Mitt Romney's 'big lie' on Bain: 6 ways it hurts him
Romney caps off a bad week with a big fight over whether he lied about when he left Bain Capital. Here's why such a small dispute matters so much
Mitt Romney's presidential campaign was buffeted by news reports on Thursday — most prominently from The Boston Globe — which said that despite Romney's repeated insistence that he left private equity firm Bain Capital in February 1999, he was actually listed in SEC and Massachusetts legal filings as its "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" until 2002, pulling in an "executive" salary of at least $100,000 a year. Team Romney points to a report in Fortune, among other sources, to back up its assertion that Romney didn't actively manage Bain's investments after 1999, but even Republicans are getting nervous about Romney's Bain baggage. Why does it matter if Romney was running or just "running" Bain for three years, a decade ago? Here, six ways this new Bain flap could hurt Romney:
1. This makes Romney look dishonest
The big reason this Bain story matters is that it's "one more big lie for Romney," says Martin Longman at Booman Tribune. Either he's "been lying about having no control of Bain's decisions in 1999-2002," or Bain has been lying to regulators and investors. Romney's way of squaring that circle, giving "increasingly tortured explanations of the definition of 'CEO,'" just makes him look "increasingly weaselly," says Kevin Drum at Mother Jones. Politically, claiming that "he was only technically CEO and isn't responsible for what happened during his technical CEO-ship" looks like "a Mafia don taking the Fifth."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
2. And it ruins his big push to label Obama a liar
"The Romney campaign has truly awful timing," says Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog. Team Obama has been hitting Romney for weeks about Bain and the outsourcing of U.S. jobs, and Romney picked Thursday morning — just as The Boston Globe's "bombshell" about Romney's Bain lies hit the stands — to punch back hard with a TV "ad that effectively (and ironically) accuses the president of being a big liar." It's hard to say if Romney's counterpunch would have landed on a different day, but it certainly didn't when questions about his own truthfulness dominated the political media.
3. The whole Bain selling point takes another hit
The crux of this fight is Romney's repeated insistence that he left Bain in February 1999, and "there's no great mystery" about why, says The Maddow Blog's Benen. He's made his business experience his major selling point, and he "doesn't want to be on the hook for a series of controversial Bain investments, layoffs, and bankruptcies that Bain oversaw after" that point. The problem with Romney's pushback is that "things are reaching the point where the facts don't really matter," says Ginger Gibson at Politico. "The Bain cloud now hanging over the former Massachusetts governor is growing daily, and the Romney campaign still hasn't found a compelling way to respond."
4. Lying to the SEC could be a federal felony
FactCheck.org has generally taken Romney's side in this fight, says David Edwards at The Raw Story, but in defending Romney's contention that he can't be held responsible for post-1999 Bain-linked bankruptcies and outsourcing, the fact-checkers "may have accidentally revealed that the GOP candidate committed a 'federal felony.'" It would amount to perjury if Romney had wrongly certified on "federal financial disclosure forms that he left active management of Bain Capital in February 1999," FactCheck.org said July 2. Obama campaign lawyer Robert Bauer and Romney adviser Matt McDonald offered, unsurprisingly, opposing views Thursday on whether Romney might be in legal trouble.
5. It can also open Romney up to lawsuits
Whether or not Romney could be charged with a federal felony, he might have opened himself up to legal action from Bain investors, former SEC Commissioner Roberta Karmel tells The Boston Globe. Bain told the SEC that Romney was CEO and sole shareholder, so "are you telling me he owned the company but had no say in its investments?" It wouldn't look that way to someone who "invested with Bain Capital because they believed Mitt Romney was a great fund manager." This kind of potential "misrepresentation to the investor... could be used in a lawsuit against him."
6. This is yet another reminder of Romney's wealth
If Team Romney wants to win this fight, the burden of proof is now on its side, says Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast. Even then, "this is a lose-lose for Romney." He's lost yet another day of the campaign to chatter about his vast wealth rather than Obama's economic record, "and even the best case in defense of Romney must argue that he got paid at least $100,000 a year for doing nothing." That will have a lot of Americans wondering "how the rules they live by simply don't apply to people with Romney's massive wealth."
Read more political coverage at The Week's 2012 Election Center.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
6 scenic white water rafting destinations to get your heart racing
The Week Recommends Have a rip-roaring time on the water
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Dangerous substances in Lunchables are raising concerns over children's health
In the Spotlight High levels of lead and sodium were recently found in the snack packages
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Fired art
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published