Newt Gingrich parties with Muhammad Ali Hasan

Remember Newt Gingrich? Speaker of the House. Contract with America. Quadrennially rumored Republican Presidential candidate. No?

Well, the extremely wealthy Hasan family does, and they hosted Gingrich last Friday, June 20, at their $10 million Beaver Creek mansion, where Gingrich gave a speech to a group of from the Eagle County Young Republicans and Eagle County Republican party. Muhammad Ali Hasan, 27, is running for state House district 56, and his story was covered thoroughly by Westword earlier this year. His parents, Seeme and Malik Hasan, are longtime Republican political activists (Malik is a former HMO executive).

So, how do they know each other?

Well, as massive donors to Republican causes, the Hasans have known Gingrich for years, and last July, they tried to donate $50,000 to his nonprofit, American Solutions for Winning the Future. The goal of the organization is to lobby Congress end this nation’s dependence on other countries for oil, and to lower gas prices -- not by changing our own consumer habits, but by drilling here! And drilling now!

To see video of his speech on the website of the Vail Daily, which covered it, click here.

Sadly for all involved, Gingrich was forced to return the $50,000 last August because the transfer from the Hasan Family Foundation to American Solutions violated IRS rules. Happily, Gingrich didn’t have to return the cake the Hasans served him to celebrate his 65th birthday. – Jonathan Shikes