The Dukes of Hazzard star who could destroy Newt Gingrich ... again

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

The Dukes of Hazzard star who could destroy Newt Gingrich ... again

The actor at the centre of Newt's mid-90s tax scandal watches the former speaker's resurrection with amazement and disgust

Ed Pilkington in New York

guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 January 2012 14.45 GMT

As Newt Gingrich fights to save his political life, locked in a potentially decisive battle in the final days of the Florida primary with his bitter rival Mitt Romney, one man is following the struggle with peculiarly intense and personal interest.

Ben Jones is best known by millions of Americans as the actor who played "Crazy" Cooter Davenport, the truck driving mechanic in the hit 1980s TV series the Dukes of Hazzard. But in politics, Jones is credited with having helped destroy Newt Gingrich's congressional career by leveling accusations of financial improprieties at him, which ultimately led to his resignation from the speakership.

Jones has watched the improbable resurrection of Gingrich as a presidential contender almost two decades later with a mixture of bemusement and disgust. "It's astonishing to me that this has come back around. It testifies to the fact that Mr Gingrich cannot be destroyed by conventional weapons – he is the abominable Newt Man."

Jones sounded the alarm about Gingrich's dodgy practices in September 1994 at a time when he was locked in his own bitter electoral battle with the speaker over a congressional seat in Georgia. Jones, who by then had served two terms in Congress as a Democratic member having turned to politics after the Dukes of Hazzard went off the air, presented the House ethics committee with 450 pages of documents that proved to be incendiary.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/26/dukes-of-hazzard-newt-gingrich?intcmp=239

[Justice wanted]

1. I forgot about Mr Jones and how he factored into that.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Thought it might have been Daisy

[LiberalFighter]

7. That Daisy would not had been nice to Gingrich physically.

[Blue Owl]

3. Gingrich = Boss Hog

resemblance mainly in their ethical/business practices...

[MisterP]

5. Randy from "Trailer Park Boys"

[slay]

13. rofl

too funny. i can just see gingrich pimping himself out for cheeseburgers..

[Kellerfeller]

6. Too many wives to choose from

as to which one is LuLu!!

[Patrick_Bateman]

4. Completely forgotten.

Newt WILL be taken down again. But wait! O has a better chance against Newt than Willard, according to the polls.

[xmas74]

8. I forgot all about how he was involved.

I also didn't realize that he ran in Virginia back in 2002 against Cantor.

http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/House/Virginia/Eric_Cantor/ElectionResults/

[riverwalker]

11. wonder if he'll run again

there are also two Democratic military veterans who may run against Cantor in his district.

[underpants]

12. I doubt Ben will run again

plus - as my doctor (who almost ran against Cantor in 2006) told me - 2006 specifically was our only real chance of ousting Cantor. He is pretty much elected for life at this point. He has all the big Richmond money (read:tobacco/Chamber of Commerce) behind him and his district (I live in it) is gerrymandered to basically give western Henrico county their own congressman. Granted we flipped ALL of Henrico county to Obama in 2008 (2004 Bush 53% - 2008 Obama 56%) but that includes eastern Henrico which is dominated by a black middleclass haven - very interesting dynamic.

Va Dems keep nominating bad candidates against Cantor. When they do nominate a good candidate - like Ben Jones - the continually ignore or underfund the campaign, why I have no idea.

[Little Star]

9. CREW has filed a FOIA for Gingritch's ethics investigation records.

CREW
Jan 25, 2012

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Washington, D.C. – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting documents turned over by the House Ethics Committee in regard to its investigation of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA). The committee inquiry centered on Mr. Gingrich’s use of tax-exempt organizations for political purposes and he was ultimately sanctioned for making false statements to Congress.

“A self-styled historian, Mr. Gingrich’s true talent lies in revising history. Contrary to what he tells voters now, his ethical transgressions were quite serious,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “We agree with presidential hopeful Mitt Romney: the American public deserves to learn the details of the committee’s investigation. We should have the chance to judge for ourselves whether the failure of the IRS and DOJ to take action was reasonable given the evidence the committee provided.”

CREW is seeking records provided to the IRS and likely the Criminal Division of the DOJ between 1996 and 1997 by the House Ethics Committee relating to its investigation of Mr. Gingrich’s use of charitable organizations to underwrite political activities. The investigation expanded to include false statements that Mr. Gingrich made before the committee. As a result of the committee’s inquiry, Mr. Gingrich was fined $300,000 for making 13 false statements.
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http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/crew-files-foia-requests-for-gingrich-ethics-investigation-records

[tanyev]

10. Yeeee Haaaa!