Is Newt Fronting for a Dubious PAC?

[starroute]

Some tasty dirt-digging by David Corn and Andy Kroll. It looks like the same old trick of raking in the bucks from naive right-wing donors and then paying it all out to your buddies in consulting fees -- but Newt is an unusually high-profile figure to be involved in the game.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/newt-gingrich-american-legacy-pac-infocision

On September 10—hours before President Barack Obama delivered a primetime White House speech on Syria—former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who was in his second day as co-host of CNN's revived Crossfire show, circulated a dire fundraising email on behalf of the American Legacy Political Action Committee, which he and his wife Callista founded and now serve as honorary co-chairs. "The current debate regarding a strike against Syria is a classic Washington distraction," Gingrich huffed, calling the president's proposed retaliatory attack for the regime's use of chemical weapons "insignificant" and "largely symbolic." He declared that a "brief bombing campaign" would do nothing, while other issues—the possibility of a nuclear Iran, the spread of radical Islam, and cuts in US military spending—will "fall to the wayside." Gingrich asked recipients to join him in opposing Obama's threatened strike against Bashar al-Assad and urged them "to donate to American Legacy PAC today to help stop our nation from engaging in a costly endeavor that would result in few beneficial outcomes."

There was one problem with this pitch: American Legacy was doing little, if anything, to oppose possible military intervention against Syria. The PAC's website notes that it exists to support federal candidates who share conservative values. The money raised by this email would not directly finance organizing aimed at thwarting Obama's plan. And there was another problem: this PAC, founded in 2010 and fronted by Gingrich, bags a lot of money from conservative donors, but little of this cash reaches candidates. During the 2012 election cycle, the group took in $515,321—most of it from donors contributing less than $200—and it doled out a measly $9,000 to seven Republican candidates, including Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, Virginia Senate candidate George Allen, and Gingrich himself.

[tanyev]

1. Is the sky blue?

[gopiscrap]

2. yup all repukes are dirty cheating fuckers!!!

[Frustratedlady]

3. I suppose that means Mr. and Mrs. Gingrich draw a salary?

What a couple of con artists. They make me sick.

[NuclearDem]

4. I don't know about Newt, but I've got a feeling McConnell has been bought by the turtle lobby.

[JHB]

5. Yes. Didn't even need to read past the subject line.

The man will say anything that serves his interest or pushes whatever agenda du jour he's pushing. He''s been that way since he was a back-bench bombthrower saving the good people of Cobb county Georgia from the People's Republic of Escape From New York.

He's one of the most vile creatures to have slithered across our political landscape in a century.

[FSogol]

6. Yes! That Tiffany's account doesn't pay itself off.