Romney's Bain story unraveling quickly

[maddezmom]

By Steve Benen
Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:59 PM EDT.

One of the worst things that can happen to a politician burdened by a controversy is generally captured by a sound: drip, drip, drip. Instead of making a full disclosure from the outset, the politician allows revelations come slowly, one at a time, dragging out the issue while creating a longer series of damaging headlines.

When it comes to Mitt Romney and his Bain Capital, the drips just keep coming.


Back in 2002 when he was running for Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney and his aides had no problem admitting he retained his position as CEO of Bain Capital after 1999. Press articles from the time describe how Mr. Romney was on a "leave of absence" after 1999 and had not fully cut ties with the private equity firm. [...]

Mr. Romney being on a "leave of absence" would explain the discrepancy and it doesn't mean he played any role in managing the company, however, according to at least one former Bain Capital executive, during a prior leave of absence, Mr. Romney still remained in a very active role with the company.

In 2002, a Boston Globe article quoted a former Bain Capital executive named Marc B. Wolpow who said Mr. Romney remained in a very active role at Bain Capital while he was supposedly on a leave of absence for his Senate race. Wolpow specifically said of Romney's role, "I reported directly to Mitt Romney.... You can't be CEO of Bain Capital and say, 'I really don't know what my guys were doing,'"

more:http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/13/12727677-romneys-bain-story-unraveling-quickly?lite

[hifiguy]

1. The drips are going to be an opened fire hydrant

very soon methinks.

[Skittles]

3. trickling down all over the GOP

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. Yup ...

But I think that "was you was or was you wasn't the head of Bain" fire hydrant is nothing compared to the real line of attack, which is "everything you did at Bain is evident in what plagues America today."

[Spazito]

2. The hits just keep coming, bigger and bigger...

"In 2002, a Boston Globe article quoted a former Bain Capital executive named Marc B. Wolpow who said Mr. Romney remained in a very active role at Bain Capital while he was supposedly on a leave of absence for his Senate race. Wolpow specifically said of Romney's role, "I reported directly to Mitt Romney.... You can't be CEO of Bain Capital and say, 'I really don't know what my guys were doing,'".

The iceberg is becoming more visible, it is no longer just the tip showing.

[maddezmom]

5. from 12/07: To assess Romney, look beyond the bottom line

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa.

"I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."


His record is more complex -- and more controversial.

From 1984 until 1999, Romney led Bain Capital, a Boston-based private equity group that earned jaw-dropping profits through leveraged buyouts, debt hedge funds, offshore tax havens and other financial strategies. In some cases, Romney's team closed U.S. factories, causing hundreds of layoffs, or pocketed huge fees shortly before companies collapsed.

Even Romney's staunchest supporters acknowledge that his business record exposes him to criticism

more: http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/16/nation/na-mittbain16

and this one:



Romney utilized offshore tax havens to help investors

Practice called 'perfectly legal'

Email|Print| Text size –+ By Bob Drogin
Los Angeles Times / December 19, 2007


While in private business, Mitt Romney used shell companies in two offshore tax havens to help eligible investors avoid paying US taxes, federal and state records show.




Romney gained no personal tax benefit from the legal operations in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. But aides of the Republican presidential hopeful and former colleagues acknowledged that the tax-friendly jurisdictions helped attract billions of additional investment dollars to Romney's former company, Bain Capital, and thus boosted profits for Romney and his partners.

Romney has based his White House bid, in part, on the skills he learned as cofounder and chief of Bain Capital, one of the nation's most successful private equity groups. His campaign cites his record while governor of Massachusetts of closing state tax loopholes; his involvement with foreign tax havens had not come to light before.

In the Cayman Islands, Romney was listed as a general partner and personally invested in BCIP Associates III Cayman, a private equity fund that is registered at a post office box on Grand Cayman Island and that indirectly buys equity in US companies. The arrangement shields foreign investors from US taxes they would pay for investing directly in US companies.

Romney still retains an investment in the Cayman fund through a trust. Campaign disclosure forms show the investment paid him more than $1 million last year in dividends, interest, and capital gains.

more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/19/romney_utilized_offshore_tax_havens_to_help_investors/

[Spazito]

6. It would be interesting, to say the least, to see how many...

of those "eligible investors (he helped) avoid paying US taxes" are also among his big money donors. I'm betting there would be some well known names.

He, through his company Bain, did two things well: 1) aided big money investors avoid paying U.S. taxes and 2)aided corporations to ship U.S. jobs overseas to countries like China and India.

So, in essence, he shat on the citizens of the U.S. in at least two ways, probably more, and he wants to be President.

[myrna minx]

7. .

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. More! More!

[SDjack]

9. This is kinda like the card game "Hearts". rMoney is holding the queen-of-spades,

and the DEMs are controlling the game to make him eat it.

[underpants]

10. ?

The mark of the 2012 Presidential race.

What?
Who?
WHEN?
How?
Why?

Time runs forever and everyone has answer to it.

WHEN? is the question that Romney has to answer and even if he can answer it can be extended. Like- "Yes okay that ended but what happened BEFORE that?"

Keep the "Bain" in the news as long as possible.

In this (Fox News driven) media world it is important to keep a topic afloat for as long as possible. It will never be answered and it floats around the head of the product (Romney) every time you see the product. The "birthers" have literally made a living off of this and the GOP has been able to make guns and abortion issues that never end.

Short term - keep the ? out there. ? has no answer.....unless you allow it to have an answer.

[Iliyah]

11. Wait for the Board meeting minutes,

which will verify that Mittens was still in charge.

Mittens truly believes that being super rich bars him from the rest of us and above the rules we have to abide by.

Those tax documents are extremely damaging.

[StrictlyRockers]

12. OH! I am loving this!

I knew it was going to get good. I just didn't think it would get this good this fast.

Find me more nuggets of goodness, please!