ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997 TAG: 9704180076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
As outlined by J. Randolph Evans, Gingrich's attorney, the loan will carry a 10 percent interest rate compounded annually and is payable in full in eight years.
In hopes of ending his ethics troubles, Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday announced that he would accept a loan from former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to pay a $300,000 sanction imposed by the House in January for ethics violations.
``I have a moral obligation to pay the $300,000 out of personal funds,'' Gingrich said in an unusual address on the House floor.
``Any other step would simply be seen as one more politician shirking his duty and one more example of failing to do the right thing,'' he added.
But the speaker's choice of an unorthodox loan may have undermined his wish for a quiet end to the two-year probe.
Before Gingrich could even announce it publicly, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., took to the House floor to criticize the deal and accuse Gingrich of ``lying'' to the House ethics committee. Republicans quickly retaliated by voting to ban Lewis from speaking again for the day.
As outlined by J. Randolph Evans, Gingrich's attorney, the loan will carry a 10 percent interest rate compounded annually and is payable in full in eight years. Between now and 2005, Gingrich is under no obligation to make payments on the loan, even the interest. It was unclear Thursday whether the speaker would be required to put up any collateral for the loan.
The deadline for the loan would come three years after Gingrich is required to resign as speaker under House rules.
As a consequence, Evans acknowledged, Gingrich could delay any payments until he leaves office and joins the lucrative lecture circuit or receives a large advance for a book.
The ethics committee has given preliminary approval to the loan. Final clearance is not expected for several weeks, since attorneys for Dole and Gingrich still need to hammer out the formal loan agreement.
Evans called the transaction ``a loan from a friend to a friend.''
But House Minority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich., declared it ``business as usual. It's the good ol' boy network taking care of one of their own.''
Most Republicans seemed relieved to see the issue of the speaker's sanction finally resolved. ``It's the end of a Maalox moment,'' said Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.
But Rep. Steve Largent, R-Okla., who was among a group of Republicans who urged the speaker not to pay the fine with personal money, said: ``It sets a tough precedent for the rest of us. I think a person can only hope to have that kind of friend when they get in trouble.''
Gingrich's final decision on how to pay the ethics sanction was made Wednesday night when he gathered with his top aides on his office balcony.
Chief of Staff Arne Christenson took the chance to prod his boss to end the waiting and select a way to pay a $300,000 ethics sanction. ``We need to move forward,'' Christenson said.
With that, all eyes slowly turned toward Marianne Gingrich.
Without saying a word, the speaker's wife offered a thumbs-up sign, and Dole became a lender.
But the seemingly painless ending to the speaker's ethics case belies three months of angst and consultation with experts, friends and attorneys. As late as Monday, Gingrich was still confounded by the payment issue that was dividing Republicans and straining his marriage.
It wasn't until Dole quietly arrived on the scene Tuesday with a new proposal - a personal loan from him to Gingrich - that the speaker found a way out of his quagmire.
It was not the first time the Republican Party's patriarch had weighed in on the issue.
Through friendly advisers, Dole had urged Gingrich to pay off the loan with private money. If that option was impossible, he had offered to organize fund-raisers with former Presidents Ford and Bush and former First Lady Nancy Reagan.
But it wasn't until Gingrich was pressed to make a final decision that the adroit Kansan got his audience with the speaker. In the warm afternoon sunshine Tuesday, the two men met privately on the speaker's balcony and sketched out their agreement.
In a statement issued Thursday, Dole said he offered to loan ``to support a friend'' and make ``a long-term investment in the future of our party'' by maintaining Gingrich's leadership.
In a town not known for keeping secrets, word of the speaker's decision to pay the ethics penalty with a personal loan leaked to the news media. But Dole's role as lender came as a surprise to Republicans and Democrats alike.
The normally verbose Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., found it simply ``bizarre,'' and the typically cranky Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., just started laughing.
With the issue settled, Gingrich spent Thursday afternoon working on legislative issues. He even was spotted whistling as he walked through the hallway.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS/File 1995. House Speaker Newt Gingrichby CNB(right) will pay off his $300,000 ethics penalty with a loan from
Bob Dole (left). color.