GINGRICH LOSES BACKING OF KEY SUPPORTER : N.Y. CONGRESSMAN SAYS SPEAKER SHOULD STEP DOWN FOR GOOD OF GOP.Byline: Melinda Henneberger The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times One of House Speaker Newt Gingrich's most enthusiastic supporters on Sunday became the first Republican to announce that he would not vote for Gingrich for a second term as speaker, saying that Gingrich's explanations for admitted ethical lapses simply did not ring true. The announcement came from Rep. Michael Forbes Michael Patrick Forbes (b. July 16 1952, Riverhead, New York) is a politician from the state of New York. Forbes graduated from the SUNY Albany. Forbes worked as an assistant for Sen. Al D'Amato and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack. , R-N R-N Raion (Russian, district; used in postal addresses) .Y., who said he had pored over the ethics committee ethics committee A multidisciplinary hospital body composed of a broad spectrum of personnel–eg, physicians, nurses, social workers, priests, and others, which addresses the moral and ethical issues within the hospital. See DNR, Institutional review board. documents released Dec. 21, and ultimately decided that Gingrich should step aside, as a matter of conscience and for the good of the party. The Republican leadership minimized the importance of a single defection, but Democrats said it could signal serious trouble for Gingrich because at least a half-dozen other Republicans had said they were still undecided. Forbes himself said that ``as many as 20 or 30'' Republican colleagues might well follow suit. If 20 Republicans vote ``present,'' as Forbes plans to do, Gingrich would not be re-elected as speaker. ``I'm physically sick over it, and I'm sick he's making us do this, but he'll be a speaker who's weighed down,'' said Forbes, who represents the eastern part of Suffolk County Suffolk County may refer to:
``We need leadership that will not be cowering cow·er intr.v. cow·ered, cow·er·ing, cow·ers To cringe in fear. [Middle English couren, of Scandinavian origin.] , contrite con·trite adj. 1. Feeling regret and sorrow for one's sins or offenses; penitent. 2. Arising from or expressing contrition: contrite words. or hiding from the media so we can aggressively pursue a balanced budget Balanced budget A budget in which the income equals expenditure. See: budget. balanced budget A budget in which the expenditures incurred during a given period are matched by revenues. and tax reform,'' Forbes said, adding that Gingrich ``let us down'' and ``took his eye off the ball.'' But Tony Blankley Anthony "Tony" Blankley (born 1948 in London, United Kingdom) is an Executive Vice President with Edelman public relations in Washington, a Visiting Senior Fellow in National-Security Communications at the Heritage Foundation, co-host of the nationally syndicated public radio , Gingrich's press secretary, said Sunday evening that Forbes simply did not understand the charges and said his defection was no cause for concern. ``I think he's sui generis [Latin, Of its own kind or class.] That which is the only one of its kind. sui generis (sooh-ee jen-ur-iss) n. Latin for one of a kind, unique. perhaps,'' Blankey said. ``When he has a chance to fully review the facts, he'll reach the conclusion that if you're a Republican you should support Newt for speaker.'' Yet Democrats were quick to say that Forbes' defection was significant precisely because he had been a loyal Gingrich supporter. ``Because of who he is, this is serious stuff,'' for Republicans, said Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. ``Because if he said it, a number of Republicans are thinking about it and may well follow.'' Gingrich acknowledged on Dec. 21 that he had provided the committee with ``inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements'' about a course that he taught at two small colleges in Georgia. At issue is whether he improperly used tax-exempt programs for partisan purposes - a charge Gingrich had denied until a week ago. Gingrich has said the bad information passed on to the committee was the fault of his former lawyer. A 22-page summary of an ethics committee report released Dec. 21 said GOPAC GOPAC Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption GOPAC Grand Old Party Political Action Committee , the political action committee Gingrich headed until 1994, did promote the course, and GOPAC employees did fund raising for the course. The report is silent on the hotly debated issue of whether or not this violated tax law. But Forbes said that the report convinced him that Gingrich should have known better than to mix the two in any way, and that he was cavalier in his approach to the ethics charges. Referring to a section of the law dealing with tax-exempt organizations, Forbes said: ``Anybody who has even passing understanding of 501(c)(3), knows you are not to mix political advocacy with tax-exempt foundation activities. He's created tax-exempt foundations Then he hires an attorney and for two years they go on the offensive and say there was no co-mingling, and now he says he didn't know the attorney had said that?'' Yet Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., also dismissed Forbes' stand as wrong-headed and lonely. ``We're more solid now than we were several weeks ago,'' before the committee report came out, Molinari said. ``And obviously Newt did take this process very seriously. Maybe he didn't read the information his lawyer has brought forth, but the committee judged that he did not mislead the committee intentionally. He probably trusted his lawyer too much, but we've all done that.'' Rep. Christopher Shays Shays , Daniel 1747?-1825. American Revolutionary soldier and insurrectionist who with a band of armed men raided a government arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts, to protest the state legislature's indifference to the economic plight of farmers , R-Conn., who has expressed concern about the ethics charges against Gingrich in the past, said on Sunday that he would not follow Forbes. ``The course wasn't partisan,'' Shays said. ``I listened to 20 hours of tapes of it. I essentially took the course, and there was not one reference I recall to Republicans or Democrats.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Newt Gingrich Suffers defection |
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