By His Own Rules, Newt Earns the Boot

Newt Gingrich may not be the most corrupt member ever to walk the halls of Congress, but he is certainly among the most pompous and self-righteous of the breed. Wrapped in flag, God and country, there seems to be no limit to the mendacity of the man.

Even now, when he has been caught red-handed deceiving the House Ethics Committee, Gingrich affects the bloated style of one whose hubris is so complete that two years of blatant lying is casually transmogrified into nothing more serious than a failure of office scheduling: “I did not manage the effort intensely enough to thoroughly direct or review information being submitted to the committee on my behalf. In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee, but I did not intend to mislead the committee.�

Damn, he’s good. First, Gingrich siphoned tax-deductible dollars from a charitable foundation he controlled and, violating IRS regulations, funneled the money into the work of GOPAC, the political action committee he chaired. Then he baldly lied about it to Congress for two years while blasting his critics for being on a “fishing expedition.� Finally, this lawmaker sought to evade responsibility by claiming to be “naive� about the law and firing his lawyer.

He didn’t get away with it because for once, in a long series of charges of ethical lapses swept out of sight by the Republican congresswoman he appointed to head the Ethics Committee, this one was handled by an independent counsel. And it was the investigative work of former federal prosecutor James M. Cole that nailed the speaker.

Too bad Cole wasn’t permitted to look into the other alleged ethical transgressions: the cable operator who occupied Gingrich’s office while the all-important telecommunications bill was written, the speaker’s relationship with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who threw a $4-million book deal Gingrich’s way while Murdoch had vital business before the House. But the dozen-odd charges against Gingrich were never subjected to the wide-ranging inquiry that the president faces in the Whitewater case.

Instead, the Gingrich-appointed Republicans, who make up half of the Ethics Committee, restricted the work of the special counsel to Gingrich’s “Renewing American Civilization� project. And it was the investigation of the funding of that innocuous sounding college course that led to Gingrich’s current troubles. The course was deemed by the ethics subcommittee to be merely a front for a nationally televised propaganda and organizing campaign that Gingrich directed and that illegally used charitable contributions for the purpose of “achieving Republican control� of the House.

Now that he has been caught flouting IRS restrictions on using tax exempt organizations for partisan political purposes, Gingrich tut-tuts about the effect of the controversy on the House, as if this was just another interesting topic to be chewed over in a college seminar: “[How] I brought down on the people’s house a controversy which could weaken the faith people have in their government.�

Nonsense. It’s faith in Newt that’s at issue, which is why he must step down as speaker. He knows the rules of this game because he wrote them. Remember his words when he demanded the head of Texas Democrat Jim Wright: “The rules normally applied by the Ethics Committee to an investigation of a typical member are insufficient in an investigation of the speaker . . . the second most powerful elected position in America. Clearly this investigation has to meet a higher standard of public accountability.�

But Wright, who was forced to resign, never lied outright to Congress, and Gingrich did. How can Republicans, who have fallen in lock-step behind the speaker’s survival, ignore the stinging insult to Congress and the people by Gingrich’s web of lies?

His is not a victimless crime. Misappropriating tax-deductible charitable contributions for partisan political purpose cheats taxpayers and mocks democracy. It is unconscionable that this man who has hectored the public endlessly on personal responsibility should now cop a plea bargain in which he acts a bit contrite, is slapped on the wrist and retains his power and perks.

Gingrich has demonstrated a willful irresponsibility in using the awesome power of the speakership to obstruct a congressional ethics investigation. How dare his Republican colleagues now fail to hold him accountable?