Politics / Newt Gingrich 2012 Gingrich Pledges Not to Cheat on 3rd Wife Republican candidate tackles adultery issue By Neal Colgrass, Newser Staff Posted Dec 12, 2011 3:46 PM CST Copied Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks with a supporter during a business forum, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt) Newt Gingrich is following in the footsteps of other conservative candidates by making a pledge against infidelity—sort of. The GOP hopeful, who has taken heat for cheating on his second wife, didn't actually sign a candidate pledge from the conservative group The Family Leader, the Atlantic reports. But he did write his own version, published in the Iowa Republican, saying he promises "to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others." In his own pledge he also vows to defend "the unborn," "religious liberty," "the right of people to rule themselves," and marriage—particularly against gays and lesbians. So why not just sign The Family Leader's socially conservative pledge? Who knows, but he has refused to sign it before, saying it suggested that black children born into slavery had it better than black children born today. (More Newt Gingrich 2012 stories.) Report an error