On 5/22/2012 18:26, Richard Webb -> Dave Drum wrote:   
    RW> Didn't he also own a big piece of a company that manufactured   
    RW> electrical wire way back when he was Mr. Speaker?   
      
   No.   
      
    RW> I thought I read   
    RW> somewhere back then that there were some conflict of interest issues   
    RW> re that company adn some government contracts.   
      
   You didn't.   
      
      
      
   In the 1970's, Newt Gingrich, an assistant professor who taught environmental   
   studies and an unsuccessful Congressional candidate, criticized a local   
   manufacturing company.   
      
   The company, Southwire, was a powerful force. It was also, Mr. Gingrich   
   asserted, a polluter.   
      
   But by the time he finally won a seat to the House in 1978, Mr. Gingrich had   
   reconciled his differences with Southwire. The Richards family, its owners,   
   became his strong allies and helped to bolster his struggling personal and   
   political finances in his formative years, campaign aides, contributors and   
   public records indicate.   
      
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