Neutering Newt

The first anti-Gingrich ad I have heard in the Northeast aired yesterday. It was very powerful. Does anyone know the ethics charges that Gingrich's opponents reference?

After winning his house seat in 1994, Gingrich was accused by his opponent of using his teaching position at the university for political purposes. This bizarre claim actually hinged on the idea of controlling costs and resources in an election campaign. If the course he was teaching was a shell for his political aims, then it would be an ethics violation. This was front page stuff for years, back and forth, with every penny--tuition cost, books--under scrutiny. Finally Gingrich gave up and signed a paper admitting that he had not consulted enough lawyers before taking the course on. He was fined 300,000 dollars--an unheard of amount for the time. He was such a lightning rod in the press his party replaced him as leader. His opponents did not stop. They tried to make a criminal charge out of it; if what he did was not ethical, they could stick him with an IRS charge. In 1999 the IRS formally cleared him. This relentless, petty attack became institutionalized and is now accepted as gospel.

Ethics questions in American politics are like brutality questions in boxing. But honest evaluations of the complaints is about the best we can do. What this means is we need a referee, an honest one. The press has not been able, so far, to rise to the level of honesty.

I am no fan of Gingrich but I am a fan of fair play.