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Subscribe to RSSRepublican heavy-hitters are calling for an end to fierce attacks centered on GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney's career as a venture capitalist. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
Mitt Romney faces continued criticism over his refusal so far to release the names of his campaign “bundlers” -- the big money fundraisers who have helped him rake in tens of million dollars for his presidential race.
But two invitations to Romney private fundraisers, obtained by NBC News, reveal where many of them come from: big private equity firms.
It's the same corporate buyout industry where Romney, as chief of Bain Capital, made his personal fortune and which, in recent days, has become a campaign lightning rod.
Steve Schwarzman, co-chairman of the Blackstone Group, the biggest of all Wall Street private equity firms, is listed as the “event co-chair” at both Romney events, including one tonight in Palm Beach, FL that is expected to bring in over $1 million.
The invite for the event -- at the home of Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross -- states that event co-chairs are responsible for raising at least $50,000 a piece. (Other co-chairs include billionaire financier and Home Depot founder Ken Langone, sugar baron Pepe Fanjul, and energy executive Bill Koch, whose two brothers head Koch Industries.)
Schwarzman, whose firm has partnered with Bain Capital on deals since the 1980s, was dubbed by Fortune in a 2007 cover story as “The New King of Wall Street.” He also kicked off a firestorm two years ago, when he compared the battle over President Obama’s proposal to increase the tax rate paid by private equity partners to a “war” like “when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.” (Schwarzman later apologized for what he called “an inappropriate analogy.” )
NBC's David Gregory talks to TODAY's Matt Lauer about whether fierce attacks on Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney will backfire against his rivals or stop what seems to be Romney's inevitable march to the nomination.
But he is hardly the only Wall Street private equity baron that is bringing in large sums of cash for Romney’s campaign.
The invitation for another Romney campaign fundraiser -- slated for next Tuesday at New York’s Sheraton Hotel, and which a source tells NBC News is expected to bring in about $1.5 million -- lists Schwarzman and 23 others as “event co-chairs,” according to a copy the invite.
Of that total, 16 are from Wall Street private equity and venture capital firms, either as top executives, their lawyers, or lobbyists.
Among them: Wayne Berman, the Washington super-lobbyist (and Romney national finance co-chair) whose clients include Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group; Alex Navab, a top partner of KKR, another private equity powerhouse and the co-chief of its North American Private Equity portfolio; and Anthony Scaramucci, aka “The Mooch,” and chief of the Skybridge Partners hedge fund.
The invite also lists another 125 “event co-hosts” -- many of them also from Wall Street, including one notable name: Ed Conard, the former Bain Capital partner of Romney’s who attracted attention last summer after NBC News revealed a mysterious one million dollar donation to the Romney Super PAC that came from a Delaware limited partnership that was set up shortly before the donation was made -- and then shut down.
After a storm of criticism, and calls for a Justice Department investigation, Conard revealed himself to be the source of the donation.
The Romney campaign did not respond to an email request Thursday asking whether it intended to fully disclose the names of its bundlers. But in an email exchange over the subject last summer, Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the campaign said: “We disclose all of the information about our donors as required by law and anyone who is interested can review it publicly. And, anyone wishing to donate to our campaign can do so at www.mittromney.com.”
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This should be a wake-up call to the voters concerning ROMNEY. The Special interest and Lobbists will take precedence over the Voter.
Fund raising of VULTURE CAPITALISTS!!! America wake up! Use your voting power. Vote out all those Tongressman/women and Senatong who feed these Vultures !!
Prime example why none of our votes (for either party you are for) matters. Goverment is there for the people, by the people - - - - -who have enough money to buy them off.
Who do you think put Obama in office? It wasn't Opra Winfrey or some group of Chicago business leaders, I can tell you that.
Once again, Mitt has shown that he is nothing more than a slut of Satan who stops at nothing to lie and raise the almighty dollar which leads to his moral decay and destruction when Jesus returns. If this doesn't teach Mitt anything, then maybe following the false religion of Mormonism that will send him to Hell will. Oh..there will we weeping and nashing of teeth on judgement day! Mitt you cannot serve two masters...so who will it be!
I would be totally ashamed to be you son and have you as my earthly father!!!
Thank you, Michael, for the excellent reporting! It's refreshing and it's badly needed. With so much crap just starting to surface, there has to be a Pulitzer in there someplace. What a huge ball of dirty, dirty twine to unwind!
Mitt has never once "pulled himself up by his boot straps." Nothing against being wealthy but to be born into wealth and act like you know what the average American goes through on a daily basis is just over the top! Make no mistake about it...he wants to be President to make himself and his friends wealthier. No way is he in it so the rest of us get a bigger piece of his pie! Open your eyes GOP supporters!!!!
CE--I SURE hope you don't think OBAMA pulled HIMSELF up by HIS bootstraps? His granny ( who raised him while his mom was flitting around the world) was a Veep at a bank. He went to swank schools, and spent his 'career' preparing to be a politician.
Money talks, Bull-$#!+ walks, always has, always will.
Ya''ll think it's bad under President Obamas administration, if this guy gets in, Obama would have been a cake walk. What we have in the making is a group of mega-filthy-rich, greedy men, on the verge of burying what left of the middle class, and, they'll probably FORCE the poor, at gun point, to do their dirty work.
At least Mutt will get the votes of the 1%. I don't see how anyone in the other 99% can ethically or logically vote for Mutt. That would be like Jews voting for Hitler.
Don't count on it, Optimist. There are an enormous number of idiots languishing amongst the 99%. These are the Joe Six Packs, the Nascar fanatics, football fans, you name it. They are captives of the Right-Wing propaganda machines such as Fox and Right-Wing talk radio. A large portion of the 99% just suck this stuff up and won't have anyone tell them any different. So sad.
Yep, the Limbaugh followers!!!!
Obama's war chest dwarfs Romney's. I don't think all that money came from OWS types. Use your heads, people. Off to Martha's Vineyard. Ta Ta.
HA! This may be true, however it is also true that ol' Mitty has not had a go at it. I am sure that he would wage war on whoever his Finance Masters told him to wage war on. Either you are mesmerized by party ideology or you are really that dumb... Either way it is pretty pathetic and laughable!
Corporate raiders are on the same scum level as lawyers.
Stubbleq--Corporate raiders are on the same scum level as lawyers.
Oh come on. Obama and his WIFE are both Lawyers.
Try to quit demonizing.
PBO made his money by writing books. Rmoney made his money by cooking books.
Except, it's questionable who really wrote the books. Bill Ayers? Barrie has been on the take in the traditional Chicago fashion for years. He rolls with the scum of the earth. It flows both ways my friend.
There is absolutely no evidence to support your accusation. You are just lying.
Blamo....check it out....
Mitt Romney's top campaign contributors:
Goldman Sachs $235,275
Citigroup Inc $178,450
Merrill Lynch $176,125
Morgan Stanley $170,350
Lehman Brothers $154,800U
BS AG $125,150
JPMorgan Chase & Co $123,800
Bain & Co $121,475
(CEO, Bain & Company)
Marriott International $121,150
Bain Capital $118,550
(Co-founder, Bain Capital)
Kirkland & Ellis $111,700
The Villages $110,900
Credit Suisse Group $104,900
Compuware Corp $103,550
Huron Consulting $102,050
PricewaterhouseCoopers $92,250
American Financial Group $87,550
Affiliated Managers Group $82,112
Cerberus Capital Management $79,450
Sun Capital Partners $77,850
WHO DO YOU THINK Romney WORKS FOR? LOL!!!
your a idiot, who do you think american people work for. what a jerk---- who do you work for. who do you think gives jobs, are you that stupid ....
He/She who raises the most money for their campaign owes the most "favors".
If the Occupiers wanted to do any real good, they would have been out there marching for campaign finance reform. Our taxes should pay each candidate a certain number of millions of dollars and make them account for how it was spent, and that's all they get. That would get rid of all these negative attack ads and dirty politics with everybody throwing up their hands and claiming they weren't responsible. Our government is corrupt, and almost everybody knows it. It is sickening how money buys the Presidency and then the presidency throws them back the money they "invested". Just sickening. We need to straighten out this mess we've made and also go back to the popular vote electing the president. The electoral college adds to the corruption.
I can't agree with the electoral college observation. Even states with small populations still have two U.S. Senators. This, and the "college" are an effort to make them equal partners in this republic of 50 states.
Duh... guess who's paying for every single Republican AND Democrat campaign: the 1% and special interests. That's how it works kids. Your hero Obummer is a tool of the homosexual special interest lobby and 1% interests. EOM. The truth hurts I know but your self-delusion only empowers it.
Liberals don't like private investing in firms like Staples to make them grow that costs us nothing, they prefer public investing that costs us hundreds of billions like the bank bailout.
Staples sells Chinese garbage at inflated prices and will soon be out of business... Moron!!
How does investing in a company make it grow? I always thought the consumers demand for it's products made it grow. Which is it?
Just a conservative question?
So Newt IS right to go after the whole Bain thing.... to all u fools who tried to crucify Newt for doing that. Screw u.
Mitt Romney has ruined more lives in America than Al Queada!! Screw U!!
Vinny--Newt is going after the Bain thing despite having worked for a venture capital firm HIMSELF.
I also would like to suggest research on how much money Newt is getting from the taxpayer in retirement funds from his tenure in Congress.
And anyone who really thinks Newt is suddenly a 'moral' person who would no longer leave his wife if a newer model came along....
Observations from us 99%ers near Mayberry:
Best dangburn governin' money CAN buy!
The party of the "RICH" what else would one expect?
The question I keep asking myself is if some form of busines transaction is within the law to do, should I do it if I can make a lot of money, although it is possibly ethically or morally damaging? My answer would be no, one should not do it.
Then I ask myself if one that brags about doing transaction of this nature, do I want him in the highest office of this nation? My answer would also not only be no, it would be hell no.
Therefore if Romney is the nominee I will vote to keep what we have or not vote on the Presidental spot.
Wow, I wish I could throw a party and raise money to replace my car. It’s falling apart.
Mitt Romney is worth more than 1/4 of a billion dollars and is a venture capitalist vampire who is responsible for destroying entire towns and thousands of lives. He boasts creating jobs but fails to mention that those jobs were minimum wage jobs created to sell goods for China. What we have here is a failed system where candidates are bought and put into place by the world's largest financiers. We MUST root these brood of vipers out!! This election is nothing more than a scam. I posted months ago that they would run a group of clowns against Obama and then the Republican frontrunner would have his fatal flaw revealed. Now these media agencies are promoting the documentary "When Mitt Romney Came to Town", to shed light on the true nature of this "man". WAKE UP AMERICA!! TO ARMS!!
How about a report on the Evil one Obama's donations and donators?
Obama discloses all his donors, Romney refuses to.
The "shock" some on this are showing is either disingenuous or naive. As both Romney and Obama have Wall Street, Hedgefund and other rich backers. Obama also has the Hollywood crowd. To say one or the other is in bed with Wall Street when in fact they both are so it is such a non-issue unless your voting for some third party candidate.
It is actually the biggest issue of all... Unless you are a benefactor of such treachury... Which I will bet you are... Which makes you a traitor!
So Jebadiah I guess you won't vote for any politician.................ok have a great life while you vote for the Green Party.
Important to consider Mitt Romney's role in the Leveraged Buyout of America --LBOs vs jobs --Wall St Banks and private Equity firms like Romney's Bain Capital, KKR, and Goldman Sachs enacted a large scale Leveraged Buyout of America and are the cause of the pending LBO credit crash this coming year and its
impact on the US economy... join those standing up for genuine capitalism--not rigged capitalism and all this cheating and looting of our economy for short term gain.. See references to Mitt and Bain Capital in Lady Gaga Does LBOs [short]...
#p/u/6/393CuT6ypYA
See Also Ron Paul in...Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bank?: An Uncensored Investigation of the US Federal Reserve Banking Cartel--one of the most controversial institutions of our time...(Self-Serving its Country Since 1913)...
#p/u/12/_M_Rh_fgKEQ
LeeMcD--Hmmm Goldman Sachs?? Would that be the company that has a revolving door into the current White House for it's former employees?
Anyone trying to claim ONE party/candidate is bad and the other is good is blinded by what they WANT to see, not what is visible if you look.