Tiffany & Co.: "Nothing unusual" about Gingrich's no-interest credit loan
Updated: 3:12 p.m. ET
Prominent jewelry company Tiffany & Co. denied on Thursday the possibility that the company had lobbied a House congressional committee on which Callista Gingrich served, and said the couple's credit loan was a standard deal extended to more than 1,000 customers.
On Tuesday, the blog Spy Talk wrote that the House Agriculture Committee, on which Gingrich's wife Callista served as "chief clerk," was being lobbied by Tiffany & Co. during the time the Gingriches incurred the debt.
A representative for Tiffany said that was not the case.
"It should be noted that mining matters fall under the jurisdiction of the House Natural Resources Committee, not the House Agricultural Committee," a Tiffany spokesman told Hotsheet.
"Tiffany & Co. has long publicly supported Congressional efforts, assisted by Cassidy & Associates, to reform the antiquated General Mining Law of 1872 and require mining companies to fairly compensate taxpayers for metals taken from public lands, to enhance environmental oversight over mining operations, and to prohibit mine development in areas of extraordinary cultural and ecological value," said Tiffany spokesperson Carson Glover. "Tiffany & Co. has never testified before the House Agricultural Committee."
"We had no reason to lobby the Agriculture Committee, and we did not," Glover added. "Nor did anyone at Tiffany & Co. (or Cassidy & Associates on behalf of Tiffany) ever speak to Speaker Newt Gingrich or Mrs. Gingrich about either of these matters."
The statement continues: "Our focus has been on the Natural Resources Committee which has jurisdiction over these matters. The one and only meeting with the Forest Service on the matter of Mining Law reform was in response to an invitation by Dale Bosworth, chief of the Forest Service, as a result of our Open Letter to him in The Washington Post that appeared on March 24, 2004."
A Gingrich aide told CBS News on Wednesday that the former House speaker's account with Tiffany was entirely legal and that the couple received no preferred treatment due to political status. Questions had initially been raised when it became clear that he and his wife had between 2005 and 2006 incurred somewhere from $250,001 to $500,000 of debt with Tiffany & Co.
According to Politico, Tiffany further reiterated that point on Thursday.
"There is nothing unusual or extraordinary about the credit extended to Speaker Gingrich," Glover said. "Last year, Tiffany & Co. extended credit to over 1,000 customers on identical terms."