Economy

Bloomberg: Private-Equity Lobbying Helped Protect Romney’s Tax Benefits

On February 7, 2012, Bloomberg  reported:

The largest U.S. private-equity funds and venture capital firms have relied on a five-year, multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to protect the carried interest tax break that helped drive presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s 2010 effective tax rate below 14 percent.

NY Times: Romney’s Returns Revive Scrutiny Of Lawful Offshore Tax Shelters

On February 7, 2012, the New York Times reported:

Mitt Romney’s tax returns have drawn political scrutiny on multiple fronts, like his relatively low tax rates and the money parked in a Swiss bank account. But on Capitol Hill, his returns have caught the eyes of members of both parties for what appears to be his use of a type of complex shelter that has been debated for years in battles over evasion and fairness in the tax code.

TPM: GOP Senate Candidate’s Solar Company Took Stimulus Cash

On February 6, 2012, Talking Points Memo reported:

Former Rep. Mark Neumann (R-WI), who is running in a three-way primary for the state’s open Senate seat on a platform of cutting government, has in fact taken government spending from a particular Obama administration initiative: stimulus grants. What’s more, the money was for his solar energy company.

Huffington Post: Denny Rehberg, GOP Congressman And Senate Hopeful, Blasts Child Labor Regulations

On February 2, 2012, the Huffington Post reported:

In a speech expounding on the rift between rural America and Washington D.C., Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) vowed Thursday to use his funding powers to stop the Obama administration from implementing new child-labor rules pertaining to agricultural work, accusing the "urban" Labor Department of meddling in a "rural" industry it doesn't understand.

TPM: Romney Team Silent On Key Offshore Tax Avoidance Question

On February 1, 2012, Talking Points Memo reported:

Romney has disclosed a substantial individual retirement account (IRA) that, as the Wall Street Journal first noted, could have made offshore investments that circumvented an obscure U.S. tax called the Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT).

Washington Post: Romney, Citing Safety Net, Says He’s ‘Not Concerned About The Very Poor’

On February 1, 2012, the Washington Post reported:

In an interview with CNN Wednesday morning that should have been a Florida victory lap, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney made a fumble that could give rivals an attack ad sound bite. Asked about his economic plan, Romney said repeatedly that he was not concerned with very poor Americans, but was focused instead on helping the middle class.

Boston Globe: Boston Lawyer Brad Malt In Crossfire Over Romney Investments

On January 30, 2012, the Boston Globe reported:

In 2007, as Romney prepared his first run for president, Malt sold stock in dozens of potentially controversial companies, including casino operators, tobacco growers, and firms with ties to Iran. Last year, after Romney pushed for tougher trade sanctions against China, Malt dumped a number of Chinese holdings. He recently shed a money market mutual fund that had invested in government-backed mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are blamed for exacerbating the housing bust.

GQ: How Your Oppo-Research Sausage Is Made: Bain Vs. Newt Edition

On January 30, 2012, GQ reported:

A couple weeks ago I met some of the guys from American Bridge, the pro-Democratic super-PAC, loafing around a restaurant in New Hampshire in between interviews. Pointing out how poorly the Republican candidates have fared in attacking Romney's economic record, American Bridge president Rodell Molineau told me his crew was "here to help" with that job. Unlike the other opposition research shops, which are usually affiliated with actual campaigns and do their business only on an anonymous basis, the unaligned American Bridge actually wants credit for landing hits. Curious to sample their wares, we said we'd be happy to oblige. Here's what they sent us:

POLITICO's Arena: Will The Meaner Mitt Win?

It looks now like Florida will be Romney's second victory of the primary, meaning that he will finally get back to where he thought he was three weeks ago. But the sudden shift in strategy indicates a short-sightedness that has to call into question his long-term viability as a candidate, to say nothing of whether he is capable of serving as president. Mitt Romney has tried to convince Republican primary voters that he is the only candidate capable of defeating Barack Obama. The decision to go after the low-hanging fruit that are Newt Gingrich's shortcomings does nothing to advance that purpose. If anything, it has to be a factor in why his unfavorable ratings have risen dramatically of late. Nobody liked Romney when he was the phony who was trying way too hard to get people to like him; now we see they like him even less as the phony who is bitter and nasty about it. Being seen as the boss who enjoys firing people is not the path to victory. Instead of playing Whack-a-Newt, the Romney campaign would have been better served handling the release of his tax returns in a manner that at least resembles a competent, professional organization. They botched it so badly that it actually raised more questions than it answered. They might have also tried a little bit of self-research, so that their candidate wasn't launching attacks against Newt (e.g., Fannie and Freddie) that left him vulnerable to attacks himself - not that American Bridge is complaining about that.

ProgressVA: After Vehemently Opposing Stimulus, Allen Touts The Success Of Firms That Received Millions Of Dollars In Stimulus Grants

On January 27, 2012, ProgressVA posted the following:

Paying no heed to his months of criticism of a "failed stimulus", George Allen has spent the past two weeks touring and touting the economic successes of two Virginia firms that received millions of dollars in stimulus grants. January 21^st, Allen visited Ennis Electric Company, an "admirably managed" business in Manassas. Left out of Allen's praise for Ennis was the fact the firm has benefitted from nearly $14 million in stimulus funding. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Allen's hypocrisy has caught up with him on the campaign trail. Earlier this month, Allen hosted a town hall meeting at Micron Technology, a firm that solicited and received $5 million in stimulus funds. Micron CEO Steve Appleton certainly didn't seem to agree with Allen's assessment of the stimulus program--he met with President Obama to show his support for the legislation in 2009.