Gingrich campaign running up huge debts

According to the report filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Gingrich’s campaign ended last month with $4.3 million in debt, up from $1.5 million at the end of February, Huffington Post reported on Friday.

The March debts include payments for ordinary campaign consultations, massive spending on private jets, expenses at a private security firm, and payments to staffers who had to cover their own travel and lodging expenses.

The campaign’s most absurd unpaid expenses were more than $1 million to the private jet company Moby Dick Airways, nearly $450,000 to a security firm, and more than $500,000 in travel reimbursements and other payments to individual staffers and consultants.

The nearly $450,000 owed to Virginia-based the Patriot Group security firm is in spite of the US Secret Service providing protection for Gingrich since March 6.

This comes as the Huffington Post had earlier reported that dozens of Gingrich vendors believed they had been stiffed and would never see payment from the campaign. “We got burned,” one vendor said.

The FEC report also noted that Gingrich raised $1.6 million in March, down from his high of $5.5 million in January. The campaign burned through $2 million and ended the month with $1.2 million cash on hand, not enough to cover all of its debts.

Recently, the Republican presidential contender sought to rent his list of donors to get money to pay down his debts. He also started to charge people who want to have their photo taken with him.

“Since 1984, Gingrich has launched 12 politically oriented organizations and initiatives based in Washington. Of those, five have been investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the House Ethics Committee, another five closed down with debts totaling more than $500,000, and two were subject to legal action,” according to another report.

MP/HJL/AZ

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