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Newt Gingrich, who hoped to put his personal past behind him by saying hed made mistakes, has revived the issue with questionable claims about the details of his first divorce.
The Republican presidential candidate insists that it was his then-wife, Jackie Battley, who sought a divorce in 1980. After court records showed he filed the action, the Gingrich campaign said hed done so at her request. Court documents, Gingrichs own previous explanations and the recollections of two former Gingrich aides refute his current claim.
Its totally untrue that she wanted the divorce, and Newt knows that, Dot Crews, who worked in the former Georgia congressmans office from 1979 to 1984, said in a telephone interview today. Crews, 80, recalled Gingrich confiding during a car ride in his home district that hed decided to file for divorce.
He talks about redemption, and then he lies like this? Crews said. ...
Two former Gingrich staff members described in recent interviews how their onetime boss had informed them about his decision to divorce his first wife.
He was first elected to congress in 1978, after two unsuccessful campaigns.
Dolores Adamson, a staff assistant in the congressmans Georgia office from 1980-1983 whose name was Shanks at the time, said she picked him up at an airport in Georgia after he flew in from Washington.
They were having lunch at a Steak and Ale restaurant when he told her hed decided to get divorced and wanted her help informing other staff members and constituents.
Adamson said he told her its something he had to do.
He said he was going to the hospital to talk to his wife about the terms, Adamson said.
She said she later asked him why he wanted the divorce. Jackie cant run uphill, Mrs. Adamson recalled him saying, which she took to mean that his wife was overweight and ill, not a plus for an aspiring national politician.
Today, retired and living in St. Augustine, Florida, Adamson is a harsh critic of Gingrich. I get very angry at his lies, she said. He manipulates -- whatever he wants he can get.
Confiding
Crews, who worked for Gingrich for 10 years, said she remembers him pulling employees aside to tell them privately about his divorce plans.
Her exchange with him occurred in a car, she said. He said, I wanted to tell you before you heard it from somebody else, she said. She remembers telling him he could lose his congressional seat over a divorce, to which he matter-of-factly replied he would return to teaching.
Crews said she was stunned to see recent media accounts in which the Gingrich campaign claimed it was his first wife who sought the divorce.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, she said. Its just about the biggest mistake they could make to say these things because they are so easy to check up on.
As for whether shell vote for her former boss: I would prefer that the Republicans nominate someone else.
So, I wonder if the base is now going to rotate to Ron Paul as the ABR candidate?
Newt Gingrich, who hoped to put his personal past behind him by saying hed made mistakes, has revived the issue with questionable claims about the details of his first divorce.
The Republican presidential candidate insists that it was his then-wife, Jackie Battley, who sought a divorce in 1980. After court records showed he filed the action, the Gingrich campaign said hed done so at her request. Court documents, Gingrichs own previous explanations and the recollections of two former Gingrich aides refute his current claim.
Its totally untrue that she wanted the divorce, and Newt knows that, Dot Crews, who worked in the former Georgia congressmans office from 1979 to 1984, said in a telephone interview today. Crews, 80, recalled Gingrich confiding during a car ride in his home district that hed decided to file for divorce.
He talks about redemption, and then he lies like this? Crews said. ...
Two former Gingrich staff members described in recent interviews how their onetime boss had informed them about his decision to divorce his first wife.
He was first elected to congress in 1978, after two unsuccessful campaigns.
Dolores Adamson, a staff assistant in the congressmans Georgia office from 1980-1983 whose name was Shanks at the time, said she picked him up at an airport in Georgia after he flew in from Washington.
They were having lunch at a Steak and Ale restaurant when he told her hed decided to get divorced and wanted her help informing other staff members and constituents.
Adamson said he told her its something he had to do.
He said he was going to the hospital to talk to his wife about the terms, Adamson said.
She said she later asked him why he wanted the divorce. Jackie cant run uphill, Mrs. Adamson recalled him saying, which she took to mean that his wife was overweight and ill, not a plus for an aspiring national politician.
Today, retired and living in St. Augustine, Florida, Adamson is a harsh critic of Gingrich. I get very angry at his lies, she said. He manipulates -- whatever he wants he can get.
Confiding
Crews, who worked for Gingrich for 10 years, said she remembers him pulling employees aside to tell them privately about his divorce plans.
Her exchange with him occurred in a car, she said. He said, I wanted to tell you before you heard it from somebody else, she said. She remembers telling him he could lose his congressional seat over a divorce, to which he matter-of-factly replied he would return to teaching.
Crews said she was stunned to see recent media accounts in which the Gingrich campaign claimed it was his first wife who sought the divorce.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, she said. Its just about the biggest mistake they could make to say these things because they are so easy to check up on.
As for whether shell vote for her former boss: I would prefer that the Republicans nominate someone else.
Gingrich Account of Divorce Disputed by Aides, Documents - Bloomberg
Funny. A lot of people who worked for Gingrich say the same thing.
