[Vision2020] Mitt Romney’s secrets

[Art Deco]

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   Mitt Romney’s secrets By Editorial Board, Monday, April 23, 5:51 AM

MITT ROMNEY’S contemptuous attitude toward the importance of public
disclosure is increasingly troubling. Whether it involves the details of
his personal finances or the identity of his big fundraisers, the
presumptive Republican is setting a new, low bar for transparency — one
that does not augur well for how the Romney White House would conduct
itself if he were elected.

First is the matter of tax returns. Mr. Romney’s campaign, belatedly and
under pressure, released a single year’s worth of tax information in
January along with a summary for the 2011 return. Now, with a Friday
afternoon release
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/mitt-romneys-tax-return-problem/2012/04/16/gIQA3gQyLT_blog.html>conveniently
timed for minimum news coverage a week ago, it announced that the candidate
had filed for an extension. “Sometime in the next six months, and prior to
the election, Gov. Romney will file and release the 2011 return when there
is sufficient information to provide an accurate return,” spokeswoman
Andrea Saul said in a statement.

The campaign insisted that Mr. Romney was delaying because some of the
companies in which he had invested had yet to report their earnings. This
explanation would be a lot more palatable if Mr. Romney had demonstrated
any inclination to live up to the standards of most previous presidential
candidates — including, most notably, his own father, George Romney, who
released a dozen years of returns when he ran for president in 1968.

Mitt Romney turned over more than two decades of returns when he was vetted
as a possible vice presidential running mate for 2008 Republican
presidential nominee John McCain. A few presidential candidates, including
Mr. McCain, have been this stingy with their tax records, but the
information is particularly relevant in Mr. Romney’s case because of the
size of his fortune and the low share of income he paid in taxes for the
year that was released.

Then there is the mystery of Mr. Romney’s
bundlers<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-bundlers-are-key-to-his-presidential-campaign/2012/03/16/gIQAn0g4NS_story.html>.
Candidates such as Mr. McCain, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, among
others, voluntarily did the right thing and revealed the identity of these
major fundraisers. Mr. Romney, despite the undeniable importance of these
individuals, has declined to follow that practice.

Bundlers play a crucial role for political candidates, collecting donations
that can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars to fuel campaigns. The
candidates know full well to whom they are indebted. Perhaps Mr. Romney can
explain why the public isn’t entitled to the same information.



-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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