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Mitt Romney Has a Huge New Conflict-of-Interest Problem (bain and solamere)
Mitt Romney Has a Huge New Conflict-of-Interest Problem
If he jumps into the 2016 race, will Romney reveal the investors and investments of Solamere Capital, the $700 million private equity firm he runs with his son?
In 2012, Mitt Romney's career as a businessman who earned many millions of dollars became a net loss, as political foes slammed him for running Bain Capital, a private equity firm that invested in US companies that downsized and shifted jobs overseas and that obtained financial stakes in foreign companies that depended on US outsourcing for profits. At the same time, Romney, who refused to do a full release of his tax returns, was hit with questions (he didn't answer) about mysterious personal investments in offshore accounts. Should he mount a third presidential effort, as he has told GOP funders he is considering, all of these issues are likely to return. But there's another matter that will be be added to the pile of financial controversies for Romney to face: Solamere Capital, the $700 million private equity firm cofounded by his son Taggart that Romney has helped run since March 2013. Who has Romney been investing with, and what has he been investing in? These are questions that Romney 2016 will confront and that, no doubt, the firm will not want to answer.
In March 2013, Mitt Romney became chair of Solamere's executive committee and a member of its investment committee, and Solamere's bare website currently lists him as the executive partner group chairman. The site only describes the company as "a collection of families and influential business leaders leveraging their broad networks and industry expertise to invest strategic capital." But the firm has recruited scores of investors willing to give the Romneys millions, and it has invested in an untold number of other funds and companies. Any of these parties—the investors or the investments—could pose a conflict of interest for a presidential candidate or raise a significant question. Has Solamere invested in companies that outsource? Or in overseas firms that compete with US firms? Has it drawn investments from people or corporations at home or abroad that want to curry favor with a possible president? Might the companies and private equity firms Solamere invests in have an interest in lobbying a future Romney administration? There is no way for the public to know; the firm does not disclose any information on its investors or investments. So how will Romney respond to these and other questions about his work for Solamere?
. . . .
Solamere freely mixed politics and business. In June 2013, as it was hunting for investors, the firm sponsored a policy conference convened by Mitt Romney at an exclusive resort in Park City, Utah, which attracted Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and Paul Ryan as speakers. At the same time—and in the same place—Solamere hosted a conference for investors. As the Washington Post reported, "The concentration of wealthy Romney backers in one place is a natural draw for politicians with national ambitions. But, as Solamere investors acknowledged, the gathering also provided them with potential targets, lending the retreat an aura of personal enrichment along with the focus on public policy."
With Mitt Romney now an active participant in Solamere Capital, the implications for his potential presidential campaign are more serious. In the last days of the 2012 campaign, several liberal good-government groups and unions sent a complaint to the US Office of Government Ethics charging that the financial disclosure form Romney had filed as a presidential candidate was not in compliance with federal law because, in part, it did not list Solamere's holdings. On the form, Romney noted his family's investments in several funds, including Solamere's first fund, but he did not reveal what Solamere invested in—meaning the ultimate investment was not disclosed. As the complaint noted, "precisely because private equity firms typically invest heavily in a few select companies…there is a far greater chance that ownership of these funds could lead to a conflict of interest." The Office of Government Ethics did not respond to the complaint, and the matter died.
Romney's Solamere issue will be different this time around. He's not a passive investor. He has helped run the firm and guide its investments for the past two years. He knows where the money is coming from and where it is going. There will be demands for him to reveal who he has been hobnobbing with financially so it can be ascertained if he is burdened by conflicts of interest—or if he has been making money in a manner at odds with his public policy pronouncements. But firms such as Solamere thrive on privacy. Their investment picks are their secret sauce, and many of their investors might prefer being unnamed.
. . . .
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/mitt-romney-new-private-equity-problem-solamere-capital
17 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
it does make a difference as to where you work in the small town when they are around. I worked for the place where there stay once, they were a nightmare to deal with.
That's why I'm way up the hill up a dirt road with a gate!! Just kidding.
and there are quite a few trophy homes that have them.
And I agree with what you said too, except the root canal part oooh! Ow!
There are many other ills I would gladly suffer than being anywhere near them.
They have also participated in making a small private college into a satellite university with several buildings named after them... the only radio station I can get from my location is the NPR station at that university so I hear their name a lot during announcements for events on campus. And then there's church - on an NPR station - all day Sunday and several other times in the week. I like the classical music shows and the few products NPR generates that they actually play. It could be similar to living close enough to some other religious sects who dominate a region and censor what the locals can know or hear about. The Rmoney clan finance the new university heavily so they can fulfill their mission but also to hear their names on the radio too.
Welcome to DU, DesertDawg!
