Romney is a Fraud

Shrill Shill

Another millionaire for Bush. Big surprise.

Is Schilling even registered to vote?

Pitcher, we watched Ted Williams, we knew Ted Williams. Pitcher, you're no Ted Williams.

Bush League

FWIW, the BoSox support John Kerry.

The Cardinals support Bush.

Sox in seven, Kerry by three.

Shnaider Whiplash

David Shnaider claims he wants to be a state Senator so he can 'fight for (his) part of the state' and that 'voters are talking to (him) about that.' (source: Boston Globe, 10/17/2004)

So why have more than 25 percent of his non-self-funded campaign contributions come from outside of his district? Shnaider has taken $500 donations from fellow travelers in Brookline, Boston, Concord and the North Central Massachusetts village of New York, New York. He's collected over $6,800 from "reformers" in Cleveland Heights, Ohio; Paramus, New Jersey; and Manchester-by-the-Sea. (source: OCPF)

More importantly, however, Shnaider, who claims he'd be a district-centric Senator, spent more than 50 percent of his campaign expenditures at vendors outside of his district. Rather than use a local printers to obtain campign materials, Shnaider purchased his bumper stickers and buttons through a Glenside, Pennsylvania corporation. He also went out-of-state to buy balloons! (source: OCPF)

We've heard of snobs who will only swill imported beer; Shnaider may be the first snob who will only use imported helium.


"Ike" Spikes Rangers?

Back when Willard Mitt (who makes his grandchildren call him Ike (source: WSJ, 2/2002), despite having fled the country to hide out in France (France!) during the Vietnam War) was preening for the cameras in the glow of the Democratic National Convention the message was simple:

"Public safety is of paramount importance to (fraud) Governor Romney. There will be plenty of time for politics later," said the flack formerly known as the stout, Reese Witherspoon-wannabe dye-job aide to Romney’s loathsome $150,000-a-year spokesman. (source: Boston Globe, 7/26/2004)

Now that the glow has faded, however, the message appears to have flipped, because if a purported reorganization of the Department of (MDC job) Conservation and Recreation comes true, politics is now of paramount importance to Romney. Perhaps there'll be time for public safety later.

According to those who claim to know, Team Reform will on Tuesday announce the reorganization of the former MDC. A highlight of the plan will be the removal of two of its Ranger units - its marine unit and its mounted unit.

So is Massachusetts the only state actively paring back its public safety forces in 2004?

And if there isn't enough money to support uniformed public safety officials, how can Romney justify creating the new DCR managerial positions that he's been stock-piling? (The link to these DCR jobs (two of which were listed in Clinton) mysteriously became deactivated shortly after this post was published. However, DCR is hiring. Trust us.)

Other than as a resting place for the legion of failed legislative candidates who will be decamping Park Street for the Unemployment Office come November 3.

Food Stumps

Proving Healey's Theorem once again (if Sherry Kerry is involved, it's got to be bad news), Team Reform forced Romney's Lightweight Lieutenant Governor front and center to accept an 'award' from the US Department of Agriculture "for getting food stamps to needy families more quickly than any other state in the nation." (source: office of (fraud) gov, "Romney Administration wins $1.25M for efficiency," 9/29/2004)

Healey claimed that "through hard work and reform, Massachusetts is tops in the nation for connecting needy families with food stamps. We will continue to do everything we can to provide outstanding service as efficiently as possible to families across the Commonwealth."

Groovy.

Now for the real story.

Massachusetts is last, dead last, among all states in the numbers of eligible food stamp recipients who are actually enrolled in the program.

The Commonwealth ranks fifty-first (that's 51st to those who don't like reading numbers) out of the fifty united states. (Pssst, the list includes the District of Columbia.)

Only 40 - 50 percent of eligible Massachusetts residents who qualify for food stamps are participating in the program. This doesn't mean that Romney has "reformed" people off the program - it means he's failed to get the program to eligible persons.

By way of measure, check out the participation percentages of the other New England states:

In ME, 75-88 percent of persons eligible for food stamps are in the program.
VT has 68-77 percent of eligible persons in the program.
RI has 61-73 percent of eligible persons in the program.
CT has 61-72 percent of eligible persons in the program.
NH has 49-61 percent of eligible persons in the program.
MA has 40-50 percent of eligible persons in the program.

EVEN NEW HAMPSHIRE HAS A BETTER PARTICIPATION RATE THAN MASSACHUSETTS.

Which means that, aside from the food that is going untapped, Massachusetts is passing up millions of dollars in federal aid that its citizens are otherwise eligible to receive.

But we got an award.

No wonder Romney let Healey receive the honor. Even he must have been too embarrassed to stand up for that one.


Grease Stain

Seems The Sausage Guy is being accused of being a smut peddler by some residents of Boston. They've taken umbrage at his corporate logo which shows a woman suggestively "riding a rocket"." (source: Boston Herald, 10/13/2004)

So why are we not surprised that The Sausage Guy is a Friend of Fraudo?

Back when Willard Mitt sat on the board of Marriott International, he did nothing to stem the flow of porn-on-demand which brought millions into Marriott coffers.

Perhaps Romney, who was described as an " active, hands-on Director" at Marriott, gave The Sausage Guy some pointers on how to 'sex up' his business.

Here's hoping they both wore gloves.

Romney Signs Off Promise

So when was the last time you moved your multi-million dollar corporation across the country and brought jobs to a new state? And what motivated that policy? Was it enhanced business infrastructure? A better work-force? Or a dopey bill-board you saw next to a highway?

Because if you can believe their bleating, Team Reform is making good on Willard Mitt's promise to recruit new employers to Massachusetts by renting several billboards in California. Bill-boards which, coincidentally, prominently feature ... Willard Mitt.

Subtle.

Hey, Fraudo, remember how you said you'd never put your name on an official sign? Remember that quote wherein you bloviated that putting names on signs is "a waste of money to use taxpayers' funds to create monuments to the egos of public officials." (source: Worcester T&G, 1/15/2003)

Yeah, we don't either.

So how effective are billboards as business development tools? Not very, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation's chief economist who recently said that billboard campaigns are more valuable as newsmakers than job creators. (source: LA Daily News, 10/6/2004)

Which begs the answer: if the Fraud Governor's billboard campaign is not necessarily aimed at attracting new employers, what is it trying to attract?

Howsabout ... attention.

For months now, Willard Mitt has been focussed on a larger stage, and been campaigning for the national GOP across the country. Conventional wisdom holds that Romney is looking at casting his pinched cap into the ring in 2008.

So what better way to raise his national profile than paste his pasty mug on billboards? And with taxpayer funds, at that. Looks like someone in room 360 was paying attention to Andrea Cabral.

Someone who purports to know these things has alleged that the Fraud Governor picked California as a test market and, if it survives the laugh test, will post billboards in other states. (source: someone who purports to know these things)

The only question now is how will Team Reform figure out where to locate the next round of recruiting posters? And who will get their billboard first, Iowa or New Hampshire?

PAC Man

In 1994, Willard Mitt's campaign literature said he opposed Political Action Committees. (source: Boston Globe, 5/17/1994)

But his bank account said otherwise.

Despite claiming to oppose PACs, Romney took monies from
-Brown & Root (Brownbuilders PAC);
-Senate Victory Fund PAC;
-Strobl and Manoogian PC PAC;
-National Federation of Independent Business Free Enterprise PAC;
-National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors PAC;
-Americans Bakers Association Bread PAC;
-AmericanNational Can Co. Employees Good Gov't Committee;
-AMP Incorporated PAC;
-Electrical Construction PAC;
-English Language PAC;
-Kemper Corp. PAC;
-Morton Building Inc. PAC;
-Nationwide PAC;
-Pier I Imports Federal PAC;
-Flowers Industries PAC;
-General Mills PAC; and several others whose names we got bored typing. (source: Federal Election Commission, 1993-1994, Candidate Index of Supporting Documents)

Now that the Fraud Governor has launched his jihad to return reformers like Ned Kirby to the State House (see RiaF, 9/23/2004) he has pulled out all the stops and activated a federal PAC, the Massachusetts Republican State Congressional Committee, to collect " contributions" on behalf of the state GOP.

Setting aside the fact that Romney is using a Congressional PAC to raise money for the GOP state committee, Romney is using a a Congressional PAC to raise money for the GOP state committee.

So who would give to this pyramid scheme? Aside from this list of GOP groupies.

And in case anyone is wondering what these donors are getting for their money, if you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll see a list of political candidates who received funding during this election cycle.

It includes ... no one.

This is not to say that the Massachusetts Republican State Congressional Committee PAC has never given to congressional candidates. In 2002 the PAC gave over $100,000 to Jo Ann Sprague and Charlie McCarthy.

But since Romney took over the operation it has taken in $3,453,675.00, paid out $2,959,951.00, and made contributions to ... no one.

So who got the $2.9 million? Published reports indicate it went to GOP junior strongmen Dom Ianno and Tim O'Brien, GOP finance director and former Joe Malone capo Steve Roche, and maybe even the seemingly unemployable Tag Romney. (source: Boston Phoenix, 7/15/2004)

This, of course, begs the answer: if a federal PAC incorporated to raise monies for congressional candidates uses those funds instead to pay the salaries of state GOP operatives, is it illegal, or just fraudulent?

And how do you spell shell-game?

Contract Hit

It's one of those quotes that just hung there, like a Bill Lee curve ball.

"Taxpayers who are trying to make ends meet, and who have been denied the tax cut they voted for in 2000, should not be asked to pay for retroactive salary increases for state employees." (source: Office of (fraud) gov, "Romney signs $439M supplemental budget bill," 9/17/2004)

Willard Mitt was snidely referring to the University of Massachusetts contractual raises that he vetoed as part of last month's supplemental spending bill.

But he was also speaking about himself.

Because according to a "Secret Memo," written by the Fraud Governor's chief human resources officer, Romney has implemented a retroactive salary increase package for favored members of Team Reform. (source: Human Resources Division, "Implementation of Management Compensation Reform," 8/17/2004)

The package, which was approved by "Romney and his Cabinet," could, according to the memo, provide a 7-percent salary increase to managers earning $92,000-a-year who receive the arbitrary rating of "exceptional." Their new annual salary, upon which pension benefits would be structured, would be $99,152.15.

Retroactive to July 1.

So how does one go about obtaining an arbitrary rating of exceptional? The memo doesn't say. But we're guessing the formula involves a matrix of campaign contributions multiplied by lawn sign disbursements and participation in a rudimentary number of stand-outs.

One thing the memo does make clear, however, is that "77 percent of managers will receive 3.00 percent or more for their annual salary increase; this amount is greater than increases of recent years."

No wonder Romney wouldn't fund the UMASS union contract - he spent all of those funds on management raises!

Strangely, Romney's payroll package seem to contradict language in the FY2005 budget. Willard Mitt's budget submission directed the "personnel administrator (to) establish a management performance evaluation program, which shall include criteria to be used to determine merit pay increases, non-cash incentives and/or bonuses for managers." However, this language was not included in the final FY2005 budget document. Instead, section 391 of the budget called for "a comprehensive review and analysis of executive and managerial compensation ... (including) an analysis of the operation of the salary schedule, including the number of managers in each job group at each increment step, how salaries for managers are initially set, how the performance of managers is reviewed and how increases or increments are given." (source: FY2005 Budget, section 391)

Those persistent few who are still reading this mess will note that Romney did not veto section 391. He simply ignored it, approved his own Management Compensation Reform, and went on vacation.

Last year, after the Fraud Governor crafted a similar secret payroll scheme, the flack formerly known as the stout, Reese Witherspoon-wannabe dye-job aide to Romney’s loathsome $150,000-a-year spokesman threatened that the raises could be funded by non-management job cuts. (source: Boston Globe, 7/31/2003)

It is unknown how many administrative drones will be fired to pave the way for this year's pay grab.

But we're sure there's a way to get one's name off the hit list.