On Monday, Mitt Romney is expected to face charges for ethics violations and profiteering with regard to his involvement with the 2009 government bailout of the auto industry.
“A coalition of community, labor and good government organizations is calling on the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate presidential candidate Mitt Romney for noncompliance with the Ethics in Government Act and compel him to either disclose his investments or divest them,” according to the United Auto Workers Union, who requested the charges.
An investigative report from The Nation found that Mitt Romney and his wife Ann, “personally gained at least $15.3 million from the bailout—and a few of Romney’s most important Wall Street donors made more than $4 billion. Their gains, and the Romney’s, were astronomical—more than 3,000 percent on their investment.”
The Romney profits came from Adelphi, a former parts supplier of the Delco division of General Motors. Adelphi was not technically supposed to be included in the federal bailout money given to the auto industry. But since neither GM nor Chrysler could survive without parts from Adelphi, $12.9 million in federal bailout money was demanded by investors and eventually diverted to hedge funds that Mitt and Ann Romney bought into.
Romney did not disclose his windfall profits from Delphi in his June 1, 2012, Public Financial Disclosure Report to the office of Government Ethics, “because he did not disclose the underlying holdings of his private equity and limited partnership funds,” according to the UAW.
With the UAW charges coming to light, the reason for Mitt Romney’s hiden tax returns becomes more apparent and more important as he seeks the presidency.
Mr. Romney’s refusal to release his tax returns prior to 2010 may be linked to the UAW’s allegations that Mitt and Ann Romney may be tied to ethics violations and profiteering in the 2009 federal auto company bailouts.
By the time Romney and Adelphi’s other investors were done, the company had been stripped of all its union workers and pension funds, and 80 percent of Adelphi’s jobs were shipped to China.
The Huffington Post said, “The allegations are ironic given that Romney has been a staunch critic of the auto bailout. Romney called for the government to let the auto industry go bankrupt in an op-ed in The New York Times in 2008. The Romney campaign also released a misleading ad in October that claims Chrysler has moved all production of Jeeps to China following the auto bailout.”
In an USA Today Op-Ed, UAW president Bob King said, “Mitt Romney and his partners made a killing on the GM bankruptcy by gaining control of bankrupt parts supplier Delphi, then threatening to withhold components critical to the production of GM vehicles. Romney's business partners were willing to force GM into liquidation and cause a national economic calamity unless they got more money…”
“This is the real Romney... A man who lies about Chrysler moving jobs to China, when his history at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, shows that he has invested in Chinese factories where workers are grossly exploited. Romney won't even act to stop the Sensata factory in Illinois, in which he is an investor, from closing the doors and moving to China the day before the election.”
With just days to go before Election Day, it’s hard to know if this will affect the results. But it could make a difference if Romney wins and he is found guilty of felony extortion and profiteering.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Tuesday, November 6th 2012 at 1:12PM
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