In interviews with HuffPost, many vendors listed in Gingrich’s Federal Election Commission debt disclosures said they’re still waiting to be paid, weeks or months after finishing work. Several said they’ve been given the runaround by campaign officials as they’ve tried to collect. Gingrich has vowed to slog on with his debt-ridden campaign, despite having won a mere 136 delegates, leaving some vendors to wonder when they can expect their checks…
Though Gingrich has long held himself up as a paragon of fiscal responsibility, vendors that include Noiseworks Media have found that the former speaker’s campaign is apparently spending money it doesn’t have. Based in Coral Gables, Fla., Noiseworks produced a handful of television and radio spots for the campaign, in English as well as Spanish, that aired in Florida and Arizona leading up to those primaries. Disclosure forms peg Gingrich’s debt to Noiseworks at $10,500, but the firm’s director, Tere Gutierrez, said the tab is closer to $24,000. The firm fronted nearly half of that money to actors, makeup artists and other contractors that the firm needed for the production, Gutierrtez said.
“It’s unusual that we don’t get paid — politicians are usually very good at that, they pay immediately,” said Gutierrez. But with the Gingrich campaign, “It’s getting from bad to worse. … It’s a lot of running around, ‘We’re going to get to you, we’re going to do a payment plan.’ We’re calling and emailing, calling and emailing, every day. And nothing.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member