Right now, there's only speculation about who it was that recorded the secret video of Mitt Romney calling 47 percent of Americans mooching victims, wishing he was Latino because that would be so much easier than being a rich white dude, and talking about buying a Chinese sweatshop. The placement of the camera and the fact that people paid $50,000 apiece to attend the fundraiser suggest that it was a member of the waitstaff, maybe a bartender, who recorded the video. Beyond that, we don't know. And the big question is, if we ever find out, is that person going to face prosecution? Are Mitt Romney and fundraiser (and sex party) host Marc Leder trying to find out the taper's identity in order to press charges?
Florida, where the Romney fundraiser was held, is a two-party consent state, meaning that the person being recorded has to agree to it. Romney obviously did not agree to have the world at large know what he says to his wealthy donors. That means that making the recording may have been a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, though legal experts tell Politico there are some possible defenses, such as that a presidential candidate trying to influence donors can't expect privacy.
Of course, a presidential candidate can't expect to keep his tax returns secret, yet Romney's got every intention of doing that, so it wouldn't be the ultimate shock to see him trying to prosecute a service worker who had the temerity to make his for-rich-ears-only remarks public. And according to Philadelphia blogger Laura Goldman, Marc Leder "is in the process of narrowing down the suspects and is contemplating contacting law enforcement."
If true, that would be just about the perfect cap on the story of how Romney feels about 47 percent of Americans. But let's face it, if Leder and Romney figure out who made the video and push for that person to be prosecuted, it probably won't happen until after the election. Because as we've already seen, they don't want voters paying attention to who Mitt Romney really is.