Frank Pallone: “I do believe there is a need for a wider probe of the Speaker's use of nonprofit foundations for political purposes and…”

“I do believe there is a need for a wider probe of the Speaker's use of nonprofit foundations for political purposes and appointment of an independent counsel. This information about the Earnings by Learning project which basically was trying to help third grade students read, and now we find out that the majority of the money was actually paid to individuals who were associated with the Gingrich campaign and with the Republican campaign. It is inappropriate to use tax-exempt foundations that are for nonprofit purposes to help children and then turn around and have the majority of that money used for political purposes. Now we are finding out that this is not just true in one case; this is true for a number of these tax-exempt foundations that were set up by Speaker Gingrich and that were associated with him. The time has come for an independent counsel to look into every one of these foundations. Anything less than that is really a betrayal of the American people.”