Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich had some kind words for the man who Wednesday is poised to take up the gavel he once wielded. Paul Ryan, he said, has the "potential to be someone historically important." Said the one-time Georgian:
"I think he'll pull together the party by offering big ideas that people like and by being prepared to pick fights carefully that he has a pretty good chance of winning. He will also communicate a lot. Ryan understands that you can't lead a free society unless you communicate all the time."
The ex-Speaker, in town Tuesday for an Atlanta panel organized by the Dentons mega-law firm, was also asked about another issue: His political benefactor's recent interest in Georgia. Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegans Sands mogul who bankrolled Gingrich's presidential campaign, has ruffled some feathers here.
Said Gingrich:
"If the people of Georgia decide for some reason they want a casino, I assume they'll have an open bidding process, and it's pretty hard to imagine that Sands isn't one of the places that will at least look at it."
Is legalizing gambling a good idea? “I think it creates a lot of jobs,” Gingrich said.
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Speaking of gambling: Over at InsiderAdvantage, Phil Kent reports that an unidentified state House committee chairman (there are 38, so guess away) as saying that he received and returned "an unsolicited $500 corporate check in the mail for his campaign re-election fund from the Fortune 500 casino giant MGM."
An MGM spokeswoman had no comment. But those end-of-the-year campaign cash reports will make for some great reading.
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