How is it that for Deval the Caddy is a story, the drapes are a story, the phonecall to Ameriquest is a story. For Romney the story is about a roadtrip with his dog, not this:
Perhaps the most legally thorny was Bain Capital’s 1989 purchase of Damon Corp., a Needham medical testing firm that later pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal government of $25 million and paid a record $119 million fine.
Romney sat on Damon’s board. During Romney’s tenure, Damon executives submitted bills to the government for millions of unnecessary blood tests. Romney and other board members were never implicated.
More than a decade later, when Romney was in pursuit of the Massachusetts governorship, his Democratic opponent Shannon O’Brien accused him of lax oversight at Damon and failing to report the fraud. Romney replied that he had helped uncover the illegal activity at Damon, asking the board’s lawyers to investigate. As a result, he said, the board took “corrective action” before selling the company in 1993 to Corning Inc.
But court records suggest that the Damon executives’ scheme continued throughout Bain’s ownership, and prosecutors credited Corning, not Romney, with cleaning up the situation. Bain, meanwhile, tripled its investment.
Romney personally reaped $473,000.
For Deval, the hint of impropriety causes a kerfuffle. For Romney, a bigger whiff of impropriety hasn’t made it to the national stage. I thought there was supposed to be more scrutiny when you’re a national player, not less.
The Globe then says,
In many ways, Damon shows the pitfalls of launching a political career from the buyout industry.
Not really. It’s only a pitfall if people actually care about it.
It’s that he’s a Republican.
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You see, if you’re a Democrat and work for Texico and Coca Cola, you’re a sleazy business man. If you worked at a corrupt lending company, specifically hired to end that corruption, you’re even more than sleazy.
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But, if you’re a Republican and work for a Venture Capitalist firm, you’re brave, hard working, a genius.
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If Deval Patrick had instead come from Bain, it would have been a major issue. But not Mitt Romney.
Ryan,
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You make an interesting point, but isn’t that dichotomy somewhat the fault of the Democratic party and certain elements within the party? It strikes me that some in the party (and more than a couple posters here on this site)have an automatic, knee-jerk reaction against any Dem who is also connected to big business or somehow connected to money.
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Remember, a lot of the attacks against Deval relating to his corporate ties came not from the Republicans, but were first leveled against him during the primary, especially by Tom Reilly’s backers.
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And in the presidential race, there has been all this noise about John Edwards and his hedge fund money and $400 haircut.
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Sadly, it seems that certain people in the Democratic Party and the progressive movement cannot imagine that anyone who has achieved financial success can be pure enough in their views and beliefs to be a true Dem or a true progressive. I think that’s a rather short-sighted view that really hurts the party in the long run.
They have more of a national readership than BMG.
That’s my synopsis. Romney’s internal negotiations at Bain strike me as good deal-making by him. The “cover story” angle, which is the only part of the account that has a hint of impropriety, is just speculation: in practice, Bain Capital was huge success, and no cover story was ever needed or offered.
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You’re absolutely right about Damon. The additional details could be quite damaging, if they are accurate, and merit further examination. This is just a reminder, if any were needed, of the poor campaign Shannon O’Brien ran.
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The dog story, however, hits people where they vote: character and sentiment. It is straightforward, easy to understand, and appalling.
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I agree cross-posting is a good idea: see what more people think đŸ™‚
doesn’t know how to judge a good or bad business practice. But he does know how to cover his own tookus so his lack of judgment won’t hurt him.
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That’s just the kind of President America has right now.
is that he does know how to judge good and bad business, political and personal practices, and that he is smarter and therefore more dangerous than the kind of President America has right now.
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G.W. Bush is a tool. Romney is a screw-master.
Just as some people reacted to “I was for it before I was against it” as a quick shorthand to all their concerns about Kerry, this story represents a lot of background concerns about Mitt — uneven judgment, a willingness to have another suffer for one’s mere convenience, amusement at others’ problems.
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I think a lot of people see that when they see Mitt, and the dog story encapsulates it. Plus, it’s “relateable”. Not too many of us have tried to answer the question “how will we transport Fido in a crowded car?” and come up with the answer of strapping him to the roof. We can compare our instincts to Mitt’s and find them lacking, instead of imagining how we’d run a venture capital firm, which isn’t something many of us have dealt with.
..the issue is, why did Bain want Romney so badly? Because of Romney’s managerial expertise? Well, obviously not. Bain could have hired any of a number of managers on lesser terms.
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Because of Romney’s political connections? Probably so.
Bloggers Against Romney. We should form a coalition to make sure the truth is told, and not the veneer he is trying to portray.