Political Quotes

“Even West Georgia State in the Speaker's home State is investigating the charitable activities of Speaker Gingrich. Newspaper after newspaper, conservative and liberal alike, have questioned the Speaker's activities and his fundraising apparatus. West Georgia College Foundation oversees the Speaker's reading charity, something called Earning by Learning. That charity pays schoolchildren to read books, and Speaker Gingrich has said the charity is all volunteer, with all proceeds going directly to children. But let me quote from Speaker Gingrich's hometown paper, a paper which has supported him regularly. The vast majority of the charity's money was paid not to children but to college instructor Mel Steely and several of his colleagues. Steely, who served as Gingrich's campaign manager in 1986 and a congressional aide in the 1990's, is the charity's coordinator. Some of the work done by Steely and paid for with charitable funds apparently focused on Gingrich's reelection chances and was written on the Marietta Congressman's campaign stationery. Madam Speaker, that is simply wrong.”