Category Archives: Freddie Mac

Dear Newt:

Hey.  How’s it going?

FYI, The following is an excerpt from a publication by the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives.  I believe you’re familiar with the organization. The use of bold print was my doing.

“Lobbying Disclosure Act Guidance”
Effective January 1, 2008
Reviewed/Last Revised December 15, 2011

Section 12 – Penalties
Whoever knowingly fails: (1) to correct a defective filing within 60 days after notice of such a defect by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House; or (2) to comply with any other provision of the Act, may be subject to a civil fine of not more than $200,000, and whoever knowingly and corruptly fails to comply with any provision of this Act may be imprisoned for not more than 5 years or fined under title 18, United States Code, or both.

The law they’re talking about is the “Lobbying Disclosure Act;”, PUBLIC LAW 104-65-DEC. 19,1995 109 STAT. 691, Public Law 104-65 104th Congress, 109 STAT. 691, which opens with the following text:

An Act

To provide for the disclosure of lobbying activities to influence the Federal Government, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995”.

Hmm?  1995.  If my memory (Wikipedia) serves me, you were in the House from 1978 until you resigned effective January 3, 1999, after having been disciplined for an ethics violation in January of 1997 and a less than stellar performance by House Republicans in November of 1998.  You were Speaker of the House when they passed this law.  An Historian and avid reader such as yourself must have been keenly aware of its contents.

So Newt, tell me.  Why didn’t you just register as a lobbyist when Freddie Mac hired you?  Why risk the fine or imprisonment?  Com’on, just between you and me..  Nobody reads my blog anyway.  ..what in the world did Freddie Mac’s Director of Public Policy, Craig Thomas, a registered lobbyist, hire you to do?

-wf

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Well, Newt has released his January 1, 2006 contract with Freddie Mac which pays his company, The Gingrich Group, $25,000 per month for 12 months, a total of $300,000. (The full text of the contract can be seen at The Washington Post’s “The Fix,” in an article by Rachel Weiner posted yesterday evening. There were other contracts covering 1999 through 2008 that, including this 2006 contract, paid Newt’s firm in excess of $1.6 million, but this 2006 contract is the only one the Gingrich campaign has released so far.

According to the contract, Newt’s company was hired by Freddie Mac’s Director of Public Policy, Craig Thomas, a registered lobbyist. By “hired,” I mean that Mr. Thomas represented Freddie Mac and executed the contract on Freddie Mac’s behalf.
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