11)

• Gingrich Then Explained That He Was Hired To Give "Strategic Advice." ""Speaking with reporters in Iowa on Wednesday, Gingrich said he provided ‘strategic advice for a long period of time' after he resigned as House speaker following his party's losses in the 1998 elections. He defended Freddie Mac's role in housing finance and said, ‘every American should be interested in expanding housing opportunities.'" (Pete Yost and Thomas Beaumont, "Gingrich Defends Big Contracts With Freddie Mac," The Associated Press, 11/16/11)

Freddie Mac Officials Said Gingrich Was Hired As A Consultant To Keep Conservatives From Dismantling The Mortgage Giant. "Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with the consulting work Gingrich was hired to perform for the company in 2006 tell a different story. They say the former House speaker was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company's public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it." (Clea Benson and Kristin Jensen, "Gingrich Said To Be Paid By Freddie Mac To Court Republicans," Bloomberg, 11/15/11)

• The Washington Post: "As More Information Has Emerged, Gingrich's Explanations Appear To Have Changed." Former House speaker Newt Gingrich has risen in the polls, bringing new scrutiny to his campaign. Bloomberg News, in particular, has done an excellent job of trying to figure out exactly what Gingrich did to earn his hefty consulting fee from controversial mortgage giant Freddie Mac. As more information has emerged, Gingrich's explanations appear to have changed. ("Glenn Kessler, "Newt Gingrich And Freddie Mac: Is He Being Misleading?" The Washington Post, 11/17/11) 

Gingrich Claims He Warned Freddie Mac About The Housing Bubble, But The Record Shows The Opposite:

Gingrich Claimed That He Advised Freddie Mac That Their Model Was "Insane." GINGRICH: "And my advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, ‘We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that's what the government wants us to do,' as I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible. It turned out, unfortunately, I was right and the people who were doing exactly what Congresswoman Bachmann talked about were wrong." (CNBC, Republican Presidential Primary Debate," Rochester, MI, 11/9/11)

In 2007, Gingrich Said That "We Have A Much More Liquid And Stable Housing Finance System" Because Of Freddie Mac. GINGRICH: "Certainly there is a lot of debate today about the housing GSEs, but I think it is telling that there is strong bipartisan support for maintaining the GSE model in housing. There is not much support for the idea of removing the GSE charters from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And I think it's clear why. The housing GSEs have made an important contribution to homeownership and the housing finance system. We have a much more liquid and stable housing finance system than we would have without the GSEs." ("Market-Based Models Are Key to Transforming U.S. Government to a 21st Century Organization," Freddie Mac, 4/24/07)

• Gingrich Also Said We Would Be On Mars Today If NASA Had Been Structured Like Freddie Mac. GINGRICH: "There are areas in which a public purpose would be best achieved by using market-based models. I think GSEs provide one of those models. I like the GSE model because it provides a more efficient, market-based alternative to taxpayer-funded government programs. It marries private enterprise to a public purpose. We obviously don't want to use GSEs for everything, but there are times when private enterprise alone is not sufficient to achieve a public purpose. ... I think a GSE for space exploration ought to be seriously considered — I'm convinced that if NASA were a GSE, we probably would be on Mars today." ("Policy Talk," Freddie Mac Website, www.freddiemac.com, 4/24/07)

In January 2008, Gingrich Said That Going After Those Responsible For The Sub-Prime Lending Crisis Was A Bad Idea. GINGRICH: "Let me say something beyond that, Sean. I was very jarred last night when Senator McCain talked about maybe some people need to be punished for the subprime mortgages. I don't -- I think if we started introducing a criminalization, class warfare model, we're going to wreck this economy. And I found what he said last night about going after some people, about they may need to be punished, I thought that illustrated a very bad understanding of the free market and how this world works." (Fox News' "Hannity And Colmes," 1/31/08)

• NOTE: Gingrich Claims He Was Never Paid To Say Things He didn't Agree With. "[Gingrich] contended he never voiced opinions that weren't his own. ‘If I didn't like the issue, I didn't deal with it,' Gingrich said ‘If I didn't agree with you, I didn't say it.'" (Philip Elliott, "Gingrich Says He Never Lobbied, Didn't Need Money," The Associated Press, 11/29/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Gingrich's Past Comments "Appear At Odds With The Candidate's Recent Statements That He Had Warned The Company Of Impending Financial Disaster." "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich touted the virtues of Freddie Mac's business model in an interview he conducted with the company in April 2007 remarks that appear at odds with the candidate's recent statements that he had warned the company of impending financial disaster." (Nick Timiraos, "Gingrich Backed Freddie Mac In 2007 Interview," The Wall Street Journal, 12/1/11)

Gingrich Was Paid By Freddie Mac And Defended The Mortgage Giant Up Until The Bubble Burst:

Gingrich's Contract Continued Up Until September 2008, When The Housing Meltdown Forced The Federal Government To Seize Freddie Mac. "GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's $30,000-a-month consulting gig with Freddie Mac only ended after the housing meltdown forced the federal government to take over the failing mortgage giant. Gingrich ... served as a consultant to Freddie Mac until September 2008 when the U.S. Treasury took control of the government-sponsored entity, his spokesman R.C. Hammond confirmed to POLITICO Thursday." (Anna Palmer, "Newt Gingrich Consulted Freddie Until Takeover," Politico, 11/17/11)

Gingrich Only Began Criticizing Freddie Mac When He Stopped Getting Paid:

In September 2008, Gingrich Attacked Obama By Noting The "Democratic Party's Extraordinary Closeness To Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac." GINGRICH: "Well, I don't know that anybody knows how to necessarily bail us out in the past sense, but I think the speech that Senator McCain gave in which he outlined today very dramatic differences in how he would approach it and how Senator Obama would approach it -- and the difference between the Democratic Party's extraordinary closeness to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two huge financial institutions that the government has temporarily taken over. I think you're going to see some very interesting fireworks over the next 46 days, and one of the questions is going to be whether or not Senator Dodd should step down as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee because, given his closeness to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it's inconceivable that he could be fair in writing a bill that protects the taxpayers." (Fox News' "On The Record," 9/19/08)

In October 2008, Gingrich Demanded That Obama Give Back All The Campaign Contributions He Had Received From Freddie Mac And To Fire An Advisor With Ties To The Company. GINGRICH: "I'm very saddened that John McCain hasn't had the nerve and the coherence to go nose to nose with Obama, and force Obama to give back the money that he's taken from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, forced him to fire Franklin Raines, who after all got $90 million in six years while totally mismanaging Fannie Mae." (Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," 10/10/08)

In October 2011, Gingrich Implied That People Like Barney Frank And Chris Dodd Should End Up In Jail For, Among Other Things, Ties To Freddie Mac. CHARLIE ROSE: "Clearly, you're not saying they should go to jail?" GINGRICH: "Well, in Chris Dodd's case, go back to look at the Countryside deals. In Barney Frank's case, go back and look at the lobbyist who was close to Freddie Mac. All I'm saying is, everybody in the media who wants to go after the business community ought to start by going after the politicians who were at the heart of the sickness which is weakening this country and ought to start with Bernanke, who still has not been exposed for the hundreds of billions of dollars." (Rep. Newt Gingrich, Bloomberg Debate, Hanover, NH, 10/12/11)