Like His Campaign – Newt Gingrich’s Health Care Think Tank is Bankrupt

Mr. Gingrich, Being the Morally Superior Person That He is Will Make Up Any Losses – Yeah, Right


[Update:  After this was published Chris Cillizza who writes the excellent 'The Fix' political column for the Washington post noted this.


 Gingrich acknowledged in an interview Sunday that his campaign is on a shoestring budget. In fact, a shoestring might actually be a step up from where he’s at.

During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” the former House speaker said his campaign is nearly $4.5 million in debt — a staggering amount for a presidential candidate to overcome. 

 See the last paragraph for its relevance.]

After leaving the Speakership of the House of Representatives and the House itself, and before starting his delusional quest for the Republican Presidential nomination Newt Gingrich made a very nice living by selling influence.  Part of this process was to form a so-called think tank, a company that for a nice sum of money would publish and support the ideas of those patrons who gave it money.

One such creature is the Center for Health Transformation.  It has filed for bankruptcy, leaving a lot of creditors with very little chance of getting any money.

The organization’s petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, filed Wednesday in federal court in Atlanta, shows that the center estimates it owes from $1 million to $10 million but has only as much as $100,000 in assets.

The Chapter 7 filing is for liquidation, basically the Center will stop operating, sell its assets and whatever is left over after the expenses of liquidation will be distributed to its creditors. From the looks of things they will get nothing.

The Center was clearly just a mechanism for Mr. Gingrich to sell influence.

The Center for Health Transformation had promoted private-sector solutions to America’s skyrocketing health-care costs. It also became a source of significant cash for Gingrich and his wife, Callista. The Washington Post reported that the center took in $37 million in donations, primarily from big pharmaceutical and health-care corporations, in its eight years in business.

The center had advertised Gingrich as its primary asset, and dues-paying companies such as Astra Zeneca and Blue Cross Blue Shield were offered direct access to the former House speaker and his strategic advice. 

And when Mr. Gingrich declared for the Presidency he sold his ownership interests in the Center and withdrew from its activities.  The fact that the Center then just folded is ample evidence that it was just an influence peddling operation and not a true research/publication entity.

So Mr. Gingrich does not legally owe any of the debts of the Center, but surely he will step up to the plate and make good the losses that creditors will suffer because Mr. Gingrich has positioned himself as a morally pure person, with far greater integrity than the rest of us.  Oh wait, if that were the case Mr. Gingrich would still be Speaker of the House instead of ex-Speaker, effectively drummed out of office on ethics violations.

Oh, and as far as his Presidential campaign is concerned, look for Mr. Gingrich to run up a bunch a debts there and then walk away from them.  After all, that's what he does.