Los Angeles Times
December 1, 2011
by Paul West
Reporting from Des Moines— Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich, whose plan to give permanent residency to illegal immigrants has angered some conservatives, signed a pledge Thursday to build a double fence along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of 2013.
The former House speaker is on a two-campaign visit to Iowa, which will open the voting in the 2012 GOP contest next month and where anti-immigrant sentiment is intense.
"We haven't been able to build a fence on the border because we have not been a serious country," said Gingrich, as he prepared to sign the pledge following a morning speech to employees at Nationwide Insurance in Des Moines.
Gingrich, who has jumped to the top of the polls here and nationally, said his decision to sign the pledge was in line with his determination to offer "serious leadership doing serious things" as president.
He becomes the second GOP presidential candidate, after Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, to sign the pledge, which is being promoted by a North Carolina group, Americans for Securing the Border.
"For too long, too many politicians have given only lip service to the war on our border," said Van D. Hipp Jr., a former South Carolina Republican Party chairman and Washington defense consultant, who heads the group. He said he did not have a cost estimate for the fence.
The pledge contains a significant loophole: It leaves it up to the U.S. Border Patrol or Department of Homeland Security to determine locations for the fence.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-gingrich-fence-20111201,0,253023.story
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Regarding the organization Americans for Securing the Border, which is pushing a pledge to build double walls along the entire southern border by 2013, here is the article on the author of the pledge, and Bachmann's signature:
http://www.indecisionforever.com/2011/10/17/michele-bachmann-signs-double-border-fence-pledge-written-by-ex-con-lobbyist/
That is of course on the Daily Show's website, but unlike the Onion they actually pull from reality. In this case, they quote a 1997 South Carolina Herald-Journal newspaper article about the founder of the group that put out the pledge. The group is actually a lobbying firm for defense contractors looking for work from government agencies such as DHS:
"Former [South Carolina] state Republican Chairman Van D. Hipp Jr., who was sentenced Monday to five years' probation and fined $5,000 for accepting illegal campaign contributions, said he would be crazy to return to politics. "I told my family if they see me going to a precinct meeting they have the right to have me committed to a mental institution," said Hipp…"
In return for the guilty plea, the government dismissed a 14-count fraud and money laundering indictment stemming from operation of a phone sex business.
That indictment alleged Hipp recruited people to open merchant credit card accounts to process credit card charges for B.C. Services of Mount Pleasant, a phone sex provider."
That 1997 article can be found here:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19970311&id=arceAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hM8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3150,2592058
Newt and Michelle are hanging out with some classy folks.
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