Weird Willard, from the mouth of a Massachusetts State Health Professional

[mikekohr]

Last edited Sun Jul 15, 2012, 02:15 AM - Edit history (2)

Willard is weird, uncomfortable, awkward and oh so corporate. That's who he is. Last summer I sat in a seat on a plane next to a Health Professional with state government in Massachusetts. She said the Romney administration had every study done by her office cleared by Robme's office before it could be released. This never happened before or since.

She said Romney was a "strange man" and she was very uncomfortable around him and his staff. She was stunned when he bought and destroyed the hard drives of every computer in the governor's office when he left office. I asked her, Isn't this what a person would do if he did not want anyone to know what went on during his administration?" She had a one word answer. "Yes."

To borrow a line from "The Great Gatsby," -The rich are different-."

cached at:
http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/2012/07/weird-willard-from-mouth-of.html

[madashelltoo]

1. I bet at least one survived.

We'll hear about it soon. It's in someone's basement for one reason or another. People like Mitt the Shit always think they've cleaned up the trail that leads to them. However, there is always one clue left behind.

[philly_bob]

2. When he left office, he bought and destroyed the hard drives of every computer in the state???

Somebody confirm. I'm sure report means every computer in his administrationl not the whole state -- but even so, that is a) crazy and b) probably illegal. State research and correspondence belongs to the citizens of the state, not the governor....

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. I'll bet there are a lot of weird stories about Romney from hired help over the years

Chauffeurs, maids, cooks, nannies, gardeners, butlers, personal assistants, accountants, lawyers, probably have a wealth of weird stories they could tell. He's probably crazier and more eccentric than the rich boss of Elaine Benis in Seinfeld, the one who ate candy bars with a knife and fork and spent days forcing his personal assistant to try hundreds of pairs of socks on him for pair that fit. And he's probably a lot meaner, too.

[Swamp Lover]

4. Well the 'bought and destroyed every state computer's hard drive' is unbelievable....

but since the source is an unnamed person who sat next to you on a plane, the story must be solid!!!!!

[pscot]

5. You could have googled it youself

but here it is:

Just before Mitt Romney left the Massachusetts governor’s office and first ran for president, 11 of his top aides purchased their state-issued computer hard drives, and the Romney administration’s e-mails were all wiped from a server, according to interviews and records obtained by the Globe.

Romney administration officials had the remaining computers in the governor’s office replaced just before Governor Deval Patrick’s staff showed up to take power in January 2007, according to Mark Reilly, Patrick’s chief legal counsel.

As a result, Patrick’s office, which has been bombarded with inquiries for records from the Romney era, has no electronic record of any Romney administration e-mails, Reilly said.

“The governor’s office has found no e-mails from 2002-2006 in our possession,’’ Reilly said in a statement. “Before the current administration took office, the computers used during that time period were replaced and the server used during that time period was taken out of service, all files were removed from it, and it was also replaced.’’

http://articles.boston.com/2011-11-17/news/30411090_1_e-mails-andrea-saul-mitt-romney

[siligut]

6. The story has been told here on DU before

Romney bought and destroyed the hard drives in the Governor's office.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-usa-campaign-romney-computers-idUSTRE7B500X20111206

(Reuters) - Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned.

[starroute]

7. The original source is totally mainstream

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-usa-campaign-romney-computers-idUSTRE7B500X20111206

Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned. . . .

When Romney left the governorship of Massachusetts, 11 of his aides bought the hard drives of their state-issued computers to keep for themselves. Also before he left office, the governor's staff had emails and other electronic communications by Romney's administration wiped from state servers, state officials say.

Those actions erased much of the internal documentation of Romney's four-year tenure as governor, which ended in January 2007. Precisely what information was erased is unclear.

Republican and Democratic opponents of Romney say the scrubbing of emails - and a claim by Romney that paper records of his governorship are not subject to public disclosure - hinder efforts to assess his performance as a politician and elected official.

[GeorgeGist]

12. If one thinks that those state servers ...

may not have been wiped too clean, they may still have a story to tell.

Who is the Governor of MA now? Oh, yeh this fellow:

[bigbrother05]

8. Not sure it was every state computer, but heard that his staff did that

They bought them from the disposal office after they were scrubbed in the usual manner for reuse. Then they removed the drives and had them physically destroyed. Weren't taking any chances on info getting out. Mitt himself used his personal email account for state business, allows him to claim as personal property instead of public records.

[mikekohr]

11. You hear the damnest things on an airline flights, including substaintiated truth

-clip- Theresa Dolan, former director of administration for the governor's office, told Reuters that Romney's efforts to control or wipe out records from his governorship were unprecedented.

Dolan said that in her 23 years as an aide to successive governors "no one had ever inquired about, or expressed the desire" to purchase their computer hard drives before Romney's tenure.

The cleanup of records by Romney's staff before his term ended included spending $205,000 for a three-year lease on new computers for the governor's office, according to official documents and state officials.

In signing the lease, Romney aides broke an earlier three-year lease that provided the same number of computers for about half the cost - $108,000. Lease documents obtained by Reuters under the state's freedom of information law indicate that the broken lease still had 18 months to run. -end of clip-

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-usa-campaign-romney-computers-idUSTRE7B500X20111206

[siligut]

9. He wanted to monitor/control the release of health studies?

I can understand wanting to review the data, but this sounds like he wanted to censor it.

[xfundy]

10. $100,000 of taxpayer money?

That alone should be investigated as a misuse of taxpayer funds.