I just happened to be checking out the website reddit.com right before heading to bed when I noticed a link at the top of the front page that appears to be the McCain Campaign's vetting files on Mitt Romney. I'm still trying to confirm they are the real deal, but at 196 pages in total, it would be an awful lot of time to fake that.
I don't have time to go through the entire document (it's almost midnight here on the east coast), but there are a bunch of things that jump out right away.
Here is the reddit.com link:
McCain Campaign's Full 2008 File On Mitt Romney
The actual document is linked on scribd.com - but it's behind a download pay wall. However, you can download a PDF file from a Google Docs mirror, linked here.
https://docs.google.com/...
OK, now for the goodies.
*All emphases, as denoted in bold text, are mine.
After Romney's several page biography is a bullet list of information called the "Top Hits" section. Reading a bunch of these, it's pretty clear that the McCain campaign was concerned of Mitt's noticeable "liberal" positions on many issues (in favor of Pres. Clinton's gun control bill, allowing abortion to be covered by Romneycare, spending increased that way outpaced inflation, etc. etc.; the usual stuff we've been hearing about Romney from the Tea Party) when running for the Senate in 1994 and for Governor in 2002.
My personal favorite is the foreign policy section.
FOREIGN POLICY
-Romney has no foreign policy experience.
The most important information in this document is how the McCain campaign thought of Romney's tenure at Bain Capital. Below are all of the "Top Hits" bullet points for what is termed as "Business Record":
Romney spent most of his business career as CEO of private equity firm Bain Capital – as of June 2007 he maintained an investor’s stake in the company.
Bain Capital has been criticized for relentless focus on bottom line at expense of workers and jobs.
Romney describes himself as a “business legend” in his campaign ads and once said of himself: “I’m basically in the investor’s Hall of Fame.”
Bain Capital and Bain & Co. employees donated at least $171,000 to Romney’s presidential campaign in Q1 2007 and gave tens of thousands more in support of his previous political activities.
Bain Capital financed 1988 buyout with junk bonds issued by Drexel Burnham – when SEC filed charges against the firm and CEO Michael Milken, Bain Capital maintained their business relationship; Romney later reminisced about “the glorious days of Drexel Burnham.”
In 2004, Bain & Co. received a multi-million dollar contract from the National Iranian Oil Company.
Romney sat on board of directors of Bain portfolio company Damon Clinical Laboratories, which in 1996 was fined over $100 million for Medicare fraud committed during Romney’s tenure.
Bain Capital owned company named Ampad that purchased an Indiana paper plant, fired its workers and offered to bring them back at drastically reduced salary and benefits – the firings became an issue in the 1994 Senate race when workers blamed Romney for their situation and appeared in Kennedy campaign ads.
After Romney became governor, Bain Capital teamed up with Chinese appliance maker Haier Group in 2005 in effort to purchase Newton, IA-based Maytag Corp. and send jobs overseas.
At least two Bain Capital companies – Stream International and Modus Media – focused on outsourced technical support services, expanding facilities abroad while contracting operations in the United States.
Bain Capital operated steel company called GS Industries which went bankrupt in 2001 after years of labor strife, closing a plant in Kansas City and laying off over 700 workers.
The juiciest stuff is the detailed information on Romney's "Business Record" from pages 135 to 168, which includes detailed information about Romney's time at Bain. Right on the second page of the Business Record section is a bit about how Romney remained CEO at Bain Capital until August 2001, which makes sense in light of the amazing sleuthing initiated by Kossack
Lasgalen Lothir.
Romney Served As CEO Of Bain Capital Through August 2001, Even Though He No Longer Ran Daily Operations. “Although he gave up running day-to-day operations at the venture capital firm in order to head the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, he remained CEO and held his financial interest in the company through August 2001.” (Stephanie Ebbert and Yvonne Abraham, “Camps Spar Over Romney Word Choice,” The Boston Globe, 10/31/02)
That would explain Romney's signature on several key Bain documents uncovered by
Lasgalen Lothir and detectives Lasgalen's spectacular diary series. Seriously guys and gals, this document dump is the freaking jackpot. How 'bout some more goodies:
Former Business Colleague Said Romney Possessed “Ability To Identify People’s Insecurities And Exploit Them To His Own Benefit.” “[S]ome colleagues found Romney to be manipulative. Romney had an ‘ability to identify people’s insecurities and exploit them to his own benefit,’ says a source who worked with Romney but refused to be quoted for ‘fear of retribution.’ This source says that Romney would vary bonuses
among his partners just enough to put people on edge, giving $3.1 million to one, $3 million to another and $2.9 million to another.” (Evan Thomas et al, “Is Mitt Romney Ready For Prime-Time Politics?” Newsweek, 4/16/07)
Under Romney’s Leadership, Bain Capital Had History Of Relentless Focus On Bottom Line, Improving Corporate Profits At Expense Of Local Workers
Under Romney’s Stewardship, “Bain Left Companies In Bankruptcy Or Near Collapse After Selling Off Its Interests And Made Huge Profits.” “Romney was tremendously successful as CEO of Bain Capital and he helped build many companies. But his work also involved controversial ventures … that resulted in downsizing or layoffs. In some cases, Bain left companies in bankruptcy or near collapse after selling off its interests and made huge profits. Some companies Bain invested in, such as American Pad & Paper of Dallas, Stage Stores of Houston, and Dynamic Details (DDI) of Orange County, Calif., crashed after Bain went public with the company’s stock, and then immediately sold its own interest.” (Frank Phillips, “Romney Profited On Firm Later Tied To Fraud,” The Boston Globe, 10/10/02)
There literally is pages and pages more of this stuff. There's 10 pages documenting Romney's numerous flip-flops (which have only gotten worse since 2008).
Interesting, nothing on Romney's taxes or Stericycle, but clearly those are two big areas to hit Romney on, so keep digging through the EDGAR files as well.
Happy searching!
Update - While I have your attention, I should direct you to this article from Yahoo in which Mitt Romney is quoted as saying "[the] GOP's Not 'Party of the Rich,' But 'of Those Who Want to Be Rich'".
"We're accused, by the way - in our party - of being the party of the rich," Romney said. "And it's an awful moniker, because that's just not true. We're the party of people who want to get rich. And we're also the party of people who want to care to help people from getting poor. We want to help the poor.
"We also want to make sure people don't have to become poor," Romney said. "And we know what it takes to keep people from becoming poor."
[snip]
During the primary election, Romney was criticized for a remark in which he suggested he wasn't as worried about the very poor as he is about other struggling Americans.
"I'm in this race because I care about Americans," Romney told CNN in February, on the morning after winning the Florida primary. "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it."
By god, Mitt Romney is now flip flopping on caring about poor people. (Of course, we know that he actually doesn't care about the poor - he's too busy mucking it up with Nascar owners). Is there anything this guy
won't flip-flop on...
Mon Jul 16, 2012 at 10:02 PM PT: Some kind Kossacks have informed me that these files are NOT from McCain's campaign itself, but instead are a collection compiled by a third-party entity. I have corrected the diary title to reflect this. However, now that people are starting to pay more attention to Mitt's campaign, I still think it's a good thing these were re-linked on reddit.com (and here as well). There could be some things to help connect the dots regarding Bain, especially in light of newly uncovered documents that put Romney in high control of the company during a period of several years that he has repeatedly told voters he was gone from the company - years that the company engaged in some highly questionable transactions, such as the Stericycle contract. (Me personally, I could care less about that, as I unequivocally support full reproductive rights for women. But hey, anything that makes people want to not vote for Mitt is a-ok by me).
OK, still "happy digging".