Gingrich Under the Microscope : Special counsel’s inquiry in tax matter is likely to be politically inflamed

The House Ethics Committee has broken its long deadlock over allegations against Speaker Newt Gingrich and voted to appoint a special counsel to conduct a “preliminary inquiry” into whether the Georgia Republican violated tax laws by using tax-exempt money to finance a college course he taught.

At the same time, the committee found that Gingrich had engaged in a number of instances of unethical behavior, including using the House floor to promote sales of his lecture tapes. It also questioned the appropriateness “of what some would describe as an attempt by you to capitalize on your office .J.J. for personal gain” through a controversial book contract. The committee, however, chose to take no action on any of these issues.

The stage is now set for close scrutiny of the ethical conduct of the nation’s third-highest elected official. By voting to bring in a special counsel, the committee’s five Republicans and five Democrats are acknowledging how politically charged this inquiry is likely to be. The precedent for all this goes back to 1988, when the same committee called in an outside counsel to investigate ethics charges against then-Speaker Jim Wright. As was the case then, it’s imperative that the yet to be named special counsel in the Gingrich affair be left free to look into all the evidence. That should clearly include the Federal Election Commission’s claim, in a recent court filing, that GOPAC, a Gingrich-founded political committee, violated federal campaign laws by distributing more than $500,000 to help elect certain congressional candidates, including $250,000 that went to Gingrich himself in 1990.

The special counsel’s findings will not be the last word. The Ethics Committee still will have to decide whether those findings are bases for filing formal charges. The committee has already agreed that in some fairly inconsequential if still avoidable instances Gingrich crossed the line separating ethical from improper behavior. If it is found that he also broke the nation’s laws in more substantive ways, his career could and should be ended.