1994 Senate ad resurrected against Romney
As Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney traveled around New Hampshire today emphasizing his business credentials, a previously unseen television ad threatened to undermine them.
The 17-year-old ad, first provided to Politico, argued that Romney’s former employer, Bain & Co., received a form of a federal bailout when it teetered on the brink of failure.
“Romney, he and others made $4 million in this deal which cost ordinary people $10 million,’’ the ad states.
The ad may prove damaging if Romney’s opponents can use it to criticize his business background.
The former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist has been making his business aptitude a core message of his campaign, arguing that private enterprise can create jobs more effectively than the federal government.
The ad was prepared for Senator Edward M. Kennedy when Romney challenged him for reelection in 1994. It ended up being the closest challenge of Kennedy’s career, even though the Democrat ultimately beat Romney 58 percent to 41 percent.
The ad was never aired because it was deemed unnecessary after the Kennedy campaign aired other ads attacking Bain for layoffs, according to Politico.
The spot centers on Romney’s tenure heading the consulting firm Bain & Co.
Romney saved the company from failure, but the ad states that the company was rescued by a federal bailout. It quotes a story in The Boston Globe saying the FDIC forgave $10 million in loans to Bain while Romney was chairman and chief executive.
The FDIC had taken over the Bank of New England, which was a creditor of Bain.
According to the Globe story, the FDIC loan forgiveness was the product of months of negotiations – and was a relatively routine event in a case when accompany was near collapse. The money came from the FDIC’s bank insurance fund, paid for by premiums on federally insured banks.
Asked about the ad, Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said, “President Obama can’t match Mitt Romney’s record and experience as a businessman and entrepreneur. Democrats are going to do everything in their power to attack Mitt Romney and distract voters from the fact that President Obama’s economic program has failed and that nearly 2.5 million jobs have been lost on his watch. It’s not going to work.’’
Affiliates with two other Republican campaigns were reluctant to get their candidates in the middle of the issue.
Ron Paul campaign Chairman Jesse Benton said, “This is more evidence that the so-called ‘frontrunners’ from the establishment represent more of the status quo that American voters are tired of, people who benefit from government bailouts on the taxpayers’ dime and seek office to help their buddies do the same.’’
It also remains unclear how much of an impact it will have on voters.
Bill Powers, a Republican accountant from Portsmouth, N.H., who heard Romney speak this morning in New Hampshire, said he admires Romney’s business record at Bain, and isn’t swayed by accounts of layoffs or other incidents. Bain’s accomplishments include a deal that led to the opening of the Staples chain.
“Anyone can look at a stupid thing he said, one bad business decision,’’ Powers said. “You have to look at the entire business.’’
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