Who is Mitt Romney?

In this on-going series of examining the potential Presidential candidates, several reports have been forwarded concerning Romney that I will share here:

"How many of you know that Romney's 20 year job at Bain Capital was as a Wall Street Hedge Fund Manager? All occupy issues aside (what ever they are?), Wall Street is not Capitalism. Its Banks. Socialist minded Investment Bankers. Isn't it bad enough that Wall Street accepted Obama as one of them - a Socialist - and financed his campaign? Do we really want a Wall Street Guy as President? ...... SAY "NO" TO ROMNEY"

"He looks Presidential. He talks Presidential. He has an inside track to the Wall Street Bankers who got all the Stimulus money.... He is a ringer for the same team that funded Obama. I bet he gets the Rep Nomination then throws the fight.... Oh here's one more... I heard Romney's Father was a Union Rep... another Socialist Group that funded Obama and Romney has inroads there too. I say he is on the same team as Obama and I don't want him."

"Pres. Reagan said the first loss of freedom will come in the form of Socialized Medicine. Its really neat-o how both Romney and Obama made that their main priorities.
He has plenty of dirt. Enough to grow a farm on. The media refuses to present it. They spin things in a way to make something he's guilty as he** of sound like a good thing."

"In 2002 Utah held the national record for bankruptcies-due to Mormonism's mandatory 10% tithing. Mormons really have no excuse to file for bankruptcy because they have a church as well as a state welfare system to help them with the basics for food and shelter. But their tithing laws say they must pay the church before ANYTHING else-including food, rent and medicine.
Romney was a resident of Massachusetts and was running for governor when he "mysteriously" decided to use his political power to help the far away state of Utah get the Olympics. Why Utah of all places? The country had plenty of problems elsewhere. Isn't is standard practice for a politician to avoid activities that could bring suspicion of bias upon themselves?

Romney did not have to care because the media was on his side spinning this to the public.

Then the media out there proceeded to spin this as a good thing-like Romney was doing charity work when in fact he was mixing religion and politics-the very thing he swore he would never do. His intent was not to help America, it was to bring in millions of dollars into bankrupt Salt Lake City and in doing so, increase tithing and hence win brownie points with his church.

Back when he was liberal, Romney supported the Brady Bill, assault weapons bans and Massachusetts' very strict gun control law. Now that he's running as a conservative Republican, Romney has claimed that the NRA endorsed him in previous campaigns. (Oops -- that was easily proven to be a lie. His Democratic opponent actually had a better NRA rating.)
He also claimed he was a "lifelong hunter", though he didn't own a gun, has never had a hunting license and had only joined the NRA in August 2006 -- as a "Lifetime Member" -- just about exactly the moment he started campaigning for President.
When pressed on that, his "lifelong hunting" turned out to be a total of two hunts -- one as a teenager, hunting rabbits with his cousin in Idaho, and one just about the time he started running for president, chasing fenced-in quail at a Republican fundraising event.
His explanation was even funnier -- "I'm not a BIG-GAME hunter. I've made that very clear," he said. "I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times."
Illegally Impersonating Police Officers
The most bizarre scandal of Romney's campaign involves Jay Garrity, Mitt's director of operations (basically, his right-hand man.) Garrity resigned from the campaign after several allegations that he claimed to be a policeman, and used that authority to intimidate people.
In one case, Garrity pulled over a New York Times reporter, ran his plates and ordered him to stop following the campaign caravan. In another, he allegedly called a plumbing company to complain about one of their employees, whose driving upset him, and identified himself as "Trooper Garrity of the Massachusetts State Police." Garrity denied that allegation, but he was cited by Boston police in 2004 for having police equipment -- including flashing lights -- in his Crown Victoria sedan without authorization. The phone call was recorded because an answering service actually fielded the call, which the person who called himself "Trooper Garrity" apparently didn't notice.
Despite his resignation, Garrity remains under investigation in two states for impersonation of police.
Well, it gets worse. According to three different anonymous sources, one who works for the Romney campaign, Garrity made up fake police badges -- bright silver plates with the seal of Massachusetts on them -- and gave them to several other staffers, who used them to order reporters and other people out of events, get past security guards, and avoid paying highway tolls. In fact, Garrity has been handing out badges since Romney was governor of Massachusetts.
So this was not just one staffer's personal fetish. Sources named at least two other Romney staffers who used the badges -- Mark Glanville and William Ritter. "They knew the badges were fake and probably illegal," the campaign source said. In fact, Garrity was Romney's right-hand man and rarely left his side. It's hard to believe that Mitt Romney himself did not notice the fact that Garrity was constantly flashing a police badge as they blew through security into various events. The Romney campaign has not commented on whether Mitt Romney knew about the badges.
Using fake badges is, of course, illegal.
Hired Illegal Immigrants
Romney makes a big issue of being tough on illegal immigrants. He has pushed for a wall on the Mexican border so hard that Bill O'Reilly offered to call it the "Mitt Romney Memorial Wall."
The only problem is, Romney has hired illegal immigrants to tend his gardens for over 10 years. Three illegal immigrants interviewed by the Boston Globe said they have worked on Romney's lawn for years, that he greets them with a "Buenos dias", and that his wife was friendly and often asks how they are. Two were interviewed back in Guatemala, where they have returned. They made $8 to $9 per hour working 11 hour days. "They wanted that house to look really nice," said one worker, now back in Copado, Guatemala. "It took a long time." The other, Rene Alvarez Rosales (now in Suchitepequez, Guatemala) said it cost him about $5,000 to have a smuggler take him across the border.
They all work for "Community Lawn Care with a Heart," a small company run by legal Colombian immigrant Ricardo Saenz. Asked about his workers' statements that they were illegal immigrants, Saenz said "What you've heard is not my problem. ... I don't need to tell them to show me documents. I know who they are, and they are legal." When Romney was asked about the workers, he said "Aw geez" and walked away. On one occasion, a (real) state trooper with the Romney security detail asked about the workers' immigration status. Saenz said they were legal but forgot their papers that day, and the matter was dropped.
Flat-Out Liar
In this campaign, Romney has simply lied a number of times while trying to reinvent himself. For example:
-- "I have a gun of my own."
(Not true. He was talking about a gun one of his grown sons own.)
-- "I've been a hunter pretty much my entire life."
(He hunted once at 15, and a second time in his late 50s.)
-- "I told you what my position was, and what I, what I did as governor; the fact that I received the endorsement of the NRA."
(No - and his Democratic opponent actually had a higher NRA rating)
-- "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."
(No, they never marched together. They were both in Michigan at the same time once, but Mitt was in France on his mission.)
-- "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."
(even more false...)
This last lie was the funnest because of all the waffling that Romney did trying to explain it. After a Boston newspaper showed that they couldn't have marched together, Mitt's spokesman said that "George W. Romney and Martin Luther King Jr. marched together in June, 1963 -- although possibly not on the same day or in the same city." And Mitt then explained "I've tried to be as accurate as I can be. If you look at the literature or look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of — in the sense I've described. I'm an English literature major as well. When we say I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn't necessarily mean you were there -- excuse me, the Super Bowl. I saw my dad become president of American Motors. Did that mean you were there for the ceremony? No, it’s a figure of speech."
Draft Dodger and Chickenhawk
Mitt Romney, incredibly, was able to avoid serving in Vietnam because he was on his Mormon mission, driving around the French countryside. (The Mormon church defined missions -- which all good young Mormon men go on -- as a form of priesthood.) In fact, not one of Romney's five sons has served in the military either, despite Mitt arguing for U.S. military involvement in Iraq and elsewhere.
Even more outrageously, when he was asked to justify this hypocrisy, Romney claimed that his sons were serving the country by driving Winnebagos around Iowa and campaigning for him.
Sources
"Fake Cop Sources"
"Romney aide, targeted in probe, takes leave of absence", by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe, June 22, 2007
"Romney aide’s bogus badges: Sources detail ‘illegal’ security tactic"",By Casey Ross, Boston Herald, July 20, 2007
"Romney Aide Resigns",By Sarah Wheaton, New York Times -- The Caucus Blog, July 21, 2007
"Liar Sources"
"Romney Aims Again to Explain Hunting -- Republican Presidential Hopeful Romney Takes Second Shot at Explaining His Hunting Experience", by Emily Udell, Associated Press on ABC-News web site, April 6, 2007
"Guns, trust, and Romney, By Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe, April 8, 2007
"The Trail: Romney Claims NRA Endorsement He Didn't Receive," by Michael D. Shear, Washington Post, December 16, 2007
"Did Romney Actually See His Dad March With MLK?", by Scott Conroy, CBS-News website, December 20, 2007, 2:03 PM
"Romney never saw father on King march - Defends figurative words; evidence contradicts story", by Michael Levenson, Boston Globe, December 21, 2007
"Illegal Immigrant Sources"
"Romney aide is the focus of probe - Allegedly acted as State Police trooper", By Stephanie Ebbert and
"Congressman Frank blasts the ‘real Romney’", Boston Herald, Monday, June 11th, 2007
"Candidate Has Another Teary Moment", By Michael Levenson, Boston Globe, December 19, 2007
(Reuters) - Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned.
The move during the final weeks of Romney's administration was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say.
The effort to purge the records was made a few months before Romney launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He is again competing for the party's nomination, this time to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency in 2012.
Five weeks before the first contests in Iowa, Romney has seen his position as frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates whittled away in the polls as rival Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has gained ground.
When Romney left the governorship of Massachusetts, 11 of his aides bought the hard drives of their state-issued computers to keep for themselves. Also before he left office, the governor's staff had emails and other electronic communications by Romney's administration wiped from state servers, state officials say.
Those actions erased much of the internal documentation of Romney's four-year tenure as governor, which ended in January 2007. Precisely what information was erased is unclear.
Republican and Democratic opponents of Romney say the scrubbing of emails - and a claim by Romney that paper records of his governorship are not subject to public disclosure - hinder efforts to assess his performance as a politician and elected official.
As Massachusetts governor, Romney worked with a Democrat-led state house to close a budget shortfall and signed a healthcare overhaul that required nearly all state residents to buy insurance or face penalties.
Massachusetts' healthcare law became a model for Obama's nationwide healthcare program, enacted into law in 2010. As a presidential candidate, however, Romney has criticized Obama's plan as an overreach by the federal government.
Massachusetts officials say they have no basis to believe that Romney's staff violated any state laws or policies in removing his administration's records.
They acknowledge, however, that state law on maintaining and disclosing official records is vague and has not been updated to deal with issues related to digital records and other modern technology.
BUYING UP HARD DRIVES
Romney's spokesmen emphasize that he followed the law and precedent in deleting the emails, installing new computers in the governor's office and buying up hard drives.
However, Theresa Dolan, former director of administration for the governor's office, told Reuters that Romney's efforts to control or wipe out records from his governorship were unprecedented.
Dolan said that in her 23 years as an aide to successive governors "no one had ever inquired about, or expressed the desire" to purchase their computer hard drives before Romney's tenure.
The cleanup of records by Romney's staff before his term ended included spending $205,000 for a three-year lease on new computers for the governor's office, according to official documents and state officials.
In signing the lease, Romney aides broke an earlier three-year lease that provided the same number of computers for about half the cost - $108,000. Lease documents obtained by Reuters under the state's freedom of information law indicate that the broken lease still had 18 months to run.
As a result of the change in leases, the cost to the state for computers in the governor's office was an additional $97,000.
Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney's presidential campaign, referred questions on the computer leasing deal and records removal to state officials.
Last week, Saul claimed that Deval Patrick, the present Massachusetts governor and a Democrat, was encouraging reports about Romney's records to cast the former governor as secretive. Patrick's office has not responded to that allegation.
STATE REVIEWING RECORDS LAW
The removal of digital records by Romney's staff, first reported by the Boston Globe, has sparked a wave of requests for state officials to release paper records from Romney's governorship that remain in the state's archives.
Massachusetts officials are now reviewing state law to determine whether the public should have access to those records.
The issue is clouded by a 1997 state court ruling that could be interpreted to mean that records of the Massachusetts governor are not subject to disclosure. Romney has asserted that his records are exempt from disclosure.
State officials and a longtime Romney adviser have acknowledged that before leaving office, Romney asked state archives officials for permission to destroy certain paper records. It is unclear whether his office notified anyone from the state beforther the public should have access to those records.
The issue is clouded by a 1997 state court ruling that could be interpreted to mean that records of the Massachusetts governor are not subject to disclosure. Romney has asserted that his records are exempt from disclosure.
State officials and a longtime Romney adviser have acknowledged that before leaving office, Romney asked state archives officials for permission to destroy certain paper records. It is unclear whether his office notified anyone from the state before destroying electronic records.
Officials have said the details of Romney's request to remove paper records, such as what specific documents he wanted to destroy, could be made public only in response to a request under the state's freedom of information law. Reuters has filed such a request.
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; editing by David Lindsey and David Storey)"

And New Hampshire (according to a recent report that Romney scored 41%) thinks this guy is a GOOD choice????
Hopefully, they will re-evaluate on what standards they are utilizing to make such a poor choice REAL SOON.
Someone with this kind of shifty 'honesty' definitely does not need to be leading this country.