By Robert gehrke

| The Salt Lake Tribune

When Enid Mickelsen became the second sitting Congresswoman to be expecting a baby, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich threw a baby shower in his Capitol office, with blue and pink streamers hanging from a Tyrannosaurus rex skull Gingrich had on loan from The Smithsonian.

Gingrich was good to the newly elected Utah congresswoman, putting her on the House Rules Committee, a powerful position never before given to a freshman.

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But, as Mickelsen (formerly Greene Waldholtz) said Monday, there are many sides to Gingrich, and as the Republican presidential campaign has gone on, the former speaker’s negative side has been reinforced.

"Nothing with Newt Gingrich is ever uncomplicated. Nothing," she said in an interview Monday. "My feelings about him are complicated, although I’ll tell you, watching him in this race has kind of crystallized some of his very worst traits."

The former congresswoman says Gingrich’s erratic temperament and lack of self-awareness or introspection are strikes against a candidate who is also "ferociously intelligent," and "one of the smartest people anybody will ever meet."

Mickelsen and former Reps. Chris Cannon and Merrill Cook — Utah Republicans who served alongside Gingrich — praise the former speaker for extraordinary accomplishments: helping Republicans take over the House, negotiating welfare reform and a balanced budget.

"I watched Newt Gingrich very closely and worked aggressively in Congress following the Republican majority and watched him get an amazing amount done," said Cannon, who served in Congress from 1997 to 2009. "He is a remarkable person, not to overlook his flaws.… He is a radical and has done amazingly good things."

Cannon said Gingrich understands the complexities of how Washington works and what it would take to change the system. From that standpoint, he said, Gingrich is a "potent candidate … and through all the haze and horrible lies going back and forth from every party, people are getting that piece of it."

"Many, many, many of even the harshest critics of Gingrich admire him the way I do," said Cannon, who hasn’t decided which Republican candidate he would support, ruling out only Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Cook said he likes Gingrich as well, but he’s supporting Romney — although he said Romney is misrepresenting Gingrich’s ethics issues in campaign ads.

"I’m still voting for Mitt Romney, but I don’t like this attack on Newt at all. I’m really disgusted by it," said Cook, who taught a Sunday school class with Romney in a Cambridge, Mass., LDS ward when they were both attending Harvard Business School.

"I think both of them would make outstanding presidents," Cook said. "I think Newt has an edge when it comes to vision, when it comes to knowing political leadership. As far as being a good manager and watching the budget a little more closely, I think Mitt Romney has an edge."

Mickelsen came to Washington as part of Gingrich’s "Contract With America" class that returned control of the House to Republicans for the first time in decades. She said Gingrich not only gave her prime committee assignments, but was also supportive later, when her campaign finances came under scrutiny and her husband, Joe Waldholtz, vanished amid an embezzlement and check kiting probe.

"Newt was very good to me," she said. "When my personal life fell apart, Newt absolutely stood four-square behind me. He believed me when I told him I didn’t know anything about what was going on."

Mickelsen said she called Gingrich and apologized for bringing dishonor to the House.

"Here we were as reformers and a new ethical group and I knew this would be used, not just against me, but against what we were trying to do," she said. "He said, ‘You didn’t bring dishonor. You can’t be blamed for the people you love.’ That has a different meaning to me now."

Mickelsen said at the time she had no idea that Gingrich had been carrying on a relationship with a staffer, whom he later married after divorcing his second wife, Marianne.