Navigation Salon Salon News email print
Arts & Entertainment
Books
Comics
Health & Body
Media
Mothers Who Think
.News
People
Politics2000
Technology
- Free Software
Travel & Food
_______
Columnists

 

Current
Wire Stories

Click here to read the latest stories from the wires.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Also Today

For a full list of today's Salon News stories, go to the News home page.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon


  
Advanced Search  |  Help

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon News

Is she or isn't she?
Hillary Clinton announces her run for the Senate from New York. Or doesn't ...

By Sean Elder
[11/23/99]

How the Internet could save John McCain
The man trailing Bush lays out a subversive strategy for catching up.

By Anthony York
[11/23/99]

When victims become killers
Clinton urges Kosovars to forgo revenge against Serbs.

By Laura Rozen
[11/23/99]

Vuk Draskovic waits for his close-up
The Serbian opposition leader explains how and why he'll topple Milosevic.

By Laura Rozen
[11/22/99]

Air war
The men who would be president launch their TV campaigns, with -- Surprise! -- lots of smiling kids in the background.

By Jake Tapper
[11/22/99]

Complete archives for News

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -




Gingrich vs. Gingrich | page 1, 2

In the meantime, Newt has his own problems brewing with his wife's attorneys. In August, Mayoue sent the former speaker a list of questions, a standard procedure in the discovery process of a divorce case. Lawyers customarily try to obtain answers to interrogatories before they hold depositions.

Mayoue's questions covered all the obvious territory. Newt Gingrich was asked to identify all persons who had any knowledge regarding his break from Marianne. He was probed about his finances, since Marianne suspects he has hidden assets from her. He was asked to list all his bank accounts and to note all transfers of money or property in excess of $1,000 that he has made since Jan. 1, 1997. He was asked if he had received any treatment or counseling from a pastor or mental health professional in the past five years.

He was asked to identify "any and all persons, other than your wife, with whom you've had sexual relations during this marriage" and to provide the "dates, times and places in which said sexual relations occurred." He also was asked to identify anyone who knew of these affairs. Question No. 25 inquired, "Do you believe that you have conducted your private life in this marriage in accordance with the concept of 'family values' you have espoused politically and professionally?"

These are questions Newt presumably would prefer not to answer -- especially not for the public record. Rather than reply, he had his lawyer challenge the interrogatories. But on Nov. 15 his challenge failed, and a judge in Cobb County, Ga., ordered Gingrich to provide answers by Dec. 5.

If the case goes to trial, it will do so in Georgia, where state law allows either party to ask for a jury trial. Imagine Marianne's attorneys grilling Newt on the stand, before a jury, about the nitty-gritty details of his relationship with Bisek; imagine them asking him to read to the court all those lovey-dovey public statements he made about Marianne and their marriage while he was cheating on her.

Why isn't Newt trying to head this ugly divorce trial off at the pass? Why are there no settlement talks occurring?

"My hunch is that he doesn't care about his public image any longer," says one of Newt Gingrich's associates. "He's enjoying being in the private sector, and that means not having to worry about bad press."

This may be a sign that Newt has given up on politics. (Although talk of his political rehabilitation has always seemed far-fetched, he did refuse to rule out future runs when he announced his resignation a year ago.)

Newt-haters theoretically could have feared a Nixon-like return from the near-dead -- but given how Newt is handling this case, they need not fret any longer.
salon.com | Nov. 24, 1999

 

- - - - - - - - - - - -

About the writer
David Corn is the Washington editor of the Nation, a columnist for the New York Press and author of a political suspense novel, "Deep Background" (St. Martin's Press).

Table Talk
One more float in the hypocrite parade Is Calista Bisek the real reason Newt left Congress?

Sound off
Send us a Letter to the Editor

Send e-mail to David Corn

Related Salon stories
No regrets I was an unashamed mistress.
By Anna Sorelli 11/17/99

Newt's glass house Gingrich's reluctance to stone Clinton for adultery -- or Gore for campaign finance violations -- is not motivated by Christian compassion.
By Stephen Talbot 08/28/98

I want you so bad Now that our president has confessed to adultery, will the American people follow him to the pillory?
By Carol Lloyd 08/26/98

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Print this story  Get a printer-friendly version

Email this story  E-mail a friend about this article

Backflip This Story  Backflip this article to find it again

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon


  
Advanced Search  |  Help



Salon | Search | Archives | Contact Us | Table Talk | Ad Info

Arts & Entertainment | Books | Comics | Life | News | People
Politics | Sex | Tech & Business | Audio
The Free Software Project | The Movie Page
Letters | Columnists | Salon Plus

Copyright © 2000 Salon.com All rights reserved.