News

Group backed by Adelson targets Romney

By BETH FOUHY and JACK GILLUM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted: Jan. 9, 2012 | 2:00 a.m.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- An independent political committee supportive of Newt Gingrich is planning to release a film critical of Mitt Romney's tenure at a private equity firm, just days after Las Vegas Sands Corp. chairman Sheldon Adelson contributed $5 million to the group to bolster the former House speaker's White House run.

The Gingrich-leaning Winning Our Future PAC said Sunday that the 28-minute video, which assails Romney for "reaping massive awards" while head of Bain Capital, will be posted online soon and could show up on TV ahead of this month's primary elections.

Meanwhile, a person familiar with the development said Adelson, a longtime donor to Republican candidates, made the contribution Friday to Winning Our Future, which is run by Gingrich allies. The person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Adelson is expected to contribute to groups backing the eventual Republican nominee, be it Gingrich or one of his rivals.

Both the film and the large contribution highlight the growing role that new "super" political action committees are playing this election. Just weeks ago, a Romney-leaning super PAC called Restore Our Future hammered Gingrich with $3 million in negative ads that largely contributed to his eroding support before the Iowa caucuses. Gingrich finished in fourth place.

Now, the tables have turned: Winning Our Future's case marks the first time Gingrich and his allies have targeted Romney's time at Bain. They have said Romney's record is fair game, but up until now have restricted attacks to his time in government.

The film, called "When Mitt Romney Came To Town," assails Romney for "reaping massive awards" for himself and his investors. Bain has been credited with turning around dozens of companies, including well-known brands , but its record has been criticized -- notably by the Democratic National Committee -- for slashing jobs in the process.

Rick Tyler, an ex-Gingrich aide who is working for Winning Our Future, said the full video would be posted online "soon." Some segments could be used in shorter TV ads, he said, but there were no immediate plans to run the full piece on television.

Super PACs have sprouted up from a series of federal court rulings, including the Supreme Court's Citizens United case in 2010 that stripped away restrictions on corporate and union spending in elections. The groups can't coordinate directly with campaigns but many are staffed by longtime supporters of the candidates.

Several super PACs have already played a role in the Republican campaign. They include Make Us Great Again, a super PAC backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry; Our Destiny, supporting former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman; and the Red White and Blue Fund, which helped revive Santorum's campaign in Iowa and is running ads in South Carolina.

Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, has spent modestly during the Republican nominating contest and is expected to step up its role in the general election.

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  1. local_voice Jan. 9, 2012 | 11:32 p.m. Report Abuse

    Gingrich is just a vile human being. If you feel the need to go conservative, please vote for Ron Paul. I'm a Demo, and I could live with RP as POTUS. If you put Gingrich or Santorum in office, you have screwed us all.

  2. gbigs Jan. 9, 2012 | 3:19 p.m. Report Abuse

    alex2, you didnt pick one, but you did expose yourself as a goof. class envy is no way to go thru life, get off your rear and earn your own way. advise others to do the same. btw. i gave three perfect ways to make jobs in the USA. you heard, or understood none of them. see how it works now?

  3. n7v.blogspot.com Jan. 9, 2012 | 2:55 p.m. Report Abuse

    You can read the rest for yourself ..

    Why would a rich guy spend money to attack Robme for the mortal sin of making money? Does that make any sense?

    As you can see below there are plenty of reasons to criticize Robme for being a BIG Government guy, and the evidence is plain to see for anyone willing to look at it.

  4. n7v.blogspot.com Jan. 9, 2012 | 2:13 p.m. Report Abuse

    continued ..

    Mitt Romney claims to have cut the Massachusetts budget by “$2 billion.” Sometimes he claims he cut it “$3 billion.”.. But these “cuts” were merely budget games. Spending cuts in one area were simply moved into another area of the budget.

    In fact, not only did Mitt Romney refuse to cut the overall Massachusetts budget, he expanded it. Dramatically.

    The Massachusetts state budget was $22.7 billion a year when he took office in January of 2003.

    When he left office four years later, it was over $25.7 billion – plus another $2.2 billion in spending that the legislature took “off budget.” (Romney never reminds us of this fact.)

    The net effect of budgets proposed and signed into law by Mitt Romney? An additional $5.2 billion in state spending – and a similar increase in new taxes. Every year.

  5. n7v.blogspot.com Jan. 9, 2012 | 2:10 p.m. Report Abuse

    From The Center For Small Government:

    Mitt Romney has been a champion of new taxes.

    Mitt Romney proposed three new taxes while campaigning for governor: a new tax on vehicles, a new tax on campaign donations, and a new tax on building construction.

    Each of the four years Romney served as governor, he raised taxes .. He claims he only raised mandatory government “fees.” But government mandatory fees are nothing but taxes, and taxes .. Romney’s new tax-fees raised hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue for the state government every year.

    Mitt Romney also increased several other taxes by:
    • “closing loopholes” to enable collection of a new Internet sales tax
    •passing legislation that enables local governments to raise Business Property Taxes
    •enacting a new tax penalty that raises Income Taxes on both individuals and small businesses.

  6. n7v.blogspot.com Jan. 9, 2012 | 2:06 p.m. Report Abuse

    In '08, Ron Paul's NV GOP supporters -- despite the Party's efforts to railroad them at every turn - ulitimately sent several delegates to the GOP National Convention. When they called the roll, all of them voted for McCain.

    This year, the Ron Paul faction will send about the same number as last time. You can be sure, when the convention chairman calls on Nevada, that ALL of them will vote for somebody other than Ron.

  7. Alex2 Jan. 9, 2012 | 1:04 p.m. Report Abuse

    ok, gbigs, I Will pick one. Get rid of the multi million dollar salaries of the corporate bigwigs. The OLD story of they need to retain these mooches, is pure BULL!! They spend their days at a long liquid lunch.

  8. Jen.LV Jan. 9, 2012 | 12:27 p.m. Report Abuse

    "The film, called "When Mitt Romney Came To Town," assails Romney for "reaping massive awards" for himself and his investors." They could rename it to talk about Gingrich, really.... Pot - Kettle - Black....

  9. gbigs Jan. 9, 2012 | 11:53 a.m. Report Abuse

    you wanna stop jobs from leaving the USA? cut the cost of labor, OR cut the cost of energy OR cut the cost of doing business. pick one.

  10. TheShadow Jan. 9, 2012 | 11:49 a.m. Report Abuse

    @west coast ram wrote: "As for shipping jobs oversees the only way to stop that practice..." Not exactly. We are the 3rd/4th largest exporter in the world. If wages were the only factor, we would not be such a big exporter.

    In order to reduce the number of jobs shipped overseas without killing the American worker, we should reduce the capital gains tax to zero BUT the reduction should be pro-rated by the size of the US workforce. Secondly, we need to get worker health care cost under control. I don't care if it's socialized medicine or something else, but that cost is a big reason for sending jobs offshore.

    The thing to remember is that proximity to markets and a stable political environment are advantages for producers of goods and services. Right now, however, we have an unstable business climate. National priority and commitment to keeping American jobs in America would be successful. Class warfare, corporate welfare and constantly denigrating business only encourages sending jobs overseas.

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