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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLee Fang, The Nation - "Tagg Team: The Romney Family Recipe for Crony Capitalism"
http://www.thenation.com/article/170470/tagg-team-romney-family-recipe-crony-capitalismIn 2008, soon after Romney ended his first bid for the presidency, his eldest son Tagg and his chief fundraiser, Spencer Zwick, formed Solamere Capital, a private equity firm named after the exclusive community in Utah where Romney owned a vacation ski lodge.
What Tagg lacked in experience in the world of high finance, he made up for with a vast network of political connections forged through his father, who seeded the firm with $10 million and was the featured speaker at its first investor conference in January of 2010. Romney also reportedly gave strategic advice to the company, which secured prominent campaign donors as some of its first investors.
Unlike most private equity firms dedicated to analyzing and buying companies, Solamere specializes in something else: billing itself as a fund of funds with unparalleled networks, it provides investors with unique access to an elite set of other private equity firms and hedge funds. Sun Capital Partners, the fund founded by Leder, is one of at least thirteen Romney-linked firms in Solameres network, according to a prospectus circulated among potential investors and uncovered by The Boston Globe last year. Solamere also has an investment relationship with Bain Capital, the pioneering fund founded by Mitt Romney.
-snip-
The looming conflicts range from general matters that affect all private equity firmssuch as tax changes or the new rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial reform billto more specific concerns relating to businesses owned or controlled by Solameres partner firms. Many of these businesses, in fact, depend on government contracts; indeed, some have been accused of fleecing taxpayers (which is ironic given that many private equity titans claim to support Romney for his unabashed belief in small government and free enterprise). A Romney administration could directly affect the profitability of these companiesand, by extension, potentially the success of Taggs venture.
Its absolutely a conflict of interest, says Adam Smith, the communications director for the group Public Campaign, which works on issues concerning money in politics. Romney cant un-know that his sons investment company could benefit financially from his policies. And the other investorsmany of whom are likely Romney campaign donorswill have extra access and influence in a Romney administration.
* * *
Take Leder, Romneys Boca Raton host, whose Sun Capital firm bought a stake in the Scooter Store last year. The company, known for its ubiquitous television ads promising seemingly free motorized wheelchairs for Medicare beneficiaries, has struggled as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that governs the programs, implements rules to curb rampant billing fraud. As a CMS report noted last year, 80 percent of the claims for scooters and power wheelchairs did not meet Medicare requirements, meaning that $492 million a year is being improperly spent.
-snip-
This is a long article, but well worth reading in its entirety, at the link.
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Lee Fang, The Nation - "Tagg Team: The Romney Family Recipe for Crony Capitalism" (Original Post)
highplainsdem
Oct 2012
OP
The thrid paragraph shows that Willard still has a financial relationship with Bain
Angry Dragon
Oct 2012
#1
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)1. The thrid paragraph shows that Willard still has a financial relationship with Bain
so anything Bain does can be tied with Willard
Willard is still a vulture
jsr
(7,712 posts)2. Excellent article
mnhtnbb
(31,382 posts)3. The goal of Republicans is to drain the US Treasury into their own wallets.
They will do it any way they can. War ships. Missiles. Oil pipelines.
Mega farm subsidies. Scooters.
Follow the money. They hate government unless it is fattening their own wallets.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)4. ...
mnhtnbb
(31,382 posts)5. Best use of smilies I've seen in a long time!