Infamous bomb-throwing, right wing Republican Newt
Gingrich is in town today to fundraise for Republican Governor Candidate
Tom Emmer. The two might not be well acquainted with each other, but
the fact is they are two peas in an extremist pod. Below are just a
select few facts about what kind of Republican Tom Emmer is asking for
help and guidance from.  For details about Tom Emmer’s extreme record,
visit: wwwTomEmmersMN.org

GINGRICH IS A HYPOCRITE

Gingrich Found Guilty, Fined $300,000 by Ethics Committee: The
House Ethics Committee found Gingrich guilty of laundering donations
through charities, submitting “inaccurate, incomplete, and unreliable”
testimony, and making an effect for material to appear non-partisan but
serve a partisan message. Gingrich was fined $300,000, the highest fine
ever imposed on a Speaker of the House. [Esquire, 08/10/10]

Gingrich Left Washington in Cloud of Controversy: A
year after Gringrich was fined, Republicans lost five seats in the 1998
midterm elections, a sign that the American public disapproved of
Gingrich and the Republican Party’s crusade to remove Clinton from
office. Gingrich resigned as Speaker of the House only hours after his
longtime friend Rep. Bob Livingston announced he would challenge
Gingrich. [New York Times, 11/19/98; Washington Post, 11/07/98]
Gingrich Doesn’t Practice “Family Values”: Though
Gingrich frequently campaigned on family values issues, he cheated on
his first wife, Jackie Battley. Gingrich discussed divorce terms with
her one day after she had uterine cancer surgery and was still in the
hospital, then married his mistress months after the divorce in 1981. [FOX News, 03/08/07; New York Times, 11/24/94]

Gingrich Led Charge Against Clinton, During his Own Infidelity: While
Gingrich led the 1998 charge against then-President Bill Clinton for
the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he wasn’t telling people that Clinton
wasn’t the only one seeing other women. At that time, Gingrich was
cheating on his wife of 17 years, Marianne Ginther, with a former
congressional aide 23 years his junior. [FOX News, 03/08/07]

GINGRICH IS NOT ON THE SIDE OF THE WORKING PEOPLE

Gingrich Opposes Unemployment Help: Gingrich criticized Obama as a “teenager with a credit card” for proposing a bill extending benefits for the unemployed. [CBS, 07/20/10]

Gingrich Opposes the Employee Free Choice Act:
Gingrich hired former Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis to run a
“nationwide New Media” campaign against EFCA, which would allow unions
to win workplace certification through signed cards as well as secret
ballots. [Washington Independent, 03/02/09]

Gingrich Promotes Protecting the Rich. Gingrich
believes letting Bush tax cuts for top earners expire would be a
“disaster.” He called raising taxes on these high-income folks “frankly,
crazy.” [ABC, 08/02/10]

Gingrich Wants to Privatize Social Security, Get Rid of Medicare: Gingrich said he believes that any plan to partly privatize Social Security would help future retirees. About
Medicare he said: “Now, we don’t get rid of it in round one because we
don’t think that that’s politically smart, and we don’t think that’s the
right way to go through a transition. But we believe it’s going to
wither on the vine…” [The Tribune, September 10, 2010, New York Times, July 20, 1996]

GINGRICH IS A RADICAL RIGHT-WING EXTREMIST

Gingrich Endorses Extreme Candidates: Among the
candidates Gingrich endorsed is Republican candidate for California
Governor Meg Whitman, who supports Proposition 8 and wants to suspend
the Global Warming Solutions Act that requires the state to cut
greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020. [Twitter, 05/25/10; San Diego Union Tribune, 09/24/09; Los Angeles Times, 02/11/09;

Gingrich is also endorsing Carl Paladino, the extreme Tea Party
candidate for New York Governor. Paladino has promised to “take a
baseball bat to [the state capitol]” and is known for describing people
as “degenerate idiot,” “Hitler,” and “Antichrist.” [NY Daily News, 09/24/10; New York Times, 09/16/10]

Gingrich Says Waterboarding isn’t Torture: In an
interview with the Economist last year, Gingrich stated that
waterboarding is not torture. When asked if any of the Bush
administration’s approved interrogation tactics amounted to torture,
Gingrich said, “No. As a British court noted,
waterboarding is not torture. Waterboarding has been routinely used to
train American pilots in the military to understand what interrogation
techniques they might encounter.” [Economist, 05/30/09]
Gingrich Calls Obama Administration and Democrats a “Nazi”-Like Threat: Gingrich
has called President Obama “the most radical president in history.” In
his book, Gingrich claims that the Obama administration and
Congressional Democrats represent “as great a threat to America as Nazi
Germany or the Soviet Union.” [Think Progress, 05/28/10; NY Daily News, 09/24/10]

Annete Meeks Learned from Gingrich: Republican
gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer’s running mate, Annette Meeks, is a
former Gingrich staffer. Meeks served as his Chief of Staff while he was
Speaker of the House.[MinnPost, 06/01/10; Metropolitan Council]