Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has used op-ed pages, television interviews and his latest book to rail against Democrats for their use of congressional earmarking, calling it an “undemocratic, corrupt practice.”
But during his tenure as House speaker, Gingrich oversaw a dramatic expansion of the use of earmarks, laying the groundwork for a frenzy of itemized expenditures over the next decade, according to congressional records and interviews.
The surge was fueled in part by a political strategy, spearheaded by Gingrich, to help vulnerable Republicans keep their seats in the House. The period marked a crucial turning point in the use of earmarks, which until then had primarily been the province of a handful of powerful committee chairmen.
That history is likely to cause problems for Gingrich among influential tea party voters, who view earmarks as a symptom of spending excess and corruption in Washington. The issue is one of many challenges facing the twice-divorced candidate as he seeks support from religious and fiscal conservatives who hold sway in Republican primaries.
In one May 1996 memo, for example, Gingrich’s office asked powerful committee chairmen to include earmarks for members facing tough reelection bids that year — projects that would help them curry favor with their constituents.
“Are there any Republican members who could be severely hurt by the bill or who need a specific district item in the bill?” the memo asked, referring to appropriations legislation.
Over the next four years, while Gingrich was speaker, the number of earmarks doubled to more than 6,000 projects, while total earmark spending increased by more than 30 percent, according to data from the Congressional Research Service.
“If you take care of the members, they can take care of themselves back home. That was the philosophy,” said former Republican congressman Robert Walker (Pa.), who served as vice chairman of the House Budget Committee at the time. “It was a specific strategy and one I disagreed with. Instead of fixing the problem with earmarks, the Republicans spent a decade exacerbating it.”
Spokesman Rick Tyler declined to answer questions about the role of Gingrich and other Republicans in expanding the use of earmarks in Congress, but he characterized the issue as a systemic problem.
“The horse-trading that goes on in order to get members to vote the way leadership wants them to goes back to the Continental Congress,” Tyler said in a written statement. “More recently it had grown completely totally out of control which is why Newt called for a moratorium.”
Tyler added that “it will be a continuing fight because members will always seek to get legislation favorable to their districts.”
Gingrich has stumbled through a series of controversies since announcing his presidential candidacy last month, including a firestorm over his criticism of GOP Medicare plans and disclosure of up to $500,000 in past credit at the luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.
Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, a Washington-based advocacy group that works closely with tea party groups, said Gingrich’s role in encouraging the use of earmarks is among “a number of key issues” that could hurt the former House speaker with tea party voters.
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