Special Report: The congressman with banks on the side | Reuters
EVERYONE'S A BANKER
Gingrey went into banking late in the bubble years. In 2005 he helped line up investors for the Bank of Ellijay, two fellow former directors say. According to his House financial disclosure statements in 2006 he invested between $100,000 and $250,000 in the bank - some or all of which he had borrowed from Silverton Bank of Atlanta, which failed in 2009. Gingrey confirms that he had pledged his stock in Ellijay as collateral for the loan. The collateral is now worthless.
Like many other conservative lawmakers, Gingrey opposed the federal bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009. He voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, the plan that propped up the nation's largest banks. He also opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aimed at jump-starting the flagging economy, calling it a "dangerous myth that government spending will fix this economy."
But Gingrey does support one sort of federal bailout. Since 2009 he has urged the federal government to allocate billions of dollars to bail out troubled small, community banks -- banks such as Ellijay and WestSide.
As long as it was good for him he wanted it. These banks were never ran with good financial practices.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
