Defiant Gingrich Says He’s Victim of Double Standard

WASHINGTON â€”  Breaking his silence on the unprecedented punishment handed him by colleagues last week, a defiant House Speaker Newt Gingrich told his Georgia constituents Saturday that he was singled out for an ethics investigation because he is a conservative.

“Somehow, if you’re on the left you can commingle everything and no one seems to notice. If you are a conservative and you hire a lawyer and you make a mistake, you had better prepare to be pilloried,� Gingrich said in his first public comments since the House voted, 395 to 28, Tuesday to reprimand him and impose a $300,000 penalty for his admitted ethics lapses.

“It’s a substantial double standard that is consistently repeated,� he said.

Gingrich’s comments were an about-face from his contrite statements of the recent past, and they drew denunciations from Democrats, who noted that the Georgia Republican admitted to violating House ethics rules in the probe of whether he had improperly commingled his political and charitable enterprises and provided incorrect information to the House Ethics Committee.

“It’s hard to understand what he’s complaining about, because Mr. Gingrich admitted to the charges and consented to the sanctions,� said Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), a member of the Ethics Committee that investigated Gingrich.

“No one can accuse the four members of the investigating [subcommittee], or the seven members of the Ethics Committee, or the 395 members of the House who voted for these actions, as being aligned with a particular political philosophy,� Cardin said.

Gingrich made his remarks at town meetings in Roswell and Marietta, two communities near Atlanta, when constituents pressed him during question-and-answer sessions. Although the sessions contained mostly supporters, one teenage girl asked him how he could continue as speaker after having “disgraced� the House.

Another woman said, “I want to know why shouldn’t you resign in shame.�

After initially declining to address the ethics case, Gingrich jumped in with both feet. He blamed the news media, the Democrats and his lawyers, although he also took some of the responsibility himself.

“I trusted the law firm to have done the job [of advising him] right,� he said. ‘They didn’t do the job right and I didn’t catch them, so I thought the most honorable thing to do when you have done something wrong is to say, ‘This was a mistake.’ �

Gingrich said the news media were partially responsible for his problems and accused Democrats of trying to focus public attention on his ethical travails to derail the Republican legislative agenda. “The No. 1 focus we have for the next five weeks is to pass the constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget,� Gingrich said.

Gingrich bristled when one questioner referred to the $300,000 penalty levied against him as a “fine.� The Ethics Committee had called it a reimbursement for the extra time the panel spent on the probe due to Gingrich’s incorrect submissions.

“I would have fought a fine, because if the Ethics Committee, which is a nonjudicial system, were in a position to destroy middle-class representatives, you’ve got a precedent of enormous danger,� Gingrich said.

Gingrich proposed that the Ethics Committee dole out more financial penalties in the future--against lawmakers who file frivolous ethics charges against their colleagues. He called for triple damages against those who “repetitively and maliciously� make such false claims.

“David Bonior [a Michigan Democrat who is one of Gingrich’s chief accusers] and his friends have filed some 70 false charges,� Gingrich said. “How much have they cost the taxpayers?�

Gingrich’s remarks were far different from his previous statements of apology for unintentionally submitting incorrect information to the ethics panel and for failing to “seek and follow� legal advice concerning the use of tax-exempt donations to fund a college course.

After narrowly winning reelection to the speakership Jan. 7, a contrite Gingrich offered an olive branch to his political adversaries.

“To the degree I was too brash, too self-confident or too pushy, I apologize,� he said at the time. “This has been a difficult time. Some of the difficulty I brought on myself.�

When he admitted to the violations on Dec. 21, Gingrich released a statement admitting that his actions “did not reflect creditably on the House of Representatives.�

“I was overconfident and, in some ways, naive,� he said at the time. “With deep sadness, I agree. I did not seek legal counsel when I should have in order to ensure clear compliance with all applicable laws, and that was wrong. Because I did not, I brought down on the people’s House a controversy which could weaken the faith people have in their government.�

Gingrich has yet to address the question of how he will pay the $300,000 he now owes the House.

His lawyer, Randy Evans, contends that the speaker could legally tap into his campaign fund to pay off the debt, although the Federal Election Commission has not yet made a ruling. Whether that is legal or not, however, Democrats contend that Gingrich ought to take personal responsibility for the violations by paying the $300,000 from his own pocket.