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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRomney "47 Percent" Fundraiser Host: Hedge Fund Manager Who Likes Sex Parties
When Mitt Romney at a private fundraiser dismissed all Barack Obama voters as moochers and victimsshowing disdain for nearly half of the American electoratehe was speaking at the home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder in Boca Raton on May 17, 2012. This is evident from references made by Romney within the full video recording of the event that has been reviewed by Mother Jones.
Romney made those remarks before donors who had paid $50,000 a plate to attend the dinner at Leder's swanky house.
Leder has long been a fan of Romney. In January, the New York Times reported:
Years ago, a visit to Mr. Romney's investment firm inspired Mr. Leder to get into private equity in the first place. Mr. Romney was an early investor in some of the deals done by Mr. Leder's investment company, Sun Capital, which today oversees about $8 billion in equity.The paper noted that Leder is something of a poster boy for private equityand not in a good way:
Mr. Leder personifies the debates now swirling around this lucrative corner of finance. To his critics, he represents everything that's wrong with this setup. In recent years, a large number of the companies that Sun Capital has acquired have run into serious trouble, eliminated jobs or both. Since 2008, some 25 of its companiesroughly one of every five it ownshave filed for bankruptcy. Among the losers was Friendly's, the restaurant chain known for its Jim Dandy sundaes and Fribble shakes. (Sun Capital was accused by a federal agency of pushing Friendly's into bankruptcy last year to avoid paying pensions to the chain's employees; Sun disputes that contention.) Another company that sank into bankruptcy was Real Mex, owner of the Chevy's restaurant chain. In that case, Mr. Leder lost money for his investors not once, but twice.
But Leder does differ from Romney in one significant fashion: how he likes to have a certain sort of fun. In August 2011, the New York Post reported,
It was as if the Playboy Mansion met the East EBond at a wild party at private-equity titan Marc Leder's Bridgehampton estate, where guests cavorted nude in the pool and performed sex acts, scantily dressed Russians danced on platforms and men twirled lit torches to a booming techno beat. The divorced Sun Capital Partners honcho rented a sprawling beachfront mansion on Surf Side Road for $500,000 for the month of July. Leder's weekly Friday and Saturday night parties have become the talk of the Hamptonsand he ended them in style last weekend with his wildest bash yet. Russell Simmons and ex-wife Kimora Lee attended a more subdued party thrown by Lederwho's an event chair for Simmons' Art For Life charityon July 29 together. But the revelry hit a frenzied point the next day before midnight when a male guest described as a "chubby white meathead" and a "tanned" female guest stripped and hopped into the pool naked.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/09/romney-secret-video-marc-leder-sex-parties
rfranklin
(13,200 posts)Would Mitt have to wear his magic underwear at a sex party?
sasha031
(6,700 posts)Politicub
(12,165 posts)Llewlladdwr
(2,165 posts)WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)and denying pensions. Really drives home one of the DNC convention's themes: The system is rigged.
Llewlladdwr
(2,165 posts)WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)great comic relief. With the hypocrisy of "values voters" as the cherry on top.
Don't worry, it will die down soon enough... it's the DU way.
Llewlladdwr
(2,165 posts)Almost...hypocritical, one might say...
WorseBeforeBetter
(11,441 posts)We're not a monolithic group, and mostly what I'm seeing is amusement -- and opportunity -- not that sex is "wrong or bad."
Polls indicate that a majority of Americans hold big banks and Wall Street in very little regard, and this latest revelation plays right into why: corporate corruption, excess, and greed. That Kozlowski fucker from Tyco and his Sardinian "orgy" springs to mind; hmm, wonder if he's still in the clink...
Windy
(5,944 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,101 posts)Now with various flavors since Lawrence just showed the statement from the Rmoney campaign and it indicates that his campaign is doubling down!
ThoughtCriminal
(14,047 posts)Is that the 47%, the 53% or the 99%?
MadrasT
(7,237 posts)What's the problem?
The 47% remark was deadly. This doesn't seem like a big deal to me.
Maybe I am naive.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)Who knows?
lunasun
(21,646 posts)And while this particular fundraiser may not have been debaucherous, Leder is notorious for his Caligula-esque parties. From the New York Post's description of his "wild end-of-the-summer bash":
At the Bridgehampton home that Leder rented for a whopping $500,000 a month, guests cavorted nude in a pool and performed sex acts, while scantily clad Russian women danced on platforms. Dancers at the party also twirled flaming torches to booming beats.
So to review, people who want housing, food, and healthcare: entitled freeloaders. People who want to get HJs in the pool while they watch semi-nude Russian dancers: campaign supporters.
http://gawker.com/5944065/secret-footage-of-romney-was-filmed-at-estate-of-sex-party+throwing-hedge-fund-manager
Have they any clue of who leaked this?
Wondering if a sex worker employed at the home leaked this tape after being pissed at what Rmoney said
I Doubt it was someone who paid 50K to support and hear Rmoney that night but did i miss they know who leaked it??