Did Mitt Romney change the way corporations are run?

If you are running for president, especially as a Republican, you get to change the laws, or at least the interpretation of them, to fit your particular situation.  Like running for president.  And you can even make this retroactive to whenever you want.  John Adams said years ago, “facts are stubborn things” and he should know as our second president, a founding father, and a leader of American independence from Great Britain.



ummmm...What did I do?

 But as stubborn as some facts are, Mitt Romney insists that he didn’t run Bain Capital after 1999, although he was still president, CEO and its only shareholder.  The AP reports, however, that Romney stayed in “regular contact” and was personally involved with the signing or approval of legal documents well into 2001.  He claimed to have left Bain in 1999.  He also argues that he didn’t even visit Bain during the period in question.

Following 1999 Bain was investing in companies that shipped jobs overseas; actually, pioneering the practice.  Putting Americans out of work is not something that goes over well with middle class Americans, but fits perfectly in with Romney’s philosophy of putting corporations ahead of the general public.  Obviously the campaign reacted fiercely to defend the candidate.

But in mid-July the Boston Globe said Romney had signed official documents claiming to be president and CEO of Bain Capital as late as 2002, in the middle of the period it was developing firms that were outsourcing jobs.  This was sworn to on Securities and Exchange Commission filings.  Not only did Romney deny everything again, he demanded a retraction from the Boston Globe which he didn’t get.

Good video on Romney flip-flops:

Donna Brazile, a contributor to CNN and a Democratic strategist says, despite what the candidate’s campaign claims, this whole issue is about getting to the bottom of their complete diversion of the facts.  To support all the accusations of burying facts and potential lies, there is the tax returns issue.  The general policy of most presidential candidates is to release 12 years of tax returns…unless you have something to hide. 

Mitt Romney’s father, George Romney, did just that in his run for president in 1968.  The elder’s effective tax rate at the time was 37 percent.  The son’s similar tax rate was under 15 percent in 2010, the only year he has released.  He promises 2011 when completed.  John McCain released only 2 years of tax returns when he ran against Barack Obama in 2008 and look what happened to him.

Brazile sums it up eloquently: “If Romney won't stand by his record at Bain, just like he won't stand by his record as governor of Massachusetts, how exactly is the American public supposed to evaluate the candidate?”  Romney did a flip-flop on both his health care plan and gun control laws as governor.  The answer to Brazile: if you mix Bain Capital with no additional tax returns, plus reversals in policies on major issues, the real question is can we trust Romney?