Palast writes: "For Mitt Romney, it's one scary Halloween. The Presidential candidate has just learned that tomorrow afternoon he will charged."
Mitt Romney addresses supporters during a campaign rally, 04/24/12. (photo: Getty Images)
UAW Files Charges Against Romney for Auto Bail-Out Profiteering
02 November 12
Broke ethics law hiding millions, say good government groups
or Mitt Romney, it's one scary Halloween. The Presidential candidate has just learned that tomorrow afternoon he will charged with violating the federal Ethics in Government law by improperly concealing his multi-million dollar windfall from the auto industry bail-out.
At a press conference in Toledo, Bob King, President of the United Automobile Workers, will announce that his union and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have filed a formal complaint with the US Office of Government Ethics in Washington stating that Gov. Romney improperly hid a profit of $15.3 million to $115.0 million in Ann Romney's so-called "blind" trust.
The union chief says, "The American people have a right to know about Gov. Romney’s potential conflicts of interest, such as the profits his family made from the auto rescue,” “It’s time for Gov. Romney to disclose or divest.”
“While Romney was opposing the rescue of one of the nation’s most important manufacturing sectors, he was building his fortunes with his Delphi investor group, making his fortunes off the misfortunes of others,” King added.
The Romneys' gigantic windfall was hidden inside an offshore corporation inside a Limited Partnership inside a trust which both concealed the gain and reduces taxes on it.
The Romneys' windfall was originally exposed in Nation Magazine, Mitt Romney's Bail-out Bonanza after a worldwide investigation by our crew at The Guardian, the Nation Institute and the Palast Investigative Fund. [Ed. - The full story of Romney and his "vulture fund" partners is in Palast's New York Times bestseller, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits.]
According to ethics law expert Dr. Craig Holman of Public Citizen, who advised on the complaint, Ann Romney does not have a federally-approved blind trust. An approved "blind" trust may not be used to hide a major investment which could be affected by Romney if he were to be elected President. Other groups joining the UAW and CREW include Public Citizen, the Service Employees International Union, Public Campaign, People for the American Way and The Social Equity Group.
President Obama's approved trust, for example, contains only highly-diversified mutual funds on which Presidential action can have little effect. By contrast, the auto bail-out provided a windfall of over 4,000% on one single Romney investment.
In 2009, Ann Romney partnered with her husband's key donor, billionaire Paul Singer, who secretly bought a controlling interest in Delphi Auto, the former GM auto parts division. Singer's hedge fund, Elliott Management, threatened to cut off GM's supply of steering columns unless GM and the government's TARP auto bail-out fund provided Delphi with huge payments. While the US treasury complained this was "extortion," the hedge funds received, ultimately, $12.9 billion in taxpayer subsidies.
As a result, the shares Singer and Romney bought for just 67 cents are today worth over $30, a 4,000% gain. Singer's hedge fund made a profit of $1.27 billion and the Romney's tens of millions.
The UAW complaint calls for Romney to reveal exactly how much he made off Delphi - and continues to make. The Singer syndicate, once in control of Delphi, eliminated every single UAW job - 25,000 - and moved almost all auto parts production to Mexico and China where Delphi now employs 25,000 auto parts workers.
Forensic Economist Greg Palast's investigative reports can be seen on BBC Television. His latest bestseller, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps contains a comic book by Ted Rall and chapters by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. www.BallotBandits.org
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IEVING BASTARD FRONT & CENTER!!! Maybe he's finally going to get his JUST DESSERTS for all the people he's HURT & DESTROYED (needlessly) for so many years! NOW WHERE YA GONNA HIDE, MITTSY??? Ol' MUDDIED UP MITTENS; THAT'S WHO YOU ARE! This is the ICEBERG THAT SINKS THE TITANIC!!!
OBAMA - BIDEN 2012!!!!! CAN YOU SAY FOUR MORE YEARS!!!!
YIPEE-KY-YEA MUDDY MITTSY!!!
It is all just smoke and mirrors. Until there are two hundred thousand really, really pissed off people on Capital Hill (all at the same time – with base ball bats, 2 x 4s) raising some serious hell against the Lunatics, absolutely nothing is ever, ever going to happen to these totally bought and paid for by the richest 50 people in the world that are becoming more and more powerful with each passing rigged election thanks to the stupid people.
Why isn't Obama using this as a HUGE last-minute talking point?
Check the facts and then, get this out there FAST!
I watched CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC and NOTHING AT ALL.
We cannot allow a felon to be put into office...we just can't!
N.
Also, I heard Palast's story on this, and I think my take on it is that it should not be illegal or wrong to break up companies that are standing in the way of progress, the problem is that taxes are not paid to do the things that need to be done relative to the displaced workers and our country.
This is not a simple open and shut issue.
I do agree with you about breaking up companies that are standing in the way of progress-- virtually every major company can command unfair government favors that stand in the way, hurt their industry, hurt the public by outsourcing externalities to the public. I favor blanket restrictions on company sizes. Mega size is not in the public interest, and creates private fiefdoms and vast inequality.
Look at how many walls the "blind trust" is buried behind. Do you really think he wanted this to be found?
I would put this issue in the same category as Romney's tax returns.
My concern is that this will go as far as the taqx return issue went.
Of course, no one has brought a suit against him about his tax returns. And, as I think it said, this issue gained traction when a strong organization decided to pursue the lawsuit.
Where would we be without unions? Maybe the same place as Nazi Germany in the 30's. Think about that.
I think you are getting exited too soon. There is NOTHING I would rather see than Mitt in BIG trouble. BUT WHY HAVE WE NOT HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT IT????
I KNOW the media is right wing owned. But something this BIG....if it is TRUE....can not be kept silent. So I am worried. I tried to go on the Seattle Website, but wasn't able to, so I do not know exactly what is in it.
These days are so nerve wrecking. I feel like a watch wound way too tight. I hope it will end the way most of us here hope.
You think maybe we are being manipulated?
Baaa Baaa Baaa
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
The alternative is Crooks, Liars & Thieves.
Uhhh...how can you trust a man who outright lies to the American public over and over and over again? It's pretty bad when the CEOs of two major corporations take you to task for outright lies, but yes, that happened in Mitt's regard this week...
I would love to know how the LDS church membership and other right-wingers rationalize Mitt's blatant dishonesty.
Just better hope that the electorate gets it right in 2012!!!!
They said Obama has worked hard and deserves a second term and Mitt doesn't deserve a first term.
I can't wait to see the Fox spin on this one. Not to mention the conspiracy theorists.
Mind, I'd like to see a very thorough investigation of all running for and in office (I don't care which party they claim to represent) for this sort of misconduct. We should not be governed by criminals, but at present, we are.
"The unemployment rate is higher today than when Obama took office in 2009."'
Mitt is pathological!
Once these policies took effect almost 5 million jobs have been created in 32 consecutive months of private sector job growth.
Also, please do not forget that Republicans did everything they could to get Obama to fail.
"In other words, 125,000 jobs have been created, in total, during Obama's first term, compared with a prior estimate of a loss of 261,000"
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019582123_harropcolumntaggxml.html
I thought extortion was a crime but clearly not since Willard is using it this week to coerce votes. It seems if you don't vote for R-money the Repubs threaten to continue stalling the economy to try to make O'B fail.
BTW, you may want to look at how the copyright provision of the Constitution was used to enrich the likes of the Disney Company as a consequence of the actions of the (late) Sonny Bono.
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17613-uaw-charges-romney-with-profiteering-from-auto-bailout
I missed Ed Schultz's show last night. I'm sorry that I did.
When I was cruising through tonight's TV listings, it showed "to be announced" in place of "The Ed Show" for 8:PM on MSNBC.
If MSNBC cancelled his show because of this, we might have a new fight on our hands.
Partisan democrats continue to talk about current Bain practices as if Romney had something to do with them. But he doesn't.
To show the ridiculousness of this charge, should we hold Obama accountable for ACORN voter registration fraud? ACORN has had several convictions and Obama worked for them and hired them to work for him much more recently than any association Mitt Romney had with Bain.
Lee Nason
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Perhaps you missed the fact that there was never any illegal action committed by ACORN other than that made up out of whole cloth by the Republican party and swallowed by morons.
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019582123_harropcolumntaggxml.html
I hope they nail the sonofabitch!
Willard is on "Greedy Steroid's". The people that vote for this greedy bastard are want to Be's.
I can't help but think, this must be a nightmare and it is just that.
We must change the way this country elects the people that run for public office.
To the greedy, there will never be enough. As I understand it, greed is based on the fear of never having enough. This kind of personality is probably in denial, (as most addicts are,) about how much their behaviors are based on fear. People who are afraid always want to have power over other people, never power with other people.
They never feel safe unless they think they are in control of everything.
It's also been written that uncontrolled change is the only real change there is. To those who are afraid, my guess is that they want to try to control unwilled change as much as possible. When uncontrolled change happens to them, they will do whatever they possibly can to bring life back to where they think it is under their control.
The fear, however, will never change as long as they remain in denial. In that sense, they are as addicted to money and power as an alcoholic is addicted to drink.
it's also been written that it is gratifying to be cured of an affliction, but it is terrifying to be divested of a crutch. Money and power are their crutches. That's how terrified of life they are on the inside.
2. Mayor Bloomberg endorses Obama
3. Guvnr Cuomo sees bronco bamma as ahead of the pack on climate change
4. The republicans historically shoot themselves in the foot right before the election....wai t for it....
5. WHOOP! there it is!
1. Mormonism listed as a cult by Billy Graham(Mitt visits Graham last week, suddenly Mormonism disappears off the website as a cult!).
2. Romney declares the bailout a bust in a thriving company that received bailout money.
3. Romney offers to come to New Jersey to visit Christie and he says stay away.
He did it long before this week or even this month. He's been doing it for years. It's called screwing your way to the top only in Romney's case, it means screwing the people below you. This is payback time.
http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019582123_harropcolumntaggxml.html
Where was this good Christian and his family? Luxury Hotel??? Ryan was
We didn't have to buy the auto industry FOR the guys who stole the employees blind! The reason the profits were so big is because the President and those who demand big profits could care less about the fairness of what the folks building and buying the autos get. It is possible to be fair and produce plenty with out creating super rich. Those who protest ignore history.
Parading the Dems as courageous while admitting they caved to the extortion demands of Capital is disingenuous. The TARP funds bought the store, the claim that the "pay back" settled the score(taxpayers got their money back with interest) is a big lie. Romney is a shill for Capital and so is the present administration. The UAW is a workers organization, their effort is to empower working people. Any politician claiming to treat workers fairly must stand up to the mendacity of the powerful owners of capital. Chicago teachers know which side of the line the politicians are on. Its not the workers side. The proof is in the profits.
Anyone who votes for an American Republican Party candidate is not thinking rationally and not logically. Such a person is not just misguided; they have not received a credible education. In doing so, they are actually dangerous. What should be done with someone who actually endorses Treason?
One may think that such an act is just a misjudgment or a poor opinion. Not so, these folks are putting the rest of society in danger. A convicted criminal is isolated and put in prison so that they will no longer harm other people. What should be done with individuals who advocate the destruction of our cities and our country?
Though I've long seen GOP as the party of treason - and the Dems as what Margaret Thatcher called "the wets" - there'll be a problem for as long as Americans continue to vote mindlessly along family and tribal lines and there's no real debate in the land, just preaching to the converted.
There are plenty of narcissistic perverts among GOP voters who find meaning in life trampling on those fellow-citizens who are "worth" less than themselves because they belong to the Mite's 47%. They see low earners as little better than vermin and blue states as not fully part of the Union.
But the bulk of their support comes from "useful idiots", fellow citizens who vote as Granddad and Grandma did - and are blissfully unaware that what they see as their "respectable party" no longer exists. It's been taken over by extremists and gutted behind the facade. But all they see is that same old facade.
An overt Fascist party could never have made it in America. It was far, far smarter for the Koch Brothers cuckoos to commandeer the well-lined GOP nest.
Those poor pawns who've been taken in are to be pitied. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
The White House has made arrangements so that the news will not come out until after the election.
Seems like both sides like to play this game.
About time you all woke up and vote for someone else besides a Democrat or Republican.
They are all crooks . . . . . Trust no one . . .
By the way ABC News has the story:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/10/at-white-house-request-lockheed-martin-drops-plan-to-issue-layoff-notices/
There will always be layoffs in a slow economy. The question I have is whether or not the company is laying off people at the last minute to make Obama look bad, or if there is a real reason for the layoffs.
I believe it's been noted on this site that Romney was putting pressure on businesse leaders to pressure their workers about how necessary it was for them to vote for him.
Any chance you can tell me if there is a connection or not?
Anyone who votes for an American Republican Party candidate is not thinking rationally and not logically. Such a person is not just misguided; they have not received a credible education. In doing so, they are actually dangerous. What should be done with someone who actually endorses Treason?
One may think that such an act is just a misjudgment or a poor opinion. Not so, these folks are putting the rest of society in danger. A convicted criminal is isolated and put in prison so that they will no longer harm other people. What should be done with individuals who advocate the destruction of our cities and our country?
Why shouldn't the taxpayers bail out "the man who would be king."
And, it was also mentioned that he may have decried the auto bailout so as to keep people from looking at how much he benefitted from the bailout.
Most people love the lie that saves their pride, but never the unflattering truth. So, what he does is he tells the part of the truth that makes him look good, or, at least, doesn't make him look bad. If he can blame Obama at the same time, he'll do that too.
As I mentioned earlier, denial is one of the most pernicious traits of an addict. The other pernicious trait is that of blame. When one can blame the other, one then doesn't have to be responsible for the consequences of their actions.
One can then assume that one doesn't have to change either, because they are in denial of what consequences their actions and decisions have caused.
I saw that most blatantly shown when he blamed the workers of one of the companies he shut down for having no options. It was a samll town, toy company, and the company was the main supplier of jobs in that town. Then he blamed the people for becoming dependent on the government. After he shut the plant down, who else did they have to rely on?
Again, denial and blame, working together are symptoms of addictive tendencies. Romney is just another addict.
On a side note: Mittens is looking a bit 'peaky' & haggard. Perhaps he should open a window & get some 'fresh air' while he's flying home, maybe even stick his head out of the window & let the wind blow through that wig of his.
The Isle of Jersey in a member of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. I keep wondering how he got that wrong, and what else he might have gotten wrong, or gotten wrong enough to get the case dismissed.
I know Romney is a crook and does not give a damn about America, and neither the vast majority of politicians or corporate officers in our country.
They are just like any other career fanatics, they want money and power and politics is the game they have chosen because for whatever reason they can appeal to masses of people ... with the help of the media.
The big problem that no one with a loud enough voice has presented is what the heck can we do to fix things?
I'm sure there are lots of good ideas, but there is too much noise to hear them and the people who hear them do not have enough sophistication not to be fooled or to understand what is going to be effective... and everyone is scared to death of losing what they already have.
I wish the UAW and SEIU (who I understand is also part of this complaint) all the best in their pursuit of uncovering Romney's dubious and probably unethical activities when it comes to the auto bailout.
lol
I hope its enough to keep him from ever getting elected.
Lee Nason
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Next:
"Singer's (Romney's) hedge fund, Elliott Management, threatened to cut off GM's supply of steering columns unless GM and the government's TARP auto bail-out fund provided Delphi with huge payments. While the US treasury complained this was "extortion," the hedge funds received, ultimately, $12.9 billion in taxpayer subsidies."
This is simply blackmail and the Romney-Singer fund's demand for money involves a complete reversal of Romney's opposition to the bailout. Pretty sleazy.
After receiving this money, Singer/Romney closed 28 of 29 Delphi plants, laid off 25,000 workers, and moved manufacturing to China. If the administration expected him to keep them open in exchange for the assistance this is highly immoral, even if (stupidly or otherwise) nothing was put in writing to prevent him.
It also makes Romney's criticism of Obama automotive policies in Ohio something of an obscenity.
The lawsuit isn't about Conflict of Interest, but one of disclosure and profiteering . . . As if the fact that Romney and Anne paid MORE tax last year that they owed despite his righteous statement that he wouldn't pay "a dollar" more than he owed, means anything. Romney's "public" advocacy has so many twists and contracdictions in it that he shouldn't be held accountable for anything he says, or be believed. Or, at least in my perspective, be elected.
Do they really believe that there is a 47% that doesn't want to work? Are they just so ready to accept fear as the only true motivating factor in life that thinking for themselves is not an option? I am from the bible belt. I remember my grandmother and her religion which had a lot of fear and guilt as a base. She was sure until the very end(last year at 101, as a matter of fact) that only fear of the unknown was the driving force. It explained her fear of segregation and most change. These people who don't really like Mitt Romney's Mormonism are more afraid of Obama's race. My grandma voted in the primary, she obviously died before early voting and couldn't bring herself to vote for Romney, because of his religion, but knew to do her duty during the general although she was well aware that here SS might be in danger.
Ironically, if the Repub politicians wanted to gain credibility with the Progressives, the best thing they could do would be to call out both Romney and Ryan on their lies.
As for the people involved, my guess is that most of them are afraid to admit to even the possibility that they might be wrong about anything, much less their candidate. As soon as they admit to the possibility of being wrong about Mitt, they might have to start looking at ALL of their opinions and assumptions. Think what that might do to their self-images.
As with most of the comments on this blog, most of the commentors are preaching to this choir. Romney is preaching to his choir.
I think the main problem is that most people do NOT want a leader who will tell them the hard truths, and tell them that there is hard work still to be done.
What they really want is a "messiah," someone who will lull them into a false sense of security with cliches, platitudes, and generalities. He wants to come across as saying "Trust me, and I'll make it ALL better." He wants to keep people in denial of what is going on, and he is not above lying to do it.
Those who want to stay in their comfort zone will do their best to stay in denial, and they will stay there until they are dragged, kicking and screaming, into reality. Given the climate change predictions, that may happen sooner rather than later.
Mitt is about one of the creepiest characters I have ever seen, that phony plastic smile. Hes like the creepy insurance or used car salesman you just cant wait to get away from. I cant put my finger on it, but he aint right.
That is one of the oldest, most desperate, and undignified tactics--and probably the most effective--foun d in the Republican playbook: You accuse your opponent of what you're doing.
For example, you steal the elections by manipulating the machines and accuse your rival of voter fraud. The Republicans know that a deflective tactic such as this is the only way they can take control.
They seem to be transparent to only a few of us, but maybe more people are catching on to their dirty and destructive tricks.
...and krink48 I agree innocent until proven guilty. BUT!!!!! Romney and his party go around saying Obama is guilty of anything you can create out of thin air.
Romney falsely points fingers at Obama to elude the public from what Romney has already done, or IS doing. Then bombards Obama with accusations by taking words out of context and distorts them to deceive the public against Obama.
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