Romney Campaign Press Release - Politico: Gingrich Was "High-Profile Booster" For Freddie Mac

"Newt Gingrich Rallied Freddie Mac's Troops"

Politico

Anna Palmer

January 24, 2012

New details from Newt Gingrich's $35,000-a-year contract with Freddie Mac show that the Republican hopeful wasn't just a boardroom consultant, but served as a high-profile booster for the beleaguered organization. He even gave a rallying speech to dozens of the group's political action committee donors in the spring of 2007.

Shortly after the "rah, rah" speech, as one source described it, Gingrich gave an interview for the Freddie Mac website, where he supported the group's model at length. The interview is no longer on Freddie's site.

Gingrich said in the interview that Freddie has "made an important contribution to home ownership and the housing finance system," even though many Republicans revile it.

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On April 3, 2007, Gingrich gave a presentation to employee donors of Freddie Mac's political action committee, according to several sources familiar with the presentation. It was the "rah rah" speech described by a source who worked closely with Freddie at the time. Newt spoke about what was going on in the country and he offered his view of the issues.

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Gingrich went so far as to say that "I'm convinced that if NASA were a GSE, we probably would be on Mars today."

Freddie Mac declined to comment. A Gingrich spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The housing GSEs have made an important contribution to homeownership and the housing finance system," Gingrich said in the interview. "We have a much more liquid and stable housing finance system than we would have without GSEs. So while we need to improve the regulation of the GSEs, I would be very cautious about fundamentally changing their role or the model itself."

Further, Gingrich acknowledged that this is not a viewpoint conservatives normally embrace. "Well, it's not a point of view libertarians would embrace," he said in the interview. "But I am more in the Alexander Hamilton-Teddy Roosevelt tradition of conservatism. I recognize that there are times when you need government to help spur private enterprise and economic development."