Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Damon Political Report

Former Nevada Rep. Vucanovich: Gingrich too erratic, arrogant to be GOP nominee

Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Vucanovich, R-Nev., unleashed on her former colleague Newt Gingrich today, calling him erratic, arrogant and full of himself.

On a conference call for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign, Vucanovich said she doesn’t want to see Gingrich win the Republican nomination.

“I did serve with the speaker and he used to be erratic and I think he probably still is,” she said. “One of my feelings with him, he was always so full of himself. I mean humility was not in his makeup. He was cocky and arrogant and, of course, he didn’t listen to anybody.”

The Romney conference call, one of the first as the campaign shifts its focus to Nevada, was part of an effort to paint Gingrich as too “unreliable” to be president.

Vucanovich served in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District from 1982 to 1996, working with Gingrich on the Contract with America that helped Republicans take the House in 1994.

Vucanovich complimented Gingrich on that effort.

But Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, who was also on the conference call, criticized Gingrich’s leadership during that time.

“That was really my first exposure to leadership, which at times was exquisite, but it was really a thousand different ideas a day and at times exceedingly confusing,” he said.

Dan Burdish, a Las Vegas political operative for Gingrich’s campaign, defended Gingrich.

“Mitt Romney has gone from being above the fray to putting out all sorts of falsehoods about Newt that he knows are total distortions,” Burdish said. “Is that the temperament you want in the White House?

“There is no way Newt is erratic. Does he go from idea to idea to idea? Most assuredly. But that’s because he has so many ideas.”

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