ABC News' Mosk Rehashes Bain Capital in Hit Piece on Romney
In another hit piece on Mitt Romney, ABC News’ Matthew Mosk penned a 1,667-word column on how Romney’s in-laws could be a “problem.” According to Mosk, "Ann Romney's brother Roderick Davies, who filed for bankruptcy in 2010, and nephew Ryan Davies, who oversaw a now-bankrupt green energy venture, have both been out on the campaign trail to offer support for Romney. But back in Utah, the two men have left a trail of unhappy business partners, a number of whom spoke with ABC News to express concern about how the two might try and capitalize on a Romney presidency.” So, in Mosk’s mind, the allegedly unscrupulous activities of two grown men are all Mitt Romney’s fault.
Mosk noted “Andy Neff, a Florida financial advisor who says he lost a top client and his own savings investing in Ryan Davies's ill-fated solar energy venture, said Davies repeatedly assured him that his famous uncle Mitt was mentoring him, right up until his company filed for bankruptcy.”
"To be quite honest with you," Neff said, "if you're running for President of the United States, you should probably make sure all your family's doing the right, ethical things with people, and not taking advantage of hardworking guys like me and taking my money."
I guess Mr. Neff is unaware of the unethical dealings of the Obama administration concerning green energy and it’s loan programs, of which 80% of which went to top donors during his 2008 campaign. Back in January, Sharyl Attkisson of CBS filed a report showing that eleven green energy companies that received government loans are now bankrupt or in serious financial trouble. Furthermore, the government knew these loans were bad. They were classified CCC+, which means the loan has a 70% chance of failure in the long term. So, it’s not Mitt’s fault that Mr. Neff lost his savings. It’s Neff's fault for making a bad business decision, which happens every day in America.
While the Romney campaign doesn’t detail his activities with his in-laws’ business dealings, Mosk says they have ample evidence pointing to direct involvement. Mosk then brings in the Bain connection.
In January, The Wall Street Journal reported on Romney's push to have Bain Capital invest in an off-beat company that wanted to sell customized dolls designed to look like the children who bought them. The company, Lifelike Co., called the dolls "My Twinn." In 1996, Bain invested $2.1 million in Lifelike Co. and Romney took a seat on the company's board. Soon after, Roderick Davies was hired and became a vice president. Kenneth Thiess, former CEO of Lifelike, said in an interview that Davies told prospective suppliers that, through him, they were establishing a link to a future President of the United States.
Davies left the company in 2003 and became embroiled in a caustic legal imbroglio with the company's other managers -- with them accusing Davies of trying to steal their idea and start a rival doll company. The case was suspended when Lifelike declared bankruptcy in 2004.
Davies told the Journal the accusations against him were "spurious," adding: 'When a company fails, there's a lot of finger pointing.'
Bain also invested in a troubled internet start-up that employed Ryan Davies from 1997 to 2001, a Utah-based firm called Found Inc. that struggled and was later purchased by another firm. In a biographical write-up Davies published as promotional material for another venture, he said he helped Found Inc. raise "over $46 million in private equity from Bain Capital, Accel Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Sun Microsystems and others.'
Story Continues Below Ad ↓
The Bain narrative has been resurrected as of late – with Newsweek, in one of their last editions, printing how evil Mitt Romney was at the company by none other than David Stockman, who himself was formally charged for SEC violations for falsifying financial records. What’s odd is that this false narrative is being rehashed 18 days before Election Day and during the swan song of Newsweek.
Yet, given that Mosk mischaracterized Arlene Holmes’ statement in the aftermath of the Aurora shooting, we should see how this all plays out. Arlene is the mother of the Aurora shooter, James Holmes.
However, it doesn’t negate the fact the Mosk used an old, sterile false narrative to smear Mitt Romney. In fact, he’s using Bain as the glue to somehow construe it as the factory the produces nothing, but felonious capitalists. Lastly, it’s noted that he used Utah freelance researcher named Lynn Packer, who wrote about “Utah’s largest spat in securities fraud” in June of 2007. This is what she had to say about the constitutionalist mindset and its connection to Mormonism and the design of power it has on local politics.
A double affinity applies when a fraud targets Mormon constitutionalists. Indeed, one expert believes constitutionalist philosophy is partly derived from Mormonism. “Much of modern Constitutionalism comes from the writings and prophesies of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints,” wrote Paul de Armond of the Public Good Project, an advocacy group against political extremism. “The origin of the Christian Patriot term ‘Freemen’ and the key to Constitutionalism can be found in The Book of Mormon, Alma 51: 5-6.”
Constitutionalists reject conventional legal theory and substitute a 'simplified notion of a divinely inspired ‘organic’ Constitution,' Armond said.
One of the country’s best-known constitutionalists is ex-Mormon and former Green Beret James 'Bo' Gritz. When Gritz ran for President 10 years ago, he garnered more votes in Utah than any other state.
The Salt Lake Tribunecalled former Salt Lake City police chief W. Cleon Skousen the patriarch of the constitutionalist movement in Utah. Skousen, a Mormon and close friend of former church president Ezra Taft Benson, founded The Freemen Institute, now called the National Center for Constitutional Studies—after Ruby Ridge, Skousen renamed his organization to avoid taint.
