REP. NEWT GINGRICH (R-GA)

• In late January 1992 (according to his 1992 Financial Disclosure Report, the date seems to be January 25, 1992), Rep. Gingrich made a GOPAC trip to Decatur, Alabama. Decatur is a mere 20 miles from Huntsville, Alabama--home to Boeing's Space Station construction facilities as part of their Defense and Space Group. Boeing is a leading contractor for the NASA Space Station, and two-thirds of Boeing's employees in Huntsville work directly on the Space Station project.

Two - three weeks after his GOPAC trip to Decatur (on February 14, 1992), Rep. Gingrich's wife purchased between 1,000 and 15,000 dollars worth of stock in Boeing.

During this time of the year, Boeing was very much concerned about possible cutbacks in the Space Station program. In fact, several Democrats proposed a full elimination of the Space Station. Elimination of the program could mean as much as $ 6.2 billion in lost revenue to Boeing.

Three weeks after Ms. Gingrich's purchase (on March 3, 1992), the House Introduced H.R. 4364: NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT. Rep. Roemer (D-IN) offered an amendment to H.R. 4364 that would have killed funding for the Space Station. On April 29, 1992, Rep. Gingrich voted NAY on the Roemer amendment. In fact, Rep. Gingrich voted NAY on three other attempts to kill funding for the Space Station (House Roll #'s 334; 263; 281).

In August 1993, Boeing won the prime-contractor role for the Space Station.

POLITICAL MONEY NOTES: Rep. Gingrich accepts PAC money from Boeing ($1,000 in 1994).

• On June 1, 1992, Rep. Gingrich's wife purchased between 1,000 and 15,000 dollars worth of stock in Morton International (they manufacture specialty chemicals, salt and automotive airbags).

Ms. Gingrich's purchase coincides with an aggressive effort by Morton International to pressure Congress into passing legislation that would require gasoline producers to color-code their products according to octane levels. Morton International would of course supply the color dyes!

Special investigations revealed that consumers were paying "premium-octane" prices for "regular-octane" gasoline that had been switched at the pumps. A 1990 General Accounting Office study estimated the rip-off to be $600 million per year. Including diesel fuel into the "equation," the fraud totals $1.6 billion per year.

Now, legislation to help fix the rip-off problem had been introduced in June of 1991 by Rep. Sharp (D-IN). The bill was H.R. 2578: OCTANE DISPLAY AND DISCLOSURE ACT (Not Enacted). This bill specifically mentioned the use of color dyes for octane ratings, and seemed to disappear into the legislative wasteland.

Jump forward to May/June 1992...another bill sponsored by Rep. Sharp was being actively debated in Congress. The bill was H.R. 776: COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY ACT (Became P.L. 102-486 October 24, 1992). Title XV of this law is OCTANE DISPLAY AND DISCLOSURE; Section 1501 of Title XV is CERTIFICATION AND POSTING OF AUTOMOTIVE FUEL RATINGS. In other words, Rep. Sharp's 1991 bill was tucked-into H.R. 776. The language in Title XV does not specifically refer to color dyes, but it is clear that Morton International would have been very happy with the outcome (see exact text to support my contentions).

Ms. Gingrich purchased her stock in Morton four days after the House voted to PASS H.R. 776, clearing the measure for the Senate. Rep. Gingrich voted AYE on H.R. 776.

According to a May 16, 1992 article in the Star Tribune, petroleum marketers are in favor of using color dyes in gasoline and diesel fuels (naturally, they can pass the cost on down to the consumers). This is interesting because Rep. Gingrich reports receiving $2,000 for a speech given to the National Retail Federation on May 19, 1992. One year later (May 18, 1993), Rep. Gingrich received $1,000 for a speech to the Petroleum Marketers Association.

• In 1992, Rep. Gingrich's wife made several stock transactions with pharmaceutical companies. Here are the transactions:

Syntex (P) 2/14/92 $1,000 - $15,000

Syntex (P) 6/18/92 $1,000 - $15,000

Alza Corp. C1 A Del (P) 6/1/92 $1,000 - $15,000

Syntex (S) 10/23/92 $1,000 - $15,000

During this time, the pharmaceutical industry was locked in a fight with Congress over a bill introduced by Rep. Waxman (D-CA). The bill was H.R. 3642: FOOD, DRUG, COSMETIC AND DEVICE ENFORCEMENT AMENDMENTS ACT ...To enhance the enforcement authority of the Food and Drug Administration (Introduced October 24, 1991; referred to House Energy and Commerce; last action October 5, 1992). According to an article in Biotechnology Newswatch (January 6, 1992), H.R. 3642 "Provides FDA with new enforcement powers, including subpoena authority, expanded inspection authority, recall authority, and civil money penalties."

For the battle, the pharmaceutical industry brought "anti-FDA experts" from academe to counter H.R. 3642. One academic leading the charge for the pharmaceutical industry was Paul Rubin (Professor of Economics at Emory University in Atlanta, GA and adjunct scholar with the American Enterprise Institute). Dr. Rubin's assault included 1) an OP-ED piece in the Washington Times (February 16, 1992)--a thorough trashing of Dr. Kessler at the FDA, and 2) an 11,279 word report for the Heritage Foundation (June 11, 1992) entitled "Regulatory Relief or Power Grab: Should Congress Expand FDA's Enforcement Authority?"

According to a November 3, 1994 article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Dr. Rubin is now offering a course at Emory entitled "Economic Analysis of the Gingrich Program" based on Gingrich's controversial videotape course.

POLITICAL MONEY NOTES: On March 27, 1992 (1 1/2 months after the first Syntex purchase), Rep. Gingrich accepted a $500 campaign contribution from the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. This one contribution is the only recorded contribution from this PAC to Rep. Gingrich over the period 1987-1994.

MORE POLITICAL MONEY NOTES: On November 5, 1990, Rep. Gingrich accepted a $500 campaign contribution from Ms. Sarah A. O'Dowd of Palo Alto, CA. Ms. O'Dowd is a partner with the law-firm Heller, Ehrman, White and McAuliffe. Heller, et al. represent both Alza Corp. and Syntex! Rep. Gingrich is the only member of the U.S. Congress to receive a campaign contribution from Ms. O'Dowd over the period 1987-1994.

PERSONAL NOTES: Rep. Gingrich's personal contempt for Dr. Kessler of the FDA is well documented. Rep. Gingrich has called Dr. Kessler a "bully and a thug;" he has called the FDA the "leading job-killer in America."

• On October 23, 1992, Rep. Gingrich's wife purchased between 1,000 and 15,000 dollars worth of a SECONDARY PUBLIC OFFERING in National Vision Associates (an eye-wear company based in Lawrenceville, GA that operates thru the Walmart organization). The offering was priced at $16 per share.

One month earlier, the Coalition of Americans to Save the Economy had filed a request for an "Initial Phase Investigation of Buyer Power Activities" with the Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Competition against Walmart for discriminatory pricing practices.

On October 26, 1992, (3 days after Ms. Gingrich's purchase) Weekly Home Furnishings featured an interview with David Glass (Walmart's Chairman and CEO) about the anti-trust charges brought forward by CASE. Mr. Glass of course dismissed the charges and claimed that Walmart is "totally misunderstood."

To date, nothing became of CASE's request for an investigation.

POLITICAL MONEY NOTES: According to an August 21, 1994 article in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Ed Weiner (Founder of National Vision Associates) has contributed at least $57,954 to the Gingrich-controlled GOPAC.