'Squeaker' of the House - Gingrich faces ethics probe

by Tim Wheeler & Les Bayless

This article was reprinted from the January 11, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

WASHINGTON - The Republican-majority House reelected Newt Gingrich as Speaker Jan. 7 by a razor-thin margin despite his admission of guilt on all charges leveled against him by the House Ethics Committee.

Democratic Whip David Bonior of Michigan accused the GOP majority of rushing ahead to reelect Gingrich before the Ethics Committee completes its probe.

"We've taken a tremendous step backwards," he said. "There's an ethical cloud hanging over the House that will only get darker in the days to come." Bonior earlier blasted the entire House procedure as "Alice-in-Wonderland" justice, "first the verdict, then the trial."

There were loud cheers and much backslapping among the GOP lawmakers the instant the vote tally was completed. But Gingrich himself struck a contrite pose.

"To the degree that I was too brash, too self confident or too pushy, I apologize," he told the lawmakers and their families crowded into the ornate House chamber. Gingrich knows that he still faces public hearings before the Ethics Committee and the possibility that more revelations or an angry outcry from the people may force the House to censure him.

Nine Republicans broke ranks either voting "present" or for other candidates. Since the GOP's majority was whittled to only 20 seats in last November's election, the defection of one more Republican could have defeated Gingrich. He won with less than a majority of the House, 216 votes, compared to 205 votes for Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt of Missouri.

One of the GOP defectors, Constance Morella of Maryland, said it is "unconscionable" that the House would vote before the ethics probe was completed. She voted "present."

Jim Leach (R-Iowa) told Gingrich to his face Monday that he is "ethically damaged" and should step aside. Leach's blast touched off a panicky round of arm twisting by Gingrich and his minions to whip wavering lawmakers into line. In their haste, the GOP majority voted 222 to 210 to kill a motion by Rep. Vic Fazio to elect an interim Speaker pending the completion of the investigation.

Gingrich has admitted that he used two tax exempt foundations to funnel millions of dollars in contributions to his political action committee, GOPAC. Gingrich also admitted that he gave misleading information about a televised college course he taught, claiming it was "non- partisan" when in fact the subject was the drive by right- wing extremists in the GOP to take over the House.

Most of the extremist GOP Congressmen elected in 1994 and in 1996 were recipients of money from the GOPAC slush fund. Gingrich himself "bought" his reelection, raking in a record $6.3 million in corporate contributions in last fall's election, far outstripping any other House candidate.

Ethics Committee Special Counsel James M. Cole had requested a few more days beyond Jan. 21 to complete the investigation. But the GOP majority rushed ahead to approve a measure that sets Jan. 21 as the deadline for the subcommittee probing Gingrich to go out of business - part of the strategy to bury the ethics probe.

Jim Matlack, director of the Washington office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), told the World, "Gingrich's misuse of funds - and lying to Congress about it for two years - should disqualify him for any high honor or leadership position in the House of Representatives. These are not trivial charges. He knew exactly what he was doing. It was part of the whole Republican effort to raise money for the 1994 elections."

In 1989, Gingrich called for public hearings on a book ghostwritten for then-House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas), charging that Wright had accepted under-the-table advance payments in violation of House rules.

At the time, Gingrich piously intoned, "The rules normally applied by the Ethics Committee ... are insufficient in an investigation of the Speaker of the House. Clearly, this investigation has to meet a higher standard of public accountability and integrity."

**Who likes Newt? No one!**

Labor leaders interviewed by the World on Jan. 8 were unanimous in condemning the election of Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House in the 105th Congress.

Stewart Acuff, president of the Atlanta Labor Council who led 300 union and community activists in a two-hour occupation of Gingrich's district office in 1995, told the World it was "fine" with him because Gingrich sitting in the Speaker's chair "discredits the whole right-wing program, and their claim as guardians of public morality."

Bill Moore, communications director of the Minnesota AFL- CIO, said "the only thing Newt is sorry about is that he got caught. He's definitely weakened - but our work is still there.

"After all he's an ideologue and did what he did in furtherance of his right wing political orientation - and none of that has changed."

Moore expressed fear that "some of the Democrats" will go along with Gingrich. "That means that working families will have to keep the heat on the whole Congress and the president, too. That is our responsibility."

Charles "Chuck" Deppert, president of the Indiana State AFL- CIO, said Gingrich came into the 104th Congress "thinking and acting like he was an eagle. But he's now a wounded vulture flying in circles. That will make the 105th Congress more interesting."

Deppert said that Gingrich and "the whole Congress" should learn some lessons from last year's election. "All the 'flaming liberals' were returned to Congress while that right-winger Bob Dornan was dumped out in California. Even Gingrich should learn something from that."

Deppert warned, "Now we've got to keep pressure on Congress and the White House as well. After all, he's (President Clinton) not one of us."

Fred Ascarate, national coordinator of Jobs with Justice, said there was more at stake in the 105th Congress than just who will be Speaker. "I'm worried that the labor movement and the progressive community will get boxed into reacting rather than fighting for a proactive agenda regardless of whether or not Gingrich survives."

Ascarate said Congress needs to deal with "labor law reform, the welfare of the poor and extension of the safety net." He expressed the hope that the Jan. 9 meeting of the House Progressive Caucus would provide such an agenda. "It's impossible to see any progress in the 105th Congress without a fight around issues that can rally working people," he added.

Kent Darr, communications director of the Ohio AFL-CIO, agrees. "The 1996 elections show that the people reject the anti-labor, anti-worker policies of the right-wing extremists. That's why they have been forced to create a public image that they are a bunch of warm and cuddly teddy bears."

Jerry Butkiewicz, secretary-treasurer of the San Diego- Imperial Counties Labor Council, said, "Newt Gingrich and the other extremists in Congress act as though they are 'holier than thou' and then elect someone who broke the law to the third highest position in the land."

Butkiewicz said, "Although we wounded them in the 1996 elections, the right wing won't stop their attack on working people - they will just be more sneaky. That means we have to be on our toes."

Florence Stancliffe, secretary-treasurer of the Vermont State Labor Council, said Gingrich's "slim majority in the Speaker's election was not much of a mandate," and criticized the ethics committee and the GOP leadership for doing things "bass akwards" in allowing the election for Speaker to take place before the committee made their report on Gingrich. She said the top issues before Congress are education, welfare reform and the whole question of the creditability of public officials."

- Fred Gaboury and Les Bayless