Follow the money
Newt’s Wisconsin rental property
Newt Gingrich earns between $5,001 and $15,000 per year renting out a house in tiny Whitehall, Wisconsin, birthplace of his wife Callista Bisek Gingrich, according to his 2010 personal financial statement.
The dwelling, at 36085 Sherwood Street, is assessed at $61,100 and is taxed at $1,551.38, according to Karen Witte, Whitehall Clerk / Treasurer. The home is owned by 36085 Sherwood LLC, which is headquartered at 5555 Glenridge Connector NE #950, Atlanta Georgia, the home of the Gingrich Group.
Despite the magnitude of the street address, No. 36085 is right in the heart of the Trempealeau County seat, located in close proximity to Roosevelt Street, Lincoln Street, and LaFollette Street, all with presidential connections, but in no other way reminiscent of Gingrich.
Gingrich has said the home has a mortgage, and is his only debt. He made this admission to Bob Schieffer of CBS News in May 2011 when it was revealed that his personal finance statement also included a revolving charge account at Tiffany’s.
“I currently owe nothing,” he told Schieffer, “except I owe one mortgage on a house that’s rental property in Wisconsin. Everything else is totally paid for. My home is paid for. My cars are paid for. We don’t have a second house. We don’t do elaborate things.”
The home is next door to the dwelling at 36097 Sherwood Street, which is the residence of Gingrich’s mother-in-law, Bernita A. (Krause) Bisek.
Most Zielinski funds off-limits
Ald. Tony Zielinski is one of only three aldermen to have more than $100,000 in his campaign coffers, as of the most recent finance report, filed in June 2011. (The others are Alds. Willie Hines and Michael Murphy.) New reports are due January 31.
However, Zielinski’s fund comes with an asterisk: he is forbidden to use the $71,574 in his account raised during a fling with the Lieutenant Governor’s race in 2010.
According to Richard Bohringer of the Government Accountability Board,
“Mr. Zielinski, while he registered to run for a statewide office in 2010, he did not file the paperwork to appear on the ballot and therefore his 2010 statewide campaign is still open.
“If Mr. Zielinski chose to terminate his statewide committee and register for local office only, he would have been required to return any contribution that would have been in excess of the local limits. This is what Gov. Walker chose to do in 2006 when he registered for Governor and later dropped out of the race without filing nomination papers to appear on the ballot.”
“Mayor Barrett was on the ballot for a statewide office in 2010. That campaign ended 12/31/10 and any funds in his account at that time could be used for any future campaign (state or local).”
Zielinski faces challenger Jan Pierce in the upcoming primary, one of the city’s few contested aldermanic races. All aldermen are running for re-election this year.
