Newt Gingrich said during Wednesday’s debate that he worked for housing giant Freddie Mac as an “historian” in 2006 not as a lobbyist. That would make him one highly paid historian.
While Freddie Mac confirmed that he did no lobbying work, government watchdogs told TPM that it was a fairly arbitrary distinction since ex-politicians are often hired as “consultants” who use their connections to perform similar functions. And that’s why they get paid the big bucks: Gingrich earned $300,000 for a year’s work with Freddie Mac while the average history professor has an average salary of about $63,000.
Democratic tracker group American Bridge caught up with Gingrich and asked him if his fees made him the “the highest paid historian in history.”
“That’d be cool,” Gingrich replied.
