July 12, 2012 07:49 PM UTC

Mitt Romney: Busted?

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: The Boston Globe responds to the Romney camp’s correction request:

We received your request late this afternoon for a correction regarding this morning’s Globe story. Having carefully reviewed that request, we see no basis for publishing a correction. The Globe story was entirely accurate.

The Globe story was based on government documents filed by Bain Capital itself. Those described Governor Romney as remaining at the helm of Bain Capital as its “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president” until 2002. The story also cited state financial disclosure forms filed by Romney that showed he earned income as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings.

The Globe story accurately described the contents of those documents.

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UPDATE: It may not be illegal to lie on the campaign trail, but federal disclosure forms could be another matter. Earlier this month, Factcheck.org lambasted the Obama campaign for claiming that Mitt Romney was still working for Bain Capital after 1999, citing Romney’s statements mode “on official disclosure forms under pain of federal prosecution.”

If the Obama campaign is correct, then Romney is guilty of lying on official federal disclosure forms, committing a felony. [Pols emphasis] But we don’t see evidence of that.

Here’s what Romney has said:

Mitt Romney Public Financial Disclosure Report, Aug. 11, 2011: Mr. Romney retired from Bain Capital on February 11, 1999 to head the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way.

Romney’s signature appears on the line that states: “I certify that statements I have made on this form and all attached schedules are true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge.”

We assume Factcheck.org is on the case today, folks.

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We direct your attention to the Boston Globe story everybody’s talking about today:

Government documents filed by Mitt Romney and Bain Capital say Romney remained chief executive and chairman of the firm three years beyond the date he said he ceded control, even creating five new investment partnerships during that time…

According to a statement issued by Bain Wednesday, “Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital in February 1999. He has had no involvement in the management or investment activities of Bain Capital, or with any of its portfolio companies, since that time.”

A former SEC commissioner told the Globe that the SEC documents listing Romney as Bain’s chief executive between 1999 and 2002 cannot be dismissed so easily.

“You can’t say statements filed with the SEC are meaningless. This is a fact in an SEC filing,” said Roberta S. Karmel, now a professor at Brooklyn Law School.

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to say he was technically in charge on paper but he had nothing to do with Bain’s operations,” Karmel continued. “Was he getting paid? He’s the sole stockholder. Are you telling me he owned the company but had no say in its investments?”

Besides the exposure of pretty serious mendacity on the party of Mitt Romney personally, evidence that he remained in control, both in an operational and financial sense, of Bain Capital would underscore claims made by Democrats that Romney had a role in high-profile closures like Kansas City’s GST Steel in 2001–hotly disputed by Romney’s campaign, based on the same alleged 1999 departure date now in question because of the aforementioned SEC filings.

Is it illegal to lie on the campaign trail? No. But it often ends, you know, badly.

And we really don’t know how to explain this one away.