July 16, 2012

John Kerry’s office blasts Mitt Romney over inaccurate claims about tax returns

Source: The Globe

Senator John Kerry has been working on his Mitt Romney impersonation since being cast as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in mock debates with President Obama, but lately it has been Romney likening himself to Kerry, as he seeks to justify releasing only two years of tax returns.

Romney and his surrogates have repeatedly claimed that Kerry, the Democratic nominee in 2004, made public just two years of tax returns, despite the fact that Kerry released five years of tax documents and consistently released earlier returns during his Senate races.

On Monday, after Romney brought Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, into the argument, the senator’s office blasted Romney, accusing him of “conjuring up false and convoluted alibis.”

“As Senator [Daniel Patrick] Moynihan once said, people are entitled to their own opinions, but they’re not entitled to their own facts,” said David Wade, Kerry’s chief of staff and the Democrat’s national spokesman during the presidential race eight years ago.

“The Romney campaign needs to stop getting their facts wrong about John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry,” Wade added, saying Kerry had put a total of 20 years of tax returns into the public domain by the time he ran for president.



Read more: http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/07/16/john-kerry-office-blasts-mitt-romney-over-inaccurate-claims-about-tax-returns/PJibKCCrwcbusf3g0K5nXK/story.html

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Well done JK.

July 16, 2012

Mitt Romney Bain Capital Filings Link Him To Politically Problematic Companies After 1999

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The presumptive Republican nominee insists he never signed off on the business decisions related to outsourcing that turned the private equity firm into a political lightning rode. But neither he nor his campaign have said whether he agrees with those decisions, even if he was powerless over them when they were made. The Huffington Post asked top Romney adviser Kevin Madden this very question Monday morning during an appearance on MSNBC and received the following response:

Those decisions were made by folks that were running the company differently. So I don't have the details of what decision-making went into it. Oftentimes what happens with those type of decisions is that you have software companies, you have different types of companies that have to go out and have manufacturing needs, and when they go to look for companies that have manufacturing needs that they don't have, oftentimes those are manufacturing outposts around the globe. But the most important thing that we can answer is what we're going to do to create more jobs here in the country, and that's where Governor Romney has a much superior plan than President Obama.

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In April 1999 and March 2000, for example, SEC filings by the American Pad & Paper Company noted that Bain Venture Capital, an arm of the private equity firm, "may be deemed to be the beneficial owner" of entities that held millions of shares of company stock. Among the "general partners of BVC" listed in that filing was "W. Mitt Romney."

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A Huffington Post review of SEC files unearthed six separate occasions in which Romney was listed as a member of "the Management Committee" of both Bain Capital Investment Partners and BCIP Trust, "deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" shares held of DDi. In one of those filings, Romney is listed as President and Managing Director of Bain Capital, Inc.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/mitt-romney-bain-capital_n_1677133.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

July 15, 2012

Now Romney is "Patriotic" for "retroactively leaving" Bain - LOL!

Romney camp defends 'patriotic' Bain exit

By Arthur MacMillan (AFP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney's campaign sought Sunday to neutralize attacks on his business career by framing his decision to leave Bain Capital to save the Salt Lake City Olympics as a bold act of patriotism.

Senior aide Ed Gillespie branded allegations that the White House hopeful oversaw the shipping of American jobs abroad as "baseless" and accused Barack Obama of demeaning the office of the presidency through such attacks.

"He left a life he loved to go to Salt Lake City to save the Olympics for a country he loves more," Gillespie told CNN, hitting back at an increasingly strident attempt at character assassination by the Obama campaign.

more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gJu8GKV0XvuqVWeVpEKarKf4pmWA?docId=CNG.ca05c088f66b8c5208e91ddf16e7037a.01


ETA:

Follow. The. Olympics. Money. Bain+Romney 1999-2001

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/13/1109486/-Follow-The-Olympics-Money-Bain-Romney-1999-2001

July 15, 2012

Axelrod - Romney's accts in offshore tax havens would have repercussions in gov'ing decisions

53 minutes ago
Axelrod: Obama could have Swiss bank account if he wanted


Posted by
CNN's Kevin Liptak

(CNN) – Mitt Romney's accounts in offshore tax havens would have repercussions in essential governing decisions if he's elected president, a top adviser to President Barack Obama claimed Sunday.

David Axelrod said on CNN's "State of the Union" that Romney's accounts in places like Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda would cloud his decision-making on reforming the tax code, and that the current president had avoided such conflicts of interest in his own investing choices.

"We lose $100 billion a year to offshore tax shelters," Axelrod told CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley. "We've learned from the limited disclosure that he's made that Gov. Romney takes advantage of these. He had a Swiss bank account. He has a Bermuda holding company."

He continued, "When we go to reform the tax code, how does that inform his judgment? He's told us his business experience is the lens through which he's going to look at these decisions. We're getting a look at that experience, and people need to gauge, is that the kind of experience we want in the Oval Office?"

more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/15/axelrod-obama-could-have-swiss-bank-account-if-he-wanted/

July 15, 2012

What are the odds Rmoney makes his VP announcement next week?

Pros and cons of Romney's VP options

By Andrew Gully (AFP) – 41 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney still has six weeks to announce his vice presidential running mate, but speculation is rampant that he could name his pick as early as next week.

A memo released by Romney's camp on Thursday teased Washington political watchers by saying: "We're getting ready to share some exciting news" and the announcement will be "sometime soon."

He could shock everyone like the last Republican presidential nominee John McCain -- who plumped for a fresh-faced Alaskan governor by the name of Sarah Palin -- or react against that logic and opt for a safe, solid operator.

More: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hYud58gYUbCZ9lUG_bpLGM4SizEQ?docId=CNG.efaee1c0d9b0b1015ac27e59c71b582b.01

and I'm thinking Portman did a bit of an audition today.

July 14, 2012

Romney Denial of Responsibility for Actions of Bain Says A lot About the Kind of President He Would

Mitt Romney's refusal to take responsibility for the actions of Bain Capital from 1999 to 2002 says a lot about the kind of president he would be.

Friday night, Romney persisted in denying that he was responsible for the behavior of Bain during the period, even though he was listed on SEC documents as the firm's CEO, Chairman, President and sole stockholder. Romney claims he "left" Bain Capital to run the Olympics back in 1999 and is not in the least responsible for the actions it took over the next three years, notwithstanding the fact that he was CEO, Chairman, President and sole stockholder until 2002.

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Romney can dance around the issue, parse words, argue he gave up "management control" until he is blue in the face. But however he structured the decision making process at Bain Capital while he was also running the Olympics, he was ultimately in charge -- and he was ultimately responsible for -- and benefited mightily from its actions. In every business the buck stops with the CEO, Chairman, President and sole stockholder -- it's that simple.

Romney's refusal to be held responsible for the actions of the company he owned -- and for which he remained CEO, Chairman and President -- says a lot about the kind of President he would be -- and a lot more about his character.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/romney-denial-of-responsi_b_1673255.html

July 14, 2012

Account of Romney's Bain departure has evolved

Source: Boston Globe

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It was not until 2002 that Romney finalized a severance agreement with Bain, a 10-year deal with undisclosed terms that was retroactive to 1999.


Romney’s own words, along with other documentary evidence, appear to challenge his campaign’s assertion in a recent financial disclosure that Romney had “retired” from Bain in 1999 and “since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way.”


Financial disclosure forms Romney filed in Massachusetts indicate he earned at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings.


In addition, Bloomberg news service reported Friday, Romney is named as one of two managing members of Bain Capital Investors LLC in annual reports filed in Massachusetts as late as 2002, “adding a new corporate entity to a growing number of Bain-related investments and funds that list the Republican presidential candidate as controlling the company three years after he said he left it.”Continued...

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Romney also testified that “there were a number of social trips and business trips that brought [him] back to Massachusetts, board meetings” while he was running the Olympics. He added that he remained on the boards of several companies, including the Lifelike Co., in which Bain Capital held a stake until 2001.


Romney’s lawyer at the hearing said that Romney’s work in the private sector continued unbroken while he ran the Olympics.


Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2012/07/14/evidence_mounts_of_mitt_romneys_continuing_ties_to_bain_after_1999/

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Romney is named as one of two managing members of Bain Capital Investors LLC in annual reports filed in Massachusetts as late as 2002, adding a new corporate entity to a growing number of Bain-related investments and funds that list the Republican presidential candidate as controlling the company three years after he said he left it.

Separate documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reviewed by Bloomberg News, also show Romney in 2000 as the sole stockholder of Bain Capital Investors Inc.

Romney, 65, is worth as much as $250 million, according to financial documents his campaign has released.

Bain said in a statement this week that it took a while to transfer ownership to Romney’s successors “due to the sudden nature” of his decision to run the Olympics. Until the ownership situation was resolved, Romney continued to be listed as the sole stockholder and in various executive positions in SEC filings, the company said.

more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-13/romney-takes-to-tv-newscasts-to-defend-record-at-bain.html



GOV. ROMNEY: Well I'm not sure which ones you're talking about, but I can tell you the people who have looked at the charges that the Obama campaign comes out with, which is that somehow we outsourced jobs, they've said that those were false and misleading. That the ads are inaccurate. Some have given it multiple Pinocchios. The president keeps on trying to divert any attention he can from his failure to turn around the American economy, and that's what this campaign's about. But the president keeps on trying to find something about Bain which is simply not true. And I left Bain in February of 1999. People can point out how - I was in Salt Lake City for three straight years. I don't recall even coming back once to go to a Bain or management meeting. We were, I was out there running the Olympics and it was a full time job, I can tell you that.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57472298/romney-interview-with-cbs-news-full-transcript/

ROMNEY: I had no association with the management of Bain Capitol after February of 1999. That is when I left the firm. I am very pleased with the experience I had with the firm but as everyone knows I went on to run the Olympics for three years I was there full time after that I came back and ran in Massachusetts for governor. I had no role with regards to Bain Capital after February 1999.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-romney-responds-bain-attacks-abc-interview/story?id=16775294&page=2

Mitt Romney's Own 2002 Testimony Undermines Bain Departure Claim
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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.

Yet in the Aug. 12, 2011, federal disclosure form filed as part of his presidential bid, he said, "Mr. Romney retired from Bain Capital on February 11, 1999 to head the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way."
more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/mitt-romney-bain-departure_n_1669006.html?ir=Politics

http://pfds.opensecrets.org/N00000286_2010_pres.pdf

July 13, 2012

Dem governors: GOP hurting economy to aid Romney

Source: AP

Dem governors: GOP hurting economy to aid Romney

By By JOSH LEDERMAN – 23 minutes ago

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Democratic governors are accusing House Republicans of deliberately sabotaging the economy to help Mitt Romney oust President Barack Obama.

"There's not a doubt in my mind that in their calculations, that they are hoping for the economy to slow before the election," Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., said in an interview Friday. "They think that's their best shot at unseating the president."

Democrats have grumbled for months that Republicans have obstructed legislation to deny Obama the election-year victories he needs to make the case for his economic record.

But on Friday, some Democratic governors pointed to the GOP-controlled House's efforts to withhold support for the stimulus and block Democratic jobs legislation, and said — in interviews with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the National Governors Association's annual meeting — that the only rational conclusion is that Republicans are sacrificing the economic recovery to bolster their argument that Obama has failed to create jobs.


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j-K8tYPZAp81Y8UrOqA1Rb1z4KPg?docId=4aefd4cdb4e94690bff051d95a8b0c1d

July 13, 2012

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/

June 16, 2012

US enlists Britain's help to stop ship 'carrying Russian attack helicopters' to Syria

Source: The Telegraph

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Washington, which last week condemned Moscow for continuing to arm the Syrian regime, has asked British officials to help stop the Alaed delivering its alleged cargo by using sanctions legislation to force its London-based insurer to withdraw its cover.


Under the terms of the current European Union arms embargo against Syria, imposed in May last year, there is a ban on the "transfer or export" of arms and any related "brokering" services such as insurance. Withdrawal of a ship's insurance cover would make it difficult for it legally to dock elsewhere and could force it to return the cargo to port.

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"We were informed on Friday evening that the ship might be carrying weapons, in particular attack helicopters, missiles and non-specific munitions, and we are making inquiries to establish what their side of the story is," said Mr Dorey. "There are exclusion clauses in our cover, and for anyone involved in improper or unlawful trade, we can cancel cover. We are investigating whether or not to do so in this case."

Like most international cargo ships, the Alaed has a complex ownership and management structure. Its registered owner is Volcano Shipping on the island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles, but it is listed as part of a fleet belonging to a Russian company, FEMCO, which was unavailable for comment last night. According to FEMCO's website, the ship's commercial management and chartering is carried out by United Nordic Shipping, a Danish company based in Copenhagen, but yesterday, United Nordic shipping said that the management agreement had never actually been finalised, and that FEMCO's website was wrong.


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9336170/US-enlists-Britains-help-to-stop-ship-carrying-Russian-attack-helicopters-to-Syria.html