Gingrich carried as much as $500,000 in revolving debt at Tiffany's

[Liberal_in_LA]

Newt Gingrich, a fiscal conservative? Not when it comes to Tiffany’s.

In 2005 and 2006, the former House speaker turned presidential candidate carried as much as $500,000 in debt to the premier jewelry company, according to financial disclosures filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Gingrich, who represented Georgia in Congress for two decades, retired in 1999. But his wife, Callista Gingrich, was employed by the House Agriculture Committee until 2007, according to public records. She listed a “revolving charge account” at Tiffany and Company in the liability section of her personal financial disclosure form for two consecutive years and indicated that it was her spouse’s debt. The liability was reported in the range of $250,001 to $500,000.

When asked by POLITICO whether Gingrich has settled this debt, and why he owed between a quarter-million and a half-million dollars to a jeweler, Rick Tyler, Gingrich’s spokesman, declined to comment.

“No comment,” he said in an email.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55125.html#ixzz1MezlAZ20

[virgogal]

1. Well isn't that just fuckin' ducky ! (Pardon the language)

[niyad]

2. I want to know why tiffany's carried him for that amount

[LiberalLoner]

3. Gingrich and his wife both held lucrative jobs. I would imagine they

extended credit partly for the same reason they would to any well-to-do couple (making interest on the credit) and also because it's prestigious to have a politician or actor wearing your jewelry. It's good advertising.

[Canuckistanian]

8. That must be the reason

Yes, it has to be. Definitely. Without question.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Really

The salary of a former Congressman and political consultant couldn't be THAT high, not enough for a cool $1/2 mil line of credit.

Either Newt had other sources of revenue or credit from unknown sources OR.... Tiffany's was expecting some sort of "quid pro quo".

[mod mom]

4. Definitely represents the common man.

[MineralMan]

5. Truly a man of the people, he is.

The quintessential populist, of a certainty.

[iemitsu]

7. suggests to me that he had to bribe women,

possibly his wife, to have sex with him.
i can't see anyone doing that for fun.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. Quality stuff, but their prices are way too high.

Normal markup on good jewelry is double of wholesale.

Normal markup on the cheap crap they sell at the mall is three to three and a half times wholesale.

I used to work in a department store selling "Fine Jewelry" and I was so ashamed of that crap that should have been grinding wheels or drill bits. It was what we called "Fish gravel" in my GIA classes (Gemological Institute of America).

[zbdent]

10. gotta keep the exes from

penning tell-alls ...