Mitt Romney Stayed At Bain 3 Years Longer Than He Stated

Nine SEC filings submitted by four different business entities after February 1999 describe Romney as Bain boss.

Firm’s 2002 filings identify him as CEO, though he said he left in 1999

By Callum Borchers and Christopher Rowland |  Globe Correspondent | Globe Staff July 12, 2012

Government documents filed by Mitt Romney and Bain Capital say Romney remained chief executive and chairman of the firm three years beyond the date he said he ceded control, even creating five new investment partnerships during that time.

Romney has said he left Bain in 1999 to lead the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, ending his role in the company. But public Securities and Exchange Commission documents filed later by Bain Capital state he remained the firm’s “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president.”

Also, a Massachusetts financial disclosure form Romney filed in 2003 states that he still owned 100 percent of Bain Capital in 2002. And Romney’s state financial disclosure forms indicate he earned at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings.

The timing of Romney’s departure from Bain is a key point of contention because he has said his resignation in February 1999 meant he was not responsible for Bain Capital companies that went bankrupt or laid off workers after that date.

Contradictions concerning the length of Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital add to the uncertainty and questions about his finances. Bain is the primary source of Romney’s wealth, which is estimated to be more than $25o million. But how his wealth has been invested, especially in a variety of Bain partnerships and other investment vehicles, remains difficult to decipher because of a lack of transparency.

The Obama campaign and other Democrats have raised questions about his unwillingness to release tax returns filed before 2010; his offshore assets, which include investment entities based in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and a recently closed bank account in Switzerland; and a set of “blind trusts” that meet the Massachusetts standards for public officials but not the more rigorous bar set by the federal government.

Romney did not finalize a severance agreement with Bain until 2002, a 10-year deal with undisclosed terms that was retroactive to 1999. It expired in 2009.

Bain Capital and the campaign for the presumptive GOP nominee have suggested the SEC filings that show Romney as the man in charge during those additional three years have little meaning, and are the result of legal technicalities. The campaign declined to comment on the record. It pointed to a footnote in Romney’s most recent financial disclosure form, filed June 1 as a presidential candidate.

“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,’’ according to the footnote. Romney made the same assertion on a financial disclosure form in 2007, during his first run for president.

According to a statement issued by Bain Wednesday, “Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital in February 1999. He has had no involvement in the management or investment activities of Bain Capital, or with any of its portfolio companies, since that time.”

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As Governor, Mitt Romney Backtracked On Promised Reforms In Appointing Judges

The Washington Post

By Jerry Markon and Alice Crites, Wednesday, May 30, 8:33 AM

BOSTON — Mitt Romney marched into the Massachusetts State House in 2003 as a self-declared reformer, pledging to fix a judicial nominating system he decried as riddled with patronage and backroom deals.

Quoting John Adams, the new governor vowed to appoint judges purely on merit, put partisanship aside and restrict political contributions by those applying for the bench. “The citizens of Massachusetts deserve to have a squeaky clean process that has no room for politics and favors,’’ Romney said as he announced changes to judicial selection that were hailed as a national model.

Three years later, Romney changed course. He effectively took over the independent judicial screening commission he had unveiled with such fanfare. And as he geared up to run for president in 2008, Romney dismissed members of the commission who were resisting his choices for judgeships, according to documents and interviews.

Romney’s judicial nominees and his ill-fated effort to reform a politicized system offer a window into how he made some of his most important decisions as the state’s chief executive. As a Republican governor in a strongly Democratic state, he started as a good-government idealist, bumped up against an entrenched system and ultimately decided to work within it. And if, as Romney suggests, his time as governor is a key selling point for the presidency, his judicial appointments may be one of the most lasting legacies.

Though he once said people connected to state government would be at a disadvantage in seeking judgeships, Romney ended up appointing seven lawyers from inside his administration.

In his final 17 months in office, Romney pushed through a surge of judicial nominees, some with controversial records, others with the kind of political connections he had once condemned, records show. They included a former consultant for Bain & Co., the consulting firm where Romney made his reputation in business;a former Republican legislator rejected as too political by the screening panel, and a court clerk who had been reprimanded for asking a female co-worker to perform a lap dance at a strip club.

Before leaving office, he was forced to withdraw several nominees.

Judicial appointments often spark political fights, especially in a divided government. Romney’s Republican predecessor, Gov. Jane Swift, also drew criticism for late-term nominees deemed too political, including the Republican state House leader and a longtime Republican operative with no court experience.

The current Massachusetts governor, Deval L. Patrick (D) has been generally praised for his state supreme court choices, including the first black chief justice. But a number of his lower-court nominees have faced controversy, including a woman whose husband, a Democratic state representative, had donated tens of thousands of dollars, mostly to Democrats, including Patrick.

Unlike other governors, Romney promised far-reaching reforms.

“About 65 percent of these people appointed judges in Massachusetts — I’m not saying they’re not qualified, but they got appointed because of who they know,’’ said Christopher Iannella Jr. (D), the longest serving member of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council, the Colonial-era body that approves nominees. “Romney tried to change it, and I don’t think he was successful. I don’t see any difference between him and the rest.’’

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Romney Economics: Job Loss and Bankruptcy at Ampad

Published on May 21, 2012 by BarackObamadotcom

Learn more: http://www.romneyeconomics.com
With American Pad & Paper (Ampad), Mitt Romney and his partners took a small but successful paper products business and merged it with other companies in the industry, piling up debt as they went. Ultimately, the company was unable to keep up with the interest payments on its debt and was forced into bankruptcy, but not before Romney and his partners were able to squeeze out more than $100 million for themselves.

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Joe Biden Rips Mitt Romney Over Auto Bailout: ‘Bain Capital Wasn’t Lining Up’ To Help

The Huffington Post | By Jennifer Bendery  | Posted: 03/15/2012 12:48 pm  Updated: 03/15/2012  1:36 pm

WASHINGTON — In a fiery campaign speech on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden took direct aim at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for advocating that the auto industry go bankrupt instead of the Obama administration bailing it out.

“[Romney] said let Detroit go bankrupt. He said that,” Biden said to boos during a Toledo, Ohio campaign event. “He said what what we propose, and I quote, ‘is even worse than bankruptcy.'”

More telling, he said, is that Republicans like Romney were instead advocating that the private sector come to the aid of the auto industry, something Biden pointed out was never going to happen. He cited as proof the fact that Romney’s own private equity firm did nothing to help out during the crisis.

“Bain Capital wasn’t lining up to give anybody money,” Biden said. Romney said “the market, Wall Street, will help lift them out … Wrong.”

In the end, the administration bailed out the industry and it is now returning to stable footing. Romney said a government bailout “would make GM, quote, ‘the living dead,'” Biden said. “I say to Gov. Romney — his prediction of a living dead — we now have living proof: a million jobs saved.”

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