Tomorrow Florida Republicans will go to the polls to choose the candidate they prefer to face Barack Obama in the 2012 Presidential election this November. At stake are Florida's 50 delegates to the GOP convention in the summer.
Florida's system is a winner takes all approach to appropriating delegates. Thus, whoever wins will take all 50 delegates to the convention. It is therefore vitally important to separate truth from fiction prior to the vote.
Polls have shown movement in favor of Mitt Romney in recent weeks, although after the South Carolina primary Newt Gingrich emerged with a nine point lead. Gingrich's lead was erased due to a multi-million dollar deluge of negative ads by Romney, claiming that Newt "resigned from the House in disgrace due to ethics violations."
Today this writer did a special radio broadcast delineating the facts concerning the ethics complaints against Gingrich, the background of the charges, and the results of a 3 year IRS investigation into the matter.
This video which was broadcast on CNN in 1999 shows the result of the IRS investigation. Newt was found to be innocent of all charges, including both criminal and ethical complaints.
The IRS ruling in 1999 directly contradicts Mitt Romney's numerous claims on the stump and in television ads.
In addition, despite Romney's claim that Gingrich "resigned in disgrace" in 1999, the Gingrich resignation had nothing to do with the ethics complaints from two years earlier in 1997. The reason for the resignation, according to several sources including Wikipedia, is that in 1998 Republicans lost in the midterm elections during Bill Clinton's second term:
Republicans lost five seats in the House in the 1998 elections—the worst midterm performance in 64 years for a party that didn't hold the presidency. Polls showed that the attempt to remove President Clinton from office, by Gingrich and the Republican Party, was deeply unpopular among voters.[76] Gingrich suffered much of the blame for the election loss. Facing a rebellion in the Republican caucus, he announced on November 5, 1998, that he would not only stand down as Speaker, but would leave the House as well.[77]
Gingrich made this announcement only a day after being elected to an 11th term from his district. Commenting on his departure, Gingrich said, "I'm willing to lead but I'm not willing to preside over people who are cannibals. My only fear would be that if I tried to stay, it would just overshadow whoever my successor is."[77]
Since Gingrich was blamed for the losses, he resigned voluntarily in 1999. Thus, Romney's claim that Gingrich "resigned in disgrace due to ethics charges" is completely false.
The full House report on Gingrich can be found here.
Given that the IRS cleared Gingrich of all charges in 1999, the so-called 'fine' levied against him by the House two years earlier was not really a fine. One must be guilty of something in order to be fined. The $300,000 Gingrich gave to the House in 1997 was to cover the costs of the investigations Democrats had launched against him.
The full radio broadcast today, available in its entirety online, provides in great detail these and other facts concerning Mitt Romney's numerous false charges against Gingrich in the Florida campaign.
Being aware of these facts is essential to Florida voters in making an informed choice.
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