Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich brought his “Newt’s Jobs and Growth” bus tour to Council Bluffs and Atlantic, Saturday. In Atlantic, he spoke before a crowd of about 100-people at the bottling plant, about the tone of the advertisements that have been run against him, and in general. He said “It will be interesting to see whether in fact the people of Iowa decide that they don’t like the people who run negative ads, because you could send a tremendous signal to the country that the era of nasty and negative 30-second campaigns is over and that sense, you could have a very, very big impact.”

Newt Gingrich and wife Callista

He says “The level of sheer dishonesty in the ads…makes him sad there weren’t a couple of more debates” to debunk the candidates and their attack ads. He said “If somebody will lie to you to get to be President, why would you expect them to tell you the truth when they’re President?” Gingrich said he’s focused on a postive campaign in many different aspects. He said what the people need to focus on instead, should be he economy. Gingrich floated his proposal to turn around the economy, which involves tax cuts or changes. He says there should be zero a Capital Gains tax, a 12.5% Corporate tax rate, and 100% write-off within one-year, for the purchase of new farm or business equipment. The purpose would be to compete with China and India, and have more value-added jobs here.

He also proposed that in the future, as a prerequisite for unemployment compensation, a person would have to sign-up for a business training program. He says “We would no longer pay people 99-weeks to do nothing,” a statement which drew a sustained applause. Gingrich would also abolish the death, or inheritance tax. As far as personal taxes are concerned, his proposal offers an optional 15% flat tax, based on a model used in Hong Kong. He would also repeal several regulations which, according to Gingrich inhibit business growth.  That would include “Obama Care,” Dodd-Frank, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,  which is a United States federal law which set new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. It is named after sponsors U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and U.S. Representative Michael G. Oxley (R-OH).)

Gingrich says if elected in November, he would ask Congress to repeal all three before the Presidential Inaugural in Jan. 2013. He would also sign a series of executive orders on Inauguration day, one of which will abolish all of the so-called “White House Czars.” In addition, Gingrich says he would replace the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a long-term solutions agency. During a question and answer session with the audience, 76-year old Gary Nelson, from Audubon, a third-generation farmer, asked Gingrich for a simple favor. He asked to hake Gingrich’s hand, because he’s only shaken the hands of two other Presidents who went on to win the election. Gingrich obliged him and called that “A good omen.”

Audubon area farmer Gary Nelson asks to shake Gingrich's hand

Gingrich is scheduled to be in Ames, Marshalltown and Waterloo, on Sunday. The 68-year old Harrisburg, PA., native, is an author, political consultant, and history teacher who served as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. He represented Georgia’s 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1979 until his resignation in 1999.