Mitt Romney caught in nasty net of lies

[MusicMan]

Romney's campaign probably cannot withstand the latest bad news.   Simple review of his sworn testimony before the Massachusetts Election officials (in 2002) is in direct opposition to his 2011 Federal Election Disclosure Form statements.

Romney claimed in 2011 to have left Bain Capital on Feb 11 1999 in order to revive the stalled Winter Olympics Games in Salt Lake City.  Yet according to his SEC Filings he remained  "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" through 2002. Another form stated that he owned 100 % of the company.


Romney's lawyer at the Massachusetts hearing (2002) said that Romney's work in the private sector continued "unabated" while he ran the Olympics: "He succeeded in that three-year period in restoring confidence in the Olympic Games, closing that disastrous deficit and staging one of the most successful Olympic Games ever to occur on U.S. soil. Now while all that was going on, very much in the public eye, what happened to his private and public ties to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? And the answer is they continued unabated just as they had."

You can't be in both places at once. He claimes to have been living and working in two places at one time, ostensibly to satisfy the residency requirements of running for MA governor. Plain and simple he lied, either on one or both of these forms.

[fsquid]

There are many things you can attack Romney on, this isn't one of them.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/mitt-romney-and-his-departure-from-bain/2012/07/12/gJQAASzUfW_blog.html

[finehoe]

We still have no explanation for why Mitt Romney was paid a six figure salary for three years while he "had absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies" in Bain's words in their statement yesterday. We also have no explanation of why telling the SEC in 2001 that he remained the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president," while he was nothing of the kind. Yes, we have been told that his departure was dramatic, and that it took time to restructure a complicated business partnership, but for a company to declare a false CEO to the SEC for three years is either the mark of spectacular incompetence - and a potential felony - or a lie.

[BridgeTroll]

   Simple review of his sworn testimony before the Massachusetts Election officials (in 2002) is in direct opposition to his 2011 Federal Election Disclosure Form statements.

Romney claimed in 2011 to have left Bain Capital on Feb 11 1999 in order to revive the stalled Winter Olympics Games in Salt Lake City.  Yet according to his SEC Filings he remained  "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" through 2002. Another form stated that he owned 100 % of the company.


Romney's lawyer at the Massachusetts hearing (2002) said that Romney's work in the private sector continued "unabated" while he ran the Olympics: "He succeeded in that three-year period in restoring confidence in the Olympic Games, closing that disastrous deficit and staging one of the most successful Olympic Games ever to occur on U.S. soil. Now while all that was going on, very much in the public eye, what happened to his private and public ties to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? And the answer is they continued unabated just as they had."

You can't be in both places at once. He claimes to have been living and working in two places at one time, ostensibly to satisfy the residency requirements of running for MA governor. Plain and simple he lied, either on one or both of these forms.

When you quote articles... we generally require the link.

[MusicMan]

The quote is from Huffington Post refering to the Boston Globe article.

FSQUID, This is not an attack. I am just reporting what the Boston Globe  said.

Here are his own words:

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.

Romney testified that he "remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the LifeLike Corporation" at the time.

[BridgeTroll]

The quote is from Huffington Post refering to the Boston Globe article.

FSQUID, This is not an attack. I am just reporting what the Boston Globe  said.

Here are his own words:

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.

Romney testified that he "remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the LifeLike Corporation" at the time.

Great... I am sure there is a link?

[fsquid]

We still have no explanation for why Mitt Romney was paid a six figure salary for three years while he "had absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies" in Bain's words in their statement yesterday. We also have no explanation of why telling the SEC in 2001 that he remained the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president," while he was nothing of the kind. Yes, we have been told that his departure was dramatic, and that it took time to restructure a complicated business partnership, but for a company to declare a false CEO to the SEC for three years is either the mark of spectacular incompetence - and a potential felony - or a lie.

could of been a "silent partner" for those years.  I'm not familiar with how they were organized.  The investment bank I worked at did that with one of the partners after we couldn't stand working with him anymore.  He basically collected his share of the firm's profits but no longer had a vote or anything.

[MusicMan]

Here  is the link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/mitt-romney-bain-departure_n_1669006.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[bill]

Throw BS against the wall and see what sticks. The way the Press and obama run their campaign. Good plan if the alternative is run on your record.

[finehoe]

could of been a "silent partner" for those years.  I'm not familiar with how they were organized.  The investment bank I worked at did that with one of the partners after we couldn't stand working with him anymore.  He basically collected his share of the firm's profits but no longer had a vote or anything.

But even its own line of response - to reiterate that even though Romney remained the formal CEO, he was completely AWOL - is now looking more tenuous with new data from HuffPo. In trying to fend off questions about his Massachusetts residency for the gubernatorial campaign, Romney stated that while he was running the Olympics,

[T]here were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth.

Board meetings. That statement was under oath. So was this about the period in question:

(I) remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the LifeLike Corporation.

Lifelike and Staples were Bain acquisitions. To repeat: Romney said he attended board meetings of Bain companies in a period in which Bain says he had "absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies." And this was under oath:

I returned for most of those meetings. Others I attended by telephone if I could not return.

So now the story is the following: Romney legally declared himself the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" in a period when his company says he had "absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies." But during that period, he attended board meetings of Bain companies and made several business trips back to Boston.

So did Romney lie under oath or is Bain lying today? I'd say Romney's best bet is to stick with his under-oath testimony and to his SEC filing and admit that he was responsible for what Bain did - legally and practically - in the period in question, even if he was part-time. Otherwise, he could have committed a crime. The only problem with conceding this is that it opens up a whole can of worms about investments and decisions by Bain in those years - and possible inquiries into conflicts of interest as he drummed up dollars for Salt Lake City's Games.

[BridgeTroll]

Here  is the link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/mitt-romney-bain-departure_n_1669006.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Thank you sir.

[fsquid]

seems like instead of campaigning on it, Obama needs to turn this over to a federal prosecutor.  Incorrect SEC filings are not taken lightly.

[MusicMan]

Yes that sounds appropriate. If they dig a little they are also going to have to reveal to the Press that he may have falsified other voter registration documents as well. (At one point he claimed to be living in his son's basement during part of this time while he clearly was not (he was saving the Olympics in SLC).

If he is running on his 'character' as a strength he could be in a serious trouble over these things.

[finehoe]

It might also cause some problems with his base that their nominee was the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" of a private equity firm that invested in a post-abortion fetus disposal enterprise:  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/romney-bain-abortion-stericycle-sec

[fsquid]

God, I hope neither candidate is actually running on their character.