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Mitt Romney on Corporations

Former Republican Governor (MA)


FactCheck: Closed $174M in corporate tax loopholes

In a new twist on an old theme, Romney downplayed the fee increases he enacted during his tenure as governor. Romney claimed, "We raised fees by $240 million... we brought them up to the cost of providing services." However, in 2006 his own administration estimated the figure to be higher--$260 million. Independent estimates were higher yet, up to $400 million.

Moreover, Romney ignores the $174 million that his own administration figures he raised through "closing loopholes" in the corporate tax structure, which amounted to a tax increase for those who were using them.

Nor is it true that all of Romney's fee increases were aimed at providing services. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says, "It's been disingenuous to say there's no new taxes, in the sense that there's very little connection to the fee increases and the cost of services that the fees are supposed to represent."

Source: FactCheck.org on 2008 Fox News NH Republican primary debate Jan 6, 2008

Don't apply Sec. 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley to smaller companies

Q: Is London going to replace New York as the financial capital of the world?

A: Is London going to replace New York? Of course not. Should we fix Sarbanes-Oxley and take out Section 404 as it applies to smaller companies? Of course we should. Is this country the hope of the world? Absolutely.

Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan Oct 9, 2007

Approach to business as "Bainiac": meritocracy & results

Bain & Company was run as a complete meritocracy. Their "case method" formed Mitt Romney's approach to business, catapulted him to the top of two professions--consulting and investment--and earned him the reputation as a gifted turnaround artist.

Bainiacs, as they are called, are driven to succeed, and are a dogged group of Type AAAs. Bain's slogan is: "Helping make companies more valuable." The promise is profit. The promise is usually kept.

Bain became one of the most sought-after landing zones for Harvard Business School's best and brightest, because Bain mattered; Bain changed things. "The idea that consultancies should not measure themselves by the thickness of their reports, or even the elegance of their writing, but rather by whether or not the report was effectively implemented [as Bain did], was the inflection point in the history of consulting," Romney told Consulting magazine. Bain's website cited a press quotation, "Bain delivers results, not theory."

Source: A Mormon in the White House?, by Hugh Hewitt, p. 47-49 Mar 12, 2007

Company's culture must align with mission, or mission fails

I know what it's like to work at a place where the culture doesn't fit the vision. It's the mission that suffers most. The culture overpowers the most noble mission statement. A few years into the life of Bain Capital, a number of my partners and I began to feel that something was wrong. We went through a "team building" exercise with psychologists in California called Human Factors.

One of the more revealing observations was that our firm's culture was inconsistent with our stated mission, with stress and dissonance as the result.

At Bain Capital, we aspired to have a firm that put our investors' interests first, even before our own. But competitive self-interest increasingly figured quite prominently in decision-making.

We went to work to change our culture, to make it more consistent with our personal values and with the objectives we had for our firm. The struggle for integrity between mission and culture was never abandoned. And that made Bain Capital a better place to work.

Source: Turnaround, by Mitt Romney, p. 83-84 Aug 25, 2004

Piracy protection key to selling Olympic sponsorships

The heart of our pitch was all about associating products and services with the qualities that the Olympics had come to represent: athleticism, achievement, sacrifice, competition, and ideals like peace and brotherhood. If brand is what we were selling, we had to make sure the sponsors actually got the positive associations they were paying so much to get. We had a budget for "ambush marketing prevention" because you will not be able to sell sponsorships unless you can deliver on your promise to go after people that pirate the Olympic brand.

Use of Olympic symbols, or even the words "Olympic" or "Olympiad" without permission were easy ways for companies to get Olympic association free. The government passed a law making it illegal.

We took public relations hits for our brand protection efforts. It never goes over well when the guys in the suits come down on the little Mom and Pop operations that do not know enough not to use the Olympic rings in their homegrown marketing.

Source: Turnaround, by Mitt Romney, p.213-215 Aug 25, 2004

Other governors on Corporations: Mitt Romney on other issues:
AK Frank Murkowski
AL Bob Riley
AR Mike Huckabee
AZ Janet Napolitano
CA Arnold Schwarzenegger
CO Bill Owens
CT Jodi Rell
DE Ruth Ann Minner
FL Jeb Bush
GA Sonny Perdue
HI Linda Lingle
IA Tom Vilsack
ID Butch Otter
IL Rod Blagojevich
IN Mitch Daniels
KS Kathleen Sebelius
KY Ernie Fletcher
LA Kathleen Blanco
MA Mitt Romney
MD Bob Ehrlich
ME John Baldacci
MI Jennifer Granholm
MN Tim Pawlenty
MO Matt Blunt
MS Haley Barbour
MT Brian Schweitzer
NC Mike Easley
ND John Hoeven
NE Dave Heineman
NH John Lynch
NJ Jon Corzine
NM Bill Richardson
NV Jim Gibbons
NY George Pataki
OH Bob Taft
OK Brad Henry
OR Ted Kulongoski
PA Ed Rendell
RI Don Carcieri
SC Mark Sanford
SD Mike Rounds
TN Phil Bredesen
TX Rick Perry
UT Jon Huntsman
VA Tim Kaine
VT Jim Douglas
WA Christine Gregoire
WI Jim Doyle
WV Joe Manchin III
WY Dave Freudenthal
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