Newt Gingrich’s Iowa political director resigned yesterday after less than a week on the job for disparaging comments he made about the Mormon faith, referring to the religion as a “cult.”
Craig Bergman, a Tea Party activist who at the time was unaligned with any campaign, said last week during a newspaper focus group organized by The Iowa Republican and McClatchy newspapers that Mitt Romney’s Mormon religion would cost him votes.
“There is a national pastor who is very much on the anti-Mitt Romney bandwagon,” Bergman said, according to The Iowa Republican. “A lot of the evangelicals believe God would give us four more years of Obama just for the opportunity to expose the cult of Mormon. ...There’s a thousand pastors ready to do that.”
The Gingrich campaign released a written statement last night about Bergman’s resignation.
“Craig Bergman agreed to step away from his role with Newt 2012 today,” the statement said. “He made a comment to a focus group prior to becoming an employee that is inconsistent with Newt 2012’s pledge to run a positive and solutions orientated campaign.”
Read the report in its entirety HERE.
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