Sept. 7, 1994--Former Rep. Ben Jones (D-Ga.),...

Sept. 7, 1994--Former Rep. Ben Jones (D-Ga.), who was running against Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), files a complaint alleging that Gingrich used tax-exempt groups for political purposes.

Dec. 6, 1995--House Ethics Committee decides the allegations merit further inquiry.”

Dec. 22--James M. Cole is hired as special counsel to the Ethics Committee to investigate the conduct of Gingrich.

Sept. 26, 1996--The Ethics Committee expands its investigation to include whether Gingrich supplied the panel with accurate, reliable and complete information” when questioned about links between his partisan activities and tax-exempt organizations.

Oct. 1--The Ethics Committee requests additional information regarding apparent discrepancies between the facts of the case and information supplied by Gingrich.

Dec. 21--Gingrich admits the violations in a signed statement. He says he did not intentionally mislead the committee and should have sought legal advice about avoiding the mix of tax-deductible contributions and partisan activities.

Jan. 7, 1997--With few votes to spare, the House votes 216-205 to retain Gingrich as speaker.

Jan. 17--After 5 1/2 hours of televised hearings, the Ethics Committee votes 7-1 to recommend that the House reprimand Gingrich and orders him to reimburse $300,000 of the cost of its investigation.

Jan. 21--The House of Representatives votes 395-28 to follow the Ethics Committee’s recommendations, reprimanding Gingrich for bringing discredit on the House by using tax-exempt money to promote Republican goals and then giving the committee untrue information for its inquiry. It is the most severe rebuke leveled on a presiding officer of the House in its 208-year history. It is unclear if Gingrich is supposed to reimburse the House with campaign or personal funds.

April 17--Gingrich announces he will pay a $300,000 ethics penalty with a loan from former Sen. Bob Dole, ending the saga 31 months after the investigation began.

Ongoing--The Internal Revenue Service is still investigating whether tax-exempt organizations provided money to finance Gingrich’s political activities and the college course he taught.