Difference between revisions of "Newt Gingrich"

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'''Newton "Newt" Gingrich''' (born Harrisburg, Pa., June 17, 1943) served as [[Speaker of the House]] from 1995 until 1999, preceding [[J. Dennis Hastert]] and succeeding [[Thomas Foley]]. He is widely considered the mastermind of the [http://www.conservapedia.com/Bill_Clinton#1994_Republican_Revolution 1994 Republican Revolution] and "[[Contract with America]]" that led the [[Republican Party]] to capture the majority in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] for the first time since 1954. He was considered the chief Republican opposition to President [[Bill Clinton]] in the 1990s.
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'''Newton "Newt" Gingrich''' (born Harrisburg, Pa., June 17, 1943) served as [[Speaker of the House]] from 1995 until 1999, preceding [[J. Dennis Hastert]] and succeeding [[Thomas Foley]]. He is widely considered the mastermind of the [http://www.conservapedia.com/Bill_Clinton#1994_Republican_Revolution 1994 Republican Revolution] and "[[Contract with America]]" that led the [[Republican Party]] to capture the majority in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] for the first time since 1954. He was considered the chief Republican opposition to President [[Bill Clinton]] in the 1990's.
  
 
Popular with conservatives, Gingrich is a television commentator and the author of nineteen books including 11 fiction and non-fiction [[New York Times]] best-sellers.  
 
Popular with conservatives, Gingrich is a television commentator and the author of nineteen books including 11 fiction and non-fiction [[New York Times]] best-sellers.  
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== Personal Life ==
 
== Personal Life ==
[[Image:Newt Callista.jpg|thumb|Newt and his wife, Callista]]
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[[Image:Newt Callista.jpg|thumb|Newt and Callista]]
  
Gingrich has been married three times. His first wife, Jackie Battley, was his geometry teacher while he was in high school. They began their relationship when he was 16 years old, and married in 1962 after he graduated.<ref name="poli">[http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/House/Georgia/Newt_Gingrich/Scandals/Marital_Affairs/ Newt Gingrich: Marital Affairs] poligu.com, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref> The couple had two daughters, and divorced in 1981, a year after he began having an affair with Marianne Ginther, whom he had met at a political fundraiser in Washington, D.C.<ref name="poli"/> Court records show that Gingrich was the one who filed for the divorce, and that his estranged wife had to appeal to the court for financial support for the family during the separation.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/26/politics/gingrich-divorce-file/index.html Newly recovered court files cast doubt on Gingrich version of first divorce] Duke, Alan, cnn.com, December 27, 2011, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref> Gingrich was back in court in 1993 when his ex-wife filed papers asking, "this court issue an order directing the sheriff of Carroll County, state of Georgia, to arrest and seize the defendant and incarcerate him in the common jail until said individual complies fully and completely with this court's final judgment."<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-25/opinion/op-12904_1_family-values Gingrich Puts a Price on His Family Values:He sheltered his $4-million book bonanza from his struggling, non-trophy ex-wife.] Scheer, Robert, ''L.A. Times'', December 25, 1994, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref>
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Gingrich, an orphan, has been married three times. His first wife, Jackie Battley, was his geometry teacher while he was in high school. They began their relationship when he was 16 years old, and married in 1962 after he graduated.<ref name="poli">[http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/House/Georgia/Newt_Gingrich/Scandals/Marital_Affairs/ Newt Gingrich: Marital Affairs] poligu.com, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref> The couple had two daughters, and divorced in 1981. Liberal and mainstream media sources have perpetuated a myth for years Jackie was served with divorce papers "on her deatbed," however, she is very much alive.
  
Gingrich married Ginther in 1981. The couple separated in 1988, and reconciled in 1994, around the time Gingrich began a six-year-long affair with Callista Bisek, then a 28-year-old congressional aide.<ref>[http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/newt-gingrich-affair-with-staffer-6165256 Gingrich Friend Dates Affair To '93] ''Chicago Tribune'', November 11, 1999, retrieved January 22, 2012.</ref>
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Gingrich married Ginther in 1981. The couple separated in 1988, and reconciled in 1994.
  
He married Bisek in 2000. In addition to his daughters, Gingrich has two grandchildren.
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Newt Gingrich publicly admitted to having an extra-marital relationship. ""The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder [[James Dobson]]. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich contrasted owning up to his shortcomings with President Clinton's perjury and criminal offenses, "''The President of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge''," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials." <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1597666,00.html?cnn=yes]</ref>
 
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Newt Gingrich publicly admitted to having an extra-marital relationship. ""The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder [[James Dobson]]. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich contrasted owning up to his shortcomings with President Clinton's perjury and criminal offenses, "The President of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials." <ref>[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1597666,00.html?cnn=yes]</ref>
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== External links ==
 
== External links ==

Revision as of 05:31, January 23, 2012

Newt Gingrich
NewtGingrich.jpg
U.S. Representative from Georgia's 6th Congressional District
From: January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1999
Predecessor Jack Flynt
Successor Johnny Isakson
Information
Party Republican
Spouse(s) Jackie Battley (1962-1981)
Marianne Ginther (1981-2000)
Callista Gingrich
Religion Roman Catholic

Newton "Newt" Gingrich (born Harrisburg, Pa., June 17, 1943) served as Speaker of the House from 1995 until 1999, preceding J. Dennis Hastert and succeeding Thomas Foley. He is widely considered the mastermind of the 1994 Republican Revolution and "Contract with America" that led the Republican Party to capture the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. He was considered the chief Republican opposition to President Bill Clinton in the 1990's.

Popular with conservatives, Gingrich is a television commentator and the author of nineteen books including 11 fiction and non-fiction New York Times best-sellers.

Under his leadership, Congress passed welfare reform, passed the first balanced budget in a generation, and passed the first tax cut in sixteen years. In addition, the Congress restored funding to strengthen defense and intelligence capabilities, an action later lauded by the bipartisan 9/11 Commission.

Gingrich's congressional career ended in 1999 when he resigned from Congress after poor showings from Republicans in the midterm elections and due to being investigated by the House ethics panel. Claims were made that Gingrich had used a political consultant in the development of the GOP platform contrary to House Ethics Rules. Despite his claim of no wrongdoing, a $300,000 fine was imposed by the panel. The final three of the charges were dismissed in October 1998.[1][2]

Gingrich is currently a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2012 U.S. Presidential election.

Speakership

  • All ten items in the Contract With America were brought to a vote in the U.S. House in the first 100 days (the promise was to bring them to a vote). Nine of the ten items passed the House. The sole exception was term limits which received a plurality but required a two-thirds majority as a Constitutional Amendment.
  • Committee Chairmen were term-limited as was the Speakership.
  • The Legislative branch was cut including the Speaker's office. Also reduced were committee sizes. Unnecessary perks like the House barbershop, shoeshine and ice service were eliminated.
  • The Congress was forced to live under the same laws as the rest of the land - OSHA, disabilities, workplace laws, members, staff etc.
  • A big six accounting firm audited the U.S. House's finances for the first time in history.
  • The Budget was balanced for the first time in a generation. When Time Magazine named Gingrich their Man of the Year in 1995, they said that because of Newt a balanced budget was no longer a question of if, but when.
  • Tax rates were cut for the first time in 17 years. Included were a lowering of the capital gains tax rate, a $500 per child tax credit and new tax credits for tuition to college and voc-tech schools. The cap gains tax actually ended being scored as a revenue increase, a shift in tax policy debate due to Gingrich's success.
  • Military spending increased for the first time in over 10 years including funding for a national missile defense.
  • The line-item veto passed and was signed into law.
  • Six of the bills were signed into law by the President. (In 1996, President Clinton pointed to 13 separate reforms that were contained within the Contract with America at the Democratic National Convention.)[3]
  • More women were appointed to leadership positions in the House than anytime in history.
  • Increased funding for the Violence Against Women Act by 700%.
  • Megan's Law was passed. [4] [5]

[6]

Post Congressional Activities

  • Started the Center for Health Transformation, January 2003. [7]

Issues

  1. African-American males get the smallest return on Social Security.[8]

Quotes

  • "There is no attack on American culture more deadly and more historically dishonest than the secular effort to drive God out of America's public life."
  • “All free people stand on Reagan's shoulders. His principled policies proved that free markets create wealth, that the rule of law sustains freedom, and that all people everywhere deserve the right to dream, to pursue their dreams, and to govern themselves.”
  • “The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.”
  • If Thomas Edison invented electric light today, Dan Rather would report it on CBS News as "candle making industry threatened".”
  • “Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”[9]
  • “It is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS and with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read”


Writings

As an author, Gingrich has published nine books including the best sellers, Contract with America and To Renew America and his most recent book, Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America. In June 2005, Never Call Retreat concluded Newt's series of active history studies in the lessons of warfare based on a fictional account of the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath. And in Saving Lives & Saving Money, Gingrich demonstrates how to transform health and healthcare into a 21st century system.[10]

Personal Life

Newt and Callista

Gingrich, an orphan, has been married three times. His first wife, Jackie Battley, was his geometry teacher while he was in high school. They began their relationship when he was 16 years old, and married in 1962 after he graduated.[11] The couple had two daughters, and divorced in 1981. Liberal and mainstream media sources have perpetuated a myth for years Jackie was served with divorce papers "on her deatbed," however, she is very much alive.

Gingrich married Ginther in 1981. The couple separated in 1988, and reconciled in 1994.

Newt Gingrich publicly admitted to having an extra-marital relationship. ""The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich contrasted owning up to his shortcomings with President Clinton's perjury and criminal offenses, "The President of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials." [12]

External links

References

  1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/leadership/stories/101198.htm Ethics Committee Drops Last of 84 Charges Against Gingrich
  2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/leadership/stories/gingrich123198.htm Gingrich Pays Off Ethics Penalty
  3. [1]
  4. [2]
  5. [3]
  6. [4]
  7. Center for Health Transformation, History
  8. Gingrich to black people: paychecks, not food aid
  9. [5]
  10. [6][7]
  11. Newt Gingrich: Marital Affairs poligu.com, retrieved January 22, 2012.
  12. [8]