Washington Post: Employees of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich grew increasingly concerned in recent years about their boss’s purchases from luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co., worried that if he followed through on plans to run for president it could become a political liability.
The purchases included jewelry items valued as much as $300,000 for his wife’s Christmas gifts, selected each year during a fall Potomac River cruise sponsored by the jeweler. On a smaller scale, Gingrich spent about $40,000 over four years buying Tiffany trinkets as Christmas gifts for up to 100 employees…
… Gingrich and his wife maintained a $250,000 to $500,000 personal credit line at Tiffany in 2005 and 2006 … The Gingrich campaign recently confirmed to The Post that Gingrich maintained a second Tiffany credit line for $1 million…
… Gingrich campaign communication director Joe DeSantis declined to address the details offered by the employees, and dismissed their accounts as trivial. “Class warfare does not create jobs,” he said in a written statement. “Newt’s Jobs and Prosperity Plan will.”
… The employees said the Tiffany cruises became an annual outing for the couple to choose Callista’s Christmas presents.
… Sixteen Gingrich campaign staffers resigned on June 9 , claiming that Gingrich was allowing his wife to dictate the terms of his campaign schedule. The disagreement between staff and the candidate came to a head when Gingrich insisted he would go on a Greek cruise that Callista Gingrich had been planning for the couple.
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Thank you Loriah!
