WASHINGTON – Two top fundraising aides for Republican US presidential candidate Newt Gingrich have resigned, putting the former House of Representatives speaker’s chaotic campaign into even deeper trouble.
Finance director Jody Thomas was one of those to quit, Gingrich campaign spokesman RC Hammond said yesterday.
Other key members of Mr Gingrich’s team, including his campaign manager, resigned on June 9th, questioning his commitment to the 2012 presidential race after the candidate went on a Greek cruise with his wife.
Since launching his campaign in May, Mr Gingrich has also angered his party by criticising a congressional Republican plan to scale back the Medicare health insurance programme for the elderly and disabled. He also has fended off questions about why he had carried as much as $500,000 in debt to jewellery company Tiffany Co from 2005 to 2006.
Mr Gingrich will press on with his candidacy at an event today in Georgia, where he will call for revamping the Federal Reserve system, his spokesman said.
Mr Gingrich (68) was the main architect of the 1994 election victory that gave Republicans control of both the House and Senate for the first time in decades.
He has tried to ease concerns among the religious right about his personal life. He is married to his third wife, with whom he had an affair while married to his second wife. – (Reuters)