May 16, 2012 08:25 PM UTC

It Bains Before it Pours

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• by: Colorado Pols

POLS NOTE: *Yeah, we know the title is cheesy, but would you rather see another “Bain of His Existence” pun?

Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been taking some hard shots (again) from his time as CEO at Bain Capital, and information is now leaking out about how Colorado was negatively impacted by Bain’s business model.

You might recall that prominent Republicans were growing concerned in January that the Bain Capital attacks – coming from GOP Presidential contenders Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry — could severely damage Romney in the General Election. From The Hill on Jan. 11:

Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) warned that Republican candidates “ought not cannibalize” themselves and denounced a commercial funded by a pro-Gingrich political action committee that has been critical of Romney’s record at Bain…

…Rush Limbaugh, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Michelle Malkin and the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal are among the other figures on the right to have lambasted the attacks as going too far.

Republicans were acutely aware of the harm that these attacks will cause Romney, and Democrats certainly aren’t going to pull any punches as the Bain stuff gets more state-specific. Here in Colorado, two of the emerging Bain connections involve AMF Bowling and Alliance Entertainment – deals that led to both job losses and bankruptcies.

AMF Bowling

In 1998 AMF closed its Colorado manufacturing plant in Golden, and 40-45 employees lost their jobs. Two years earlier Bain Capital had invested $22 million in AMF as part of a leveraged buyout. As the Baltimore Sun reported in October 2008:

AMF Bowling Inc., the world’s largest operator of bowling centers, plans to close a Colorado plant and fire 40 to 45 employees to cut costs as Asia’s economic turmoil reduces its revenue.  AMF said it will move its AMF Century bowling-lane making and supplies business from Golden, Colo., and combine it with its main plant in Richmond, Va. AMF Century will keep five to 10 managers from the plant, which has 50 employees.

Just a few years later, in 2001, AMF filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. You don’t need a Ouija board to see how this is going to be played out in TV ads: Bain Capital invests in AMF, Colorado jobs are lost, and AMF soon goes bankrupt.

Alliance Entertainment

The other Colorado connection that has emerged is about Alliance Entertainment. Bain invested in Alliance in 1995 and doubled its investment after just six months. By 1997 Bain held a 7.35% stake in Alliance, the same year that the company closed facilities in Denver, Connecticut, California, New Jersey and Dallas as part of a “consolidation plan.” Alliance Entertainment acknowledged that 851 people lost their jobs. You can probably guess what happened next…in July 1997, Alliance filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

These stories aren’t quite as jarring as some of the others that are circulating, such as this note from today’s Tampa Bay Times about Bain seeking millions of dollars in tax breaks for creating jobs in Puerto Rico – just before closing the Florida facilities and putting 850 people out of work (Bain, meanwhile, walked away with an 800 percent return on its “investment,” a cool $242 million). But the severity of each individual story is less important than the overall narrative that is being spun: Coloradans lost jobs so Bain Capital, and Romney, could make more money.

The more examples that pop up around the country, the more that this storyline will stick in the minds of voters – all of which makes it much harder for Romney to campaign as the better “business” candidate.

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