Brad DeLong: Is This the Silliest Thing Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post Has Ever Written?

[ProSense]

Is This the Silliest Thing Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post Has Ever Written?

Suggestions for sillier things welcome:

Glenn Kessler: Mitt Romney left the helm of Bain Capital in 1999…. (T)he language saying [in 2000, 2001, and 2002 that] Romney was “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president” was boilerplate… there is no standard definition of a “chief executive”… no requirement for anyone to have any responsibilities even if they have that title….

Romney’s sudden departure from Bain had left the partnership in flux… resolution was not reached until he ended his Olympic sojourn (in 2002) and decided to run for governor. At that point, he signed retirement papers that set his departure date as February 1999…

We consulted with securities law experts…. One… pointed out that the titles are basically meaningless, that someone can be listed as a chief executive and actually have no responsibilities whatsoever…

Give it up, Glenn.

It would be very unusual for somebody to have the titles of not just "CEO" but "President", "Chairman of the Board" and be "sole stockholder" and to have no responsibilities whatsoever. In fact, I defy Glenn Kessler to come up with any example of anybody anywhere--save for Mitt Romney--who has been characterized to the SEC as "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" and also claimed to have no responsibilities whatsoever and to have merely been a passive investor.

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2012/07/is-this-the-silliest-thing-glenn-kessler-of-the-washington-post-has-ever-written.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Great comment there:

So the last time he was president and chief executive of something, he had "no responsibility whatsoever". Speaks very highly of his pursuit of the U.S. presidency.

Yeah, well, this is pretty much his plan for the presidency, isn't it? And, of course, Grover Norquist's, the Koch brothers', etc.:

All we have to do is replace Obama. ... We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don't need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.
...
Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/13/grover-norquist-speech-cpac.html

[struggle4progress]

2. Interesting quote from the WaPo piece:

... Romney’s sudden departure from Bain had left the partnership in flux, in fact almost breaking up the firm, and a final resolution was not reached until he ended his Olympic sojourn and decided to run for governor. At that point, he signed retirement papers that set his departure date as February 1999, the month he left for the Olympics ...
Do Bain SEC documents suggest Mitt Romney is a criminal?
Posted by Glenn Kessler at 06:02 AM ET, 07/13/2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/do-bain-sec-documents-suggest-mitt-romney-is-a-criminal/2012/07/12/gJQAlyPpgW_blog.html

... On February 11, 1999, Romney was hired as the president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002 ... On March 19, 2002, Swift announced she would not seek her party's nomination, and hours later Romney declared his candidacy ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney#2002_gubernatorial_campaign

So Glenn Kessler is suggesting that Romney in 2002 decided he had retired from Bain in 1999. I suppose we should at this point also ask what it meant for Romney to be SLOC's president and CEO

[ProSense]

3. The WaPo piece is completely silly. n/t

[struggle4progress]

4. I generally agree, but the part I quoted raises an important question

I'd love, of course, to have a different link for the claim that Romney didn't finally decide until 2002 that he'd resigned from Bain in 1999

[ProSense]

5. It's an

"I'd love, of course, to have a different link for the claim that Romney didn't finally decide until 2002 that he'd resigned from Bain in 1999"

...interesting point, and there are so many unanswered questions. I mean, 2003: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002940521