Though Newt Gingrich is up in arms against private equity and Bain Capital in attacking Romney, he has also heaped praise on the industry in the past. From Bloomberg Television, Paul Levy, private equity firm manager at JLL Partners, recounts an event where Newt Gingrich was paid $40,000 to speak and “praised private equity more fulsomely than I could ever do it.”
From the Bloomberg interview:
Newt Gingrich spoke at my annual meeting two years ago, we paid him $40,000, and this gentleman praised private equity more fulsomely than I could ever do it. I can give you a copy of the check. We paid to the Washington Speakers Bureau for Newt Gingrich to come and speak. He was great. He gave a great evening. Everybody had fun. He fielded a lot of questions. He gave us a lot of time. But nobody praised private equity, risk taking, capital more fulsomely than Newt Gingrich.
