Much of yesterday's controversy surrounding Mitt Romney's work at Bain Capital comes down to a very narrow question. Both sides agree that Romney was a well-compensated CEO of his firm from 1999 to 2002. Both sides agree that Bain orchestrated controversial investments, layoffs, and bankruptcies during that time.
But while Romney's critics say he's responsible for the actions of his company, Romney's defenders say the buck stops somewhere else -- he may have been Bain's sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president, but he didn't really do any real work. Indeed, the argument goes, he wasn't even there.
Rachel played a clip last night from Romney's 2002 gubernatorial campaign in which he said of the time period in question, "I was in Utah full time. I had no responsibility for management at Bain Capital."
Overnight, new reports call these claims into further question.
Mitt Romney's repeated claim that he played no part in executive decision-making related to Bain Capital after 1999 is false, according to Romney's own testimony in June 2002, in which he admitted to sitting on the board of the LifeLike Co., a dollmaker that was a Bain investment during the period.
Romney has consistently insisted that he was too busy organizing the 2002 Winter Olympics to take part in Bain business between 1999 and that event. But in the testimony, which was provided to The Huffington Post, Romney noted that he regularly traveled back to Massachusetts. "[T]here were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth," he said.
Romney's sworn testimony was given as part of a hearing to determine whether he had sufficient residency status in Massachusetts to run for governor.
So, on the one hand, Romney said he was in Utah "full time," was gone from Bain, and had no role in Bain's operations "in any way." On the other hand, Romney also said he wasn't in Utah "full time," and he remained actively involved in Bain investments after his alleged departure.
Politico reported overnight that the Romney campaign, when asked if Romney attended meetings and/or had contact with Bain between 1999 and 2002, "declined" to answer.
Oops.
At a certain level, I suspect many of these details will be lost on the public. It might matter to the voting mainstream that Romney's claims clearly contradict one another, but the specifics will almost certainly get lost in the shuffle.
But the lingering problem for the Republican presidential hopeful is the lasting damage. Romney has already taken a hit for getting rich by laying off so many American workers, then he took another hit for investing so much of his vast wealth in offshore tax havens.
Now he's being forced to effectively tell the public, "Sure I was the CEO of my own firm, and sure I was paid handsomely, and sure I filed formal documents that said I was in charge, but don't worry, the buck stops somewhere else."
I keep thinking of a working class family in Columbus, Ohio, listening to this. It seems hard to imagine that family thinking, "Yeah, let's make that guy president."
Leave a Comment:
Mitt was the sole shareholder and allowed a mailroom guy to make major aquisition decisions for Bain while he picked the costumes our American team would wear that year at the Olympics?
It is possible to have a legal residence in one state while living in another state, provided your legal residence has not changed. The real question is, was he actively involved in the business operations during the period from 1999 - 2002? If so, what percentage of his time was devoted to the business operations? This makes clear his level of participation, regardless of title (there is such a thing as a silent partner), and his responsibility for the decision making.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney is holding fundraisers at Dick Chaney's house. The man is palling around with known terrorists!
The involvement with LifeLike is relatively trivial -- on its own. But the reason for the testimony in the first place is what makes it signficant.
According to the story on Kos, which needs to get more attention, Romney was having trouble establishing his residency in Mass. sufficiently to run for Governor. Why? Because he had claimed his that his house in Utah was his primary residence, so as to reduce what would otherwise have been a 60K tax bill (IIRC). So, all of a sudden, that became a "mistake," because the house was really Anne's (as if), and he had been involved in LifeLike all along, and was therefore a Mass. resident.
Just one more instance in which Romney is saying whatever suits his needs at the particular moment, so as to game the system. Running for governor of Mass.? For gay rights and abortion. Running for President? Now against them. Trying to chisel a tax bill (while a multi-millionaire, no less)? I'm a Utah resident. Running for Governor? No, that was my wife. The list goes on and on.
And you wonder why he has Swiss bank accounts, Cayman Island accounts, etc.
So the Romney campaign admits that the Securities and Exchange Commission Documents showing Romney as “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer,and president.” are accurate? This makes Romney legally and morally responsible for any and all actions taken by Bain.
in addition from the Globe article: "Also, a Massachusetts financial disclosure form Romney filed in 2003 states that he still owned 100 percent of Bain Capital in 2002.
And Romney’s state financial disclosure forms indicate he earned at least
$100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment
earnings.
This is a man who claims to be an astute businessman and yet he wants us to believe that he left himself wide open to legal consequences if Bain was sued or had failed to
comply with SEC rules and regulations and he had no control or input into what
the company was doing? Does not appear to be the actions of an smart business
man.
A little off topic. Please, everybody, learn the difference between a possessive and a plural and quit putting apostrophes on everything. Notice I mean more than one apostrophe (you use millions). That means plural. That means NO APOSTROPHE. End of rant.
I can attest to the increase in the political heat today. The trolls on MSNBC dot com (newsvine) are thicker than mosquitoes on a hot summer night.
What tics me off, is that Massachusetts allowed him to run there. He clearly was not in Mass full time - even if he was a twin - he did not pay MA taxes (but was allowed to make them up?). It seems it's ok to overlook these 'small' discrepancies while we allow without question, the discriminating and ridiculing an of an !elected PRESIDENT! about his birth place.
As for his Bain stint... well I know it can take years for a transfer of powers within a company. And during that transfer often the outgoing party receives a salary, profit shares etc... that's not exactly the same as no involvment but granted the outgoing party would not be involved in any decision making.
It is clear to me that Romney decides what you 'need' to know and what not (and has been like this since I first heard of him- there! is his consistency). I believe that to him, (and I think he believes this with all his heart) you or We The People, don't really care about Politics anyway, so why not HIM? Obama is no longer popular and there are certainly people , as docile as does, following a couple of mad lions into their den...
I hope with all my being that the American People will ALL UNITE and show that they are really NOT THAT STUPID!!!!!
Too late.
I think a bit of a caution is in order here. It has the stink of a set up.
Romney never says "I quit Bain" he only says he was in Utah and not involved in its decision making. Without a whistle-blower that one's going to be hard to refute. My guess a supportive ( perhaps a liar but it does not matter ) whistle blower is in the wings and will be launched at the perfect time to give the Obama folks maximum grief.
Romney gets good press. Better press than Obama. If this thing takes a tack in a different direction and I think it will..its all about mean old Obama. Think it cannot happen..look back at Bush and the National Guard stuff. That one, almost CERTAINLY true..burned any chance Kerry had. It was set up ( Rove for sure ) and it was beautifully done.
This has been the MO of GOP'er politics for more than a decade. Dirty tricks.
Watch out! As soon as this gets really hot out will come that guy to say " well you can see Mitt was not involved..he was given a token 100 K in 2002..a pittance..because HE WAS NOT THERE". Forget all the CEO, President stuff. He will likely defend his angle ( and damn it folks this guy knew this was coming years ago and is ready for it ) of "not being involved" and I think he will pull it off. The Boston Globe will tale a hit like CBS in the Bush Kerry thing and Romney will jump in the polls.
I am a Democrat and I grew up on the bad side of the tracks. It takes one to know one and I think I know this one.
These business that list him as sole stockholder..Do they have to file annual reports? What do they say about the management team? If they promote Romney as the leader, then either the reports contain lies, or the SEC filings make false claims.
Mitt once had an outfit called Bain
Whose mission was to cause lots of pain.
But when the news got leaked out
Mittens started to shout:
"I had nothing to do with that game!"
he should be fined impeached and removed from the presidential race. Cause that is just one to many lies to be telling and he doesn't even have a V.P. yet We The People the real Americans with state side Bank Accounts need to start holding these Politians accountable for thier lies and thier actions. GOP=Domestic Terrorist
I lived in Utah during the time Romney claims he was busy with the Olympics and, not surprisingly, that's another of his lies. He wasn't 'busy organizing the Olympics'. The Olympics were organized years earlier and everything was running forward. Romney was a doorman/greeter who was brought in to be the wealthy Mormon 'face' of the games after two fall-guys were fired for the 'bribery scandal.' Those two guys (and countless others) did all the work.
Again - Romney did NOTHING for the Olympics other than be the picture of what a wealthy, successful Mormon could be. That was what the powers-that-be in Utah wanted (and the powers in Utah are the Mormon Church).
Hell, I'd like to see some news group investigate what the hell Romney claims to have done for those Olympics. Everybody just seems to assume he did everything when he didn't do a damn thing.
The 2002 Olympics in Utah was in February 2002. All the planning was in 2001. Mittens showed up to save the day about 3 or 4 months before the event happened. So why would he say he was in Utah ALL of 2002 when his job was over at best a month after the main event in March 2012? I know others who worked the Olympics - they called to say good bye mid-March so even the worker bees under him were out of there soon after February, 2002.
Romney is not my friend so I gotta say what I think......given the fact that he won't disclose his tax records,and the missed years at Bain that he doesn't recall,this is what I think,
I think He owes a very large amount in Taxes.....and can't afford to get caught.
there has to be a large group getting paid to cover for him.
As if Obama is any different. His administration is loaded with oligarchs who have outsourced jobs to low wage nations. In this nation of one party rule, it makes no difference at all which party controls the Presidency or Congress...all are bitches of the shadow government. Until Americans wake up and stop voting for one party rule the nation will continue its spiral into the economic abyss. Notions of a recovery are just a charade...voting is just to maintain a semblance of democracy. Obama declared himself in charge of all communications in the US. Why? Why is this so imporant at this time? Why are US citizens the subject of suspicion? Why is it so important to eliminate habeas corpus? What are they planning? What do they know?