Lacking information, committee approves course
TON (AP) The
House nihii x i mn
mil tee. in giving
Rep Newt Gingrich
R-Ca . approval in
1993 to teach his
i o I lego course, act
U A S 111 N {.
(•<1 on an incomplete description of how
the i ourse would bo financed and pro
moted. documents indicate.
The documents are important Iks atise
the speaker plans to go on the offensive
this week, releasing the ethics commit
tee letter that < onditionally approved the
Civ dedm hide finaui ing Mid tflM blng ol
the course, Renewing American Givi
lization."
The Aug. 9. 1993, committee letter,
obtained by The Associated Press, was
carefully ami narrowly crofted to approve
only the tax-deductible adui ational m tiv
itv described to tin* committee by f .mgrii h.
who was then Repuhlii an whip Informa
tion on Gingrich’s contacts with the othi< s
committee came from congressional
sources who declined to !*• identified pub
licly.
Gingrich desc ribed the < ourse in letters
he sent the committee May 12 and July 21.
1993. also obtained by the Associated
Press Thus** letters did not mention the
i entral role in promoting and financing
the course by Gingrich'* political com
mittee GOP AC
In the letters Gingrich promised there
would l*> no mass mailings, although dcx
untents show GQPAC did sut h mailings
Gingrit h wrote that the course would be
non-partisan and not attm k President Clin
ton Y<-t GOP AG documents dev ntied the
course s goal as res noting 200.000 con
servative activists and in some cases bit
terly denouncing Clinton
i’he GOP AC effort was under way for
more than two months Indore Gingrich
sought approval for the 1 nurse Gingrit b.
who began tern lung the course in late
t'et.l. gave his last lecture at Reinhardt Qjl
lege in Waiesk.i (Mi . on Saturday He smd
he has 20 hours of let turns on videotape
that can lie distributed to teat h others
about his philosophy of government
The ethic* committee t aught up with
the (A )PAC role when the t nurse was dial
lenged as a partisan activity not eligi
bio for tax-dodm lible finam ing in a
t ompiaint filed in September 190-i Kor
intr Democratii Rep Bon }anm of Goor
gia. who filed the complaint, provided
dozens of GOPAC documents Two
months later. Jones lost his bid to unseat
Gingrich from his suburban Atlanta dis
I r it t
On 0»1 it. l'f'H. thmi i ommitUi’< hair
man Ri>t) lames McDermott. IVWash and
the ranking Republican former Rep
Fred Grandv of Iowa wrote Gingrich
about his omissions They -.aid the docu
ments supplied l>v Jones "reflect the
involvement of GOI‘A( and GOPAC
employees in developing and raising hind*
for the course GOf’AC's role in seeking
funding for the course was not divt losed
to the committee in vour letters
The committee then cited some two
dozen of the GOt’At' dm uments. all writ
ten tie fore the panel approved the i otirse
several dated before Gingrich initially
contacted the committee for approval
The t ommittes* leaders also said the dm
uments raise questions us to w hether the
course was evi iusivelv edut ational lit
nature, or partisan political activity
intended to benefit Republican t andi
dates.”
Gingrich spokesman Tony Hlankley said
Sunday that the GOPAC role was not rel
evant Ns ,iuse the course itself vs is non
(vartisan *
"The .Vrw Fork (jims r«s eiitly i ittsl a< a
demit s who charm ten zed the class as not
partisan.” Hlankley said "Anybody who
sees .ill JO hours of Iho ( l.iss would have
lo agriw w ith that proposition."
If the class is non-partisan, though ide
ologu al, all of the references (lo l.()I’A( i
ah’ irrelev ant to tin* point Now t w as mak
ing to tho committee that the class w ill
not f>o a partisan at tivitv "
Blankley said Gingrich's pronuso not to
<lo mass mailings referred only to taxpay
er-financed mailings, not to mailings paid
from private ftintfs And he added that (an
grtch's pledge not to attack (Hinton meant
he would not do so in the class a
promise the speaker has kept
In the committee's 1‘tO.t approval letter,
M< IVrmott and (dandy wrote Gingrich
that sint e he said he would not he com
pensated. he did not need i ommittee
approval to teat h
Gmgrii h s request to present course
material in floor sjeas lies was viewed as
well within your ofTit i.il prerogatives
Hie t ommittee also approved soliciting
tav dedui tilde donations, provided the
fund raising followed tax law who h
allows use of tax deductible donations for
edm ation. hut not lor partisan a< livitv
T he fund raising approval also had these
conditions that nooffii nil resources are
used, no official eiidorseinent is implied,
and no direi t personal benefit results "
Monterey peninsula
flooded by storms
SAN FRANCISCO (AIM —
Floods washed out all roads into
the Monterey Peninsula on Sun
day as waterlogged California
struggled to recover from storms
that battered two-thirds of the
state.
At least eight people died in
five days of flooding, and five
more are missing after driving
into a rain swollen creek when
an Interstate 5 bridge collapsed
in t antral California.
Sunday was rain-free for most
of California. The National
Weather Service said showers
were expected again Monday,
but not the downpours of last
week.
In Monterey County, thou
sands of people left their homes
overnight as the Satinas and
Pajaro rivers inundated some of
the nation's richest farmlands,
the site of (oho Steinbeck's The
Grapes of Wrath
The flooding cut off the com
munities around Monterey,
about 100 miles south of San
Francisco.
"At this point all roads .ire
dosed the Monterey Peninsu
la is literally isolated," said
county emerge nr v Officer A1
Friedrich
California Highway Patrol
officials said roads may remain
closed until Monday
Many people were rousted
from their homes early Sunday
os flood wafers rushed into low
lying riverside communities
overnight
"Polic e went down the streets
with their sirens telling people
to please leave." Friedrich said
"It's a scary thing to hear in the
dark."
In the farming town of Pujaro,
residents were in shcx k
"People walked in here in
tears They looked like they
were caught completely off
guard." said Salvation Army
Maj. Joan Sunders We saw
people walk in here with no
shoes, no socks or with water
lines up to their thighs."
From the Oregon state line
down to Mexico, rain, wind and
snow wreaked havoc across 40
of California's 58 counties
"It's the most widespread geo
graphic storm in California in
this c entury." said James Hailey
of the state-federal Flood Opera
tions Center in Sacramento.
The storms may also he the
most expensive in California
history, he added, costing up to
$2 billion in a state already bur
dened with January's Pacific
storms, as well as a series of
earthquakes, fires and mud
slides
In Coalings, about 50 miles
west of Fresno, teams were back
at the sc ene of a fatal 1-5 road
bridge c ollapse on California's
main north south freeway.
Teens shoot woman
in head, steal vehicle
M()NT( LAIR, N.J. (AP) Two teenagers shot a 6*1 • year-old woman
in the head as she was pulling her car into Iter driveway, left her on
the ground and took off with the vehicle, police said Saturday They
were captured hours later.
The woman, Shelia Gillespie, was in a coma Saturday, authori
ties said.
A police officer saw her 19!K) Honda Accord several hours after it
was taken from her West Caldwell home on Friday night As the
vehicle left a gas station with two youths inside, the offit er followed.
Another picked up the pursuit as the car sped through Mountclair
before jumping a curb and hitting a hedge, said Polh e Chief Thomas
J. Russo.
After the crash, the youths fled on foot
Karl E. Bethel. 19. was found hiding under a backyard deck. Rus
so said. A 17-year-old, who was not identified because of his age.
was arrested later at his home
AmeriCorp
CHANGE YOUR LIFE. CHANGE YOUR COUNTRY.
WHAT IS
AMERICORPS* NCCC?
As pari of the new domestic
Peace Corps the National
Cmhan Community Corps
(NCCC) is a one-year resi
dential program for people
age 18-24 Members receive
■ housing meals, and
other benefits
a living expenses
a $4725 toward existing stu
dent loans or future tuition
costs for a $2362 check)
Pirate call for more
information and nn
application:
1-800
94-ACORPS
11 800 ‘M2-267?)
i 800 s is i"’22 rrnm
Applications are due by
April 24. 1995.
\W vr licunl otiongh ahont what * wrong
with our mmmunitirs. Now it's timr to
grt thing* «lonr.
AMERICORPS’NCCC IS YOUR CHANCE TO:
Restore parks anil endangered habitats,
leach children to read and to love learning.
Ihutd homes for the homeless
Keep teenagers in school, off dr ugs
Immunise infants.
I urn gang battlegrounds into kids' playgrounds.
(let things done.