Freddie pays “Historian” Newt $1.6M
Yesterday it came out that mortgage behemoth Freddie Mac paid Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich $300k in consulting fees. It now turns out, that’s nonsense.
The number is actually $1.6 million. This, for services Newt described under the heading, “Historian.”
In a related story, historians from everywhere are flooding Freddie Mac with resumes.
Anonymous Freddie Mac officials have charged that “Gingrich was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it.” In short, he was to lobby Congress in behalf of Freddie.
So far Newt has vigorously denied the lobbying charge. But Freddie chief lobbyist Mitchell Delk indicates Newt at least was informed how Republicans could leverage Freddie propaganda to gain Hispanic votes, thus making the housing fund desirable for the polticians to preserve:
“I spent about three hours with him talking about the substance of the issues and the politics of the issues, and he really got it,” said Delk, adding that the two discussed “what the benefits are to communities, what the benefits could be for Republicans and particularly their relationship with Hispanics.”