WASHINGTON — You’d never know on the campaign trail that Newt Gingrich is no longer at the helm of his for-profit enterprise. There, his presidential activities and book-selling business mingle as one.
In a hotel ballroom in Naples, Fla., late last month, Gingrich regaled political supporters with a stump speech, then headed over to a table in the corner to sell books. In Charleston, S.C., a few days later, hundreds of fans crammed into a historic theater to listen to his pitch to be the next president, then lined up in the lobby to buy books.
The story is the same virtually everywhere Gingrich goes: a political speech here, a book-signing there — and, often, both in the same place.
The activities raise two appearances: that Gingrich is using his presidential bid as a way to make money and that he is using his business to juice his campaign.
“Gingrich has a history of skating close to the line when it comes to the use of political money, and he’s gotten in trouble in the past,” said Fred Wertheimer, a lawyer with the campaign-finance watchdog Democracy 21. “Whether he’s close to the line or over the line here is an open question.”
Candidates are allowed to earn a living while running for office, and Gingrich is hardly the first politician to sell a book on the trail. But federal election law prohibits candidates from using campaign resources to profit personally or using corporate funds (not to be confused with personal wealth, which may be used) to subsidize a campaign.
