Santorum's Past: Lobbying, Handing Out Booze, And Wrestling
As Rick Santorum continues to canvas Iowa, he is quick to tout his socially conservative positions, his record as a legislator, and his plans for the economy. However, it appears he is less than enthusiastic about touting his past work lobbying for the World Wrestling Federation, an industry with a checkered past that has been built on violence, sex, and misogyny. Find below some information that will hopefully make its way in Santorum’s stump.
ABC News: Mitt Romney's Blind Trust Not So Blind
On December 19, 2011, ABC News reported:
But government ethics experts and election lawyers told ABC News that Romney's trust might not be quite as blind as he has long maintained. That's because Romney placed his quarter-billion dollar family fortune in the hands of his personal lawyer and longtime associate Bradford Malt.
WSJ: Romney Blind Trusts Shed Chinese Holdings
On December 17, 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported:
Mitt Romney's financial advisers shed all his investments in China, worth as much as $1.5 million, at some point after mid-August, about the time that Mr. Romney made "confronting China" on trade a central plank of his economic platform as a Republican presidential candidate.
VIDEO: "Those Who Live In Glass Houses…"
Mitt Romney’s struggling presidential campaign is on the attack against former Speaker Newt Gingrich over a consulting contract with Freddie Mac. Romney has demanded Gingrich return money he made from the deal. Yet as the Boston Globe reported, Romney himself has up to $500,000 in a mutual fund that is heavily invested Fannie & Freddie -- outside of his blind trust. Does that mean Romney will return the up to $50,000 he made from investing in Fannie & Freddie?
Romney Bet Big On Fannie And Freddie
Despite the blame Romney has placed on Fannie and Freddie for the economic crisis, Romney has profited handsomely off of the companies. According to financial disclosure statements, Romney has invested up to a half million dollars in a mutual fund heavily invested in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Home Loan Bank notes. The pay-out on Romney’s bet: up to $50,000. These investments weren’t made until the latter half of 2007. And, as the Boston Globe reported, “unlike most of Romney’s financial holdings, which are held in a blind trust that is overseen by a trustee and not known to Romney, this particular investment was among those that would have been known to Romney.”
Romney’s Freddie Mac Attack on Gingrich Reeks of Hypocrisy
Washington, DC – Mitt Romney’s struggling presidential campaign is on the attack against former Speaker Newt Gingrich over a consulting contract with Freddie Mac. While desperate attacks have been a pillar of Romney’s long, 17-year political career, this week’s iteration is even more hypocritical than we've come to expect from Romney. As the Boston Globe reported, Romney himself has up to $500,000 in a mutual fund that is heavily invested Fannie & Freddie -- outside of his blind trust. The investment was made in late 2007, just “around the time that the scale of the housing crisis was coming into focus.”
Now That He's Running For Senate, Will Tommy Thompson Finally Give Up His Lobbying Ties?
American Bridge 21st Century issued a press release today welcoming Tommy Thompson to the Wisconsin Senate race:
Just as he has been pretending not to be a lobbyist, Tommy Thompson has spent the last few months pretending not to be a candidate for Senate. Maintaining this “unofficial candidate” status has allowed him to continue working for his corporate clients while raising money from them for his campaign with a wink and a nod. Now that Thompson is officially announcing his candidacy and dropping the charade, the question remains, will he sever his ties with his corporate clients? [...] “It is impossible for Tommy Thompson to serve two masters; either he will represent the interests of Wisconsinites or those of his corporate clients. It is time for him to choose,” said Matt Thornton, spokesman for American Bridge 21st Century.
Now That He's Running For Senate, Will Tommy Thompson Finally Give Up His Lobbying Ties?
Just as he has been pretending not to be a lobbyist, Tommy Thompson has spent the last few months pretending not to be a candidate for Senate. Maintaining this “unofficial candidate” status has allowed him to continue working for his corporate clients while raising money from them for his campaign with a wink and a nod. Now that Thompson is officially announcing his candidacy and dropping the charade, the question remains, will he sever his ties with his corporate clients?
Plunderbund: Josh Mandel’s salary database even has his own salary wrong
On November 30, 2011, Plunderbund reported:
A few months back, as the SB5/Issue 2 battle was heating up, Treasurer Josh Mandel put up his “transparency” website which allowed people to search for the salaries of public employees in Ohio. The data, obtained from the right-leaning Buckeye Institute, not only excluded the salaries of a number of key advisers to Mandel, but it also highly overstated the salaries of many public employees. As all this was going on, Mandel was delaying the release his personal financial disclosure forms with the United State Senate for 6 months supposedly to make sure everything was exactly right. Here’s the thing: if you compare his own salary for 2010 on the website against the salary he listed on his PFDs, they are different...
Huffington Post: Scott Brown Held Bank Of America Stock While Advocating For Big Banks
On November 17, 2011, the Huffington Post reported:
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) positioned himself as a clean-government advocate this week, co-sponsoring the STOCK Act, which is designed to halt insider trading-like activity by members of Congress. But Brown's financial disclosure records show that he has been a large investor in Bank of America, GE and Exxon-Mobil throughout his time in the Senate -- even as he secured lucrative legislative protections for the nation’s biggest banks, trading houses and oil companies. What's more, under Brown's new good-government legislation, this type of activity would still be permitted...