October 21, 1998
speelautometen online spielenNewt Gingrich: Still Unethical After All These YearsSixth District Congressional candidate Gary "Bats"Pelphrey has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, charging opponentNewt Gingrich and three political committees with failing to properly identify over$1,000,000 donated during Gingrich’s 20 years in Congress.
Federal election law clearly requires that each individual contributing $200 or moretoward any election be identified by the committee receiving the money. The identificationmust include the donor’s occupation and employer; this discourages wealthy employersfrom circumventing contribution limits by giving their employees and associates money tocontribute in their place.
The complaint, mailed to the FEC October 13, is based on all reports filed by thatdate. It cites 1,786 donations of $200 or more, totaling $1,066,598 (about 15% of Mr.Gingrich’s major individual contributions), for which employer and occupation werenot reported as required.
These contributions went to the campaign committee Friends of Newt Gingrich; GOPAC; andGingrich’s newer ‘leadership PAC’, the Monday Morning PAC.
Filed with the formal complaint was a diskette containing the 1,786 names ofcontributors reported without identified employers or occupations. The list includes somefamous names:
* Current state senator J. Phillip Gingrey, and former state senator W. ArmstrongSmith.
* Rep. Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, past chair of the House Ethics Committee.
* Guy Millner, CEO of Norrell and current Republican candidate for governor of Georgia.
* Richard DeVos, CEO of Amway, and donor of a soft $1,000,000 to the GOP.
* Patricia Rooney, wife of the CEO of Golden Rule Insurance, which has supported Gingrichstrongly while he touted Golden Rule’s plan for medical savings accounts.
Gingrich has been widely quoted as saying that full disclosure of contributions iscentral to his idea of campaign-finance reform. The complaint raises serious questionsabout this point.
accommodation room KaprunA summary table follows. Further information, including more on the donors, will bemade available on the Gary "Bats" Pelphrey for Congress web site(www.pelphrey.org).
| Major ($200+) Contributions by Individuals | Contributions with donor’s employer/occupation not identified | ||||
| Linz luxury hotels# of items | donations in $ | # of items | donations in $ | ||
| 1979-1988: | Friends of Newt Gingrich | 821 | $538,820 | 128 15.59% | $85,250 15.82% |
| 1989-1998: | Friends of Newt Gingrich | 9,407 | $5,147,022 | 1,466 | $758,706 |
| GOPAC('91-94) | 402 | $684,756 | 68 | $67,099 | |
| Monday Morning PAC('95-'98) | 753 | $956,368 | 124 | $155,543 | |
| '89-'98 subtotals | 10,562 | $6,788,146 | 1,658 15.70% | $981,348 14.46% | |
| 1979-1998: | GRAND TOTALS | 11,383 | $7,326,966 | 1,786 15.69% | $1,066,598 14.56% |
Percentages indicate the number of donations where the donor failed to identifyemployer/occupation.
Source: Reports to FEC(www.fec.gov) & FECInfo (www.tray.com/fecinfo/) per FEC Website10/12/98