Among those complaints was a charge that he stood to profit excessively
from a publishing contract for his book To Renew America.
On that complaint, the panel found that his book contract with a private publisher was in "technical compliance" with House rules. But the deal appeared strongly as "an attempt by you to capitalize on your office. . . . At a minimum, this creates the impression of exploiting one's office for personal gain," the committee said.
Gingrich's publisher offered him a $4.5 million advance for the book, but after a public flap, Gingrich rejected the advance and agreed to accept royalties.
CHIDINGS
The committee also scolded Gingrich for using Joseph Gaylord, a former GOPAC official and one of the speaker's key political advisers, as an unofficial member of his congressional staff.
That violated House rules, the committee said, which ban "the use of unofficial resources for official purposes."
And it further denounced him for using the House floor to promote sales of videotapes in which he expounded his political philosophy. "The House floor should not be used for commercial purposes," the panel held.
The committee chided Gingrich for promoting a GOPAC town meeting on the House floor. "You were using the House floor to publicize a political meeting sponsored by a political organization," the committee said.
In none of those cases, however, did the committee feel the offenses were serious enough to merit more than a rebuke in their letter to Gingrich.
Bonior said the criticism was magnified by the high station the speakership occupies in the American scheme of government.
As holder of the third-highest office in the land, Bonior said, Gingrich ''should be setting an ethical standard for everyone else to follow, not testing the limits to see how far he can go."
The remaining serious charge against Gingrich, which the special counsel will investigate, relates to a college course designed and taught by the Georgian at Kennesaw State College and Reinhardt College, both in Georgia.
The cost of developing and presenting the course - which critics say was highly partisan - was partly financed by tax-free contributions.
Money from GOPAC also was apparently used to finance and promote wider dissemination of the course materials and videos.
The committee questioned whether the handling of the course's production, presentation and promotion violated a federal law that bars political contributions through tax-exempt organizations.
