Gingrich declines to release ethics documents

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich
is refusing to ask the Justice Department to release thousands of
records from the House Ethics Committee's investigation into his
conduct as speaker in the 1990s.

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond likens the request from the
open-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington to "wild goose chases."

The organization asked the Justice Department to release
documents forwarded from the House in 1997 after it investigated
Gingrich's use of tax-exempt organizations for political gain.

The House committee never concluded whether tax laws were
violated, and the Internal Revenue Service later cleared the
organization involved.

Hammond said Wednesday the IRS was "exonerating every
politically motivated charge."

Gingrich agreed to pay $300,000 as reimbursement to taxpayers
for the cost of probe.

(Associated Press)