Monday, August 20, 2007

MITT ROMNEY

Critics Upset Romney's Blind Trust Lacks Vision

Yesterday on Meet the Press, folks on the political roundtable mentioned that Mitt Romney has been taking flak for the investments in his blind trust not aligning with the values and policies he supports on the campaign trail.

MR. GREGORY:  John Harwood, Mitt Romney also answering questions about where some of his trust money goes.  In a blind trust, he’s got a huge fortune, $250 million, according to estimates.  Some of those investments, in conflict with his campaign positions, say on abortion or money in companies that may be investing in Sudan.  Is this an issue for him?

MR. HARWOOD:  You know, flipside of the issue affecting John Edwards, who’s got money invested with a hedge fund that had been involved in subprime mortgages, and he’s talking about championing the poor.

MR. GREGORY:  Foreclosing on Katrina victims in New Orleans.

MR. HARWOOD:  Exactly.  You know, I think this is a minor issue for Mitt Romney.  He does have his money in a blind trust.  They’re now going about trying to dissociate that trust, the, the trustee has said, from investments that are at odds with Romney’s positions.  But I think people realize that we have a large and complex economy...

MR. GREGORY:  Right.

MR. HARWOOD:  ...and it’s not easy to sort all this stuff out.

MR. GREGORY:  But he’s been aggressive about all this.  Back when he was running against Senator Kennedy, he said “the blind trust is an age-old ruse.” He was quoted as saying, “You give a blind trust rules.  You can say to a blind trust, ‘Don’t invest in properties which might be in conflict of interest or, or where the seller might think they’re going to get an advantage from me.’” That was him going on the offensive about a blind trust against Senator Kennedy.

MR. HARWOOD:  Well, on blind trusts, like on so many other things, that was then and this is now.

Okay, I thought the he-didn't-ban-skinemax-from-Marriott line of attack was lame. But this one tops it.

Buddy, it's a blind trust. The whole point is that Romney doesn't know where his money is being invested. If you want to hold him responsible for investments set up in a manner specifically so he has no control over them, you might as well blame him for the weather, too.

So apparently he's told the blind-trust holders to sort this out. So it's now, what, a one-eyed trust? A needs-glasses trust? He has no control over his investments, until his trust managers invest in something politically incorrect, and then he intervenes? I think that's an overreaction to an unfair attack.

By the way, did those who watch HBO's Big Love notice last week that, while discussing whether it was appropriate for a Mormon to own a bar, the main character mentioned pornography in Marriott's hotel rooms? I can't help but wonder if that was inspired by the attacks on Romney.

(In case anybody's wondering, the main characters on Big Love are not Mormons, but some breakaway sect that practices polygamy. They were discussing running businesses and their moral principles with some characters who I think were LDS church members.)

08/20 10:14 AMShare