Newt Gingrich Charity Paid Newt Inc. Over $200,000

This is a good racket if you can get it: Newt Gingrich started a pointless charity to spam people with mailers asking for small donations and then asked the charity to buy all of Newt Inc.'s leftover Newt Gingrich books and DVDs and pay his then-future campaign spokesman a nice six-figure holding place salary to run this eerie shell nonprofit until the campaign started. Renewing Leadership, is what this is called. Newt of course had some problems with the whole "charity to pay myself" issue back in the nineties, but who even remembers that far back? This was such a good system, he decided to try it again. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

From ABC News :

The charity's tax forms indicate it has raised more than $2 million, mostly from small checks sent in response to mail solicitations. ABC News obtained samples of two different mass mailings -- requests for contributions written on Newt Gingrich letterhead and signed by the former speaker. Both letters quoted President Obama saying that America is "no longer a Christian nation" and called on donors to help Gingrich restore Christian principles in Washington....

The fundraising mailers, along with the web site, represent the bulk of Renew American Leadership's efforts to fulfill its non-profit mission of educating the public about the need for more religious discussion in the public arena. [Current charity director and pastor Jim] Garlow told ABC News he is hoping to devote more of the charity's resources to pastor training and other outreach programs, though those efforts are still in their early stages.

Newt is a Christian Nation, is what he is saying, now send him the monie$. [ ABC News ]