Romney Surrounded By Wealth and Secrecy

Did Someone Create a Company for the Sole Purpose of Giving Mitt Romney a Million Bucks?

Perhaps! During its short lifespan, W Spann LLC, formed by Boston estate tax lawyer Cameron Casey, appears to have done little other than make a $1 million contribution to Restore Our Future, a Romney super PAC. The company, which was formed in March and dissolved in July, listed a Manhattan address where there is no evidence it was ever a tenant, nor is there otherwise much of a paper trail on W Spann LLC. For instance, there’s no description on its official filing of what the company existed to do (presumably, “funnel money to Mitt Romney” would not have been smart to write), nor are any clients listed.

The company was formed and dissolved by a Boston lawyer, Cameron Casey of Ropes & Gray. According to her online bio, Casey provides “comprehensive estate planning advice to high-net-worth individuals and families” and “advises nonprofit organizations and their donors with respect to charitable planning matters.”

The law firm has other connections to Romney. R. Bradford Malt, a partner with Ropes & Gray, has served as the trustee for blind trusts set up by Romney and his wife, Ann. And John Montgomery, another partner at the firm, represented Romney in 2002 when Democrats unsuccessfully challenged Romney’s residency during his campaign for Massachusetts governor.

In the FEC filing, W Spann LLC listed an address of 590 Madison Avenue in New York, but there are no state business records on file pertaining to the company. A phone call to building manager Minskoff Equities said it had no records of the firm as a tenant.

When asked about the legality of the W Spann setup, a rather bewildered-sounding former FEC general counsel said “I don’t see how you can do this.” So whatever legal action might follow, at least their creativity isn’t going unrecognized.

MSNBC – Firm gives $1 million to pro-Romney group, then dissolves

The American Lawyer: Ropes & Gray working for Mitt Romney & Bain Capital

Other strong points for the firm, which is spread out over ten domestic and international offices, include securities litigation, health law, labor and employment, and tax and benefits. And Ropes’s chair, R. Bradford Malt, does all the tax planning for Mitt Romney, whose former company, Bain Capital, is a major Ropes & Gray client. The firm represented Bain in its $26 billion acquisition of Clear Channel Communications in 2008, its $3.5 billion purchase of The Weather Channel in 2008, and a $1.8 billion transaction for Gymboree Corporation in 2010.

OT but nevertheless interesting – Biglaw Discrimination Lawsuit Potpourri: Proskauer Rose and Ropes & Gray
Vanity Fair on Romney: Where the Money Lives

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

4 Comments

Oui on July 13, 2012 at 10:38 am

Residency challenge to Mitt Romney’s gubernatorial candidacy rejected

BOSTON (CNN Archive) June 25, 2002– Republican Mitt Romney is eligible to run for governor, a state board ruled Tuesday, unanimously rejecting Democrats’ claim that he doesn’t meet Massachusetts’ residency requirement because of the time he spent in Utah running the Salt Lake City Olympics.

The ruling lays to rest a dispute that has dominated the governor’s race for weeks. The Democrats said they would not appeal. [Arrogance? – Oui]

The five-member Ballot Law Commission — made up of three Republicans, one Democrat, and one member with no declared affiliation — concluded that Romney “was credible in all respects regarding the fact that (he) intended Massachusetts to be his domicile from 1971 to the present.”

Romney lived in the Boston suburb of Belmont from 1971 to 1999, then moved to Utah to oversee the 2002 Winter Olympics. He returned to Massachusetts in March. While living in Utah, he maintained his Belmont home and was registered to vote in Massachusetts.

But the state Democratic Party argued that Romney did not meet the state constitutional requirement that a candidate for governor be a legal resident of Massachusetts for seven years before the election.

At the center of the case were Massachusetts tax returns Romney filed while in Utah. Romney filed in 1999 as a part-year Massachusetts resident and in 2000 as a nonresident. Romney changed those returns to Massachusetts resident in April, after deciding to run for governor, saying his longtime tax advisers at Pricewaterhouse Coopers had made a mistake.

The Democrats also highlighted a $54,500 tax break Romney received on his Utah home that was reserved for primary residences, and public statements he had made in Utah to show he was considering running for office there.

During two days of questioning, Romney said he had considered Massachusetts his legal residence since arriving to attend Harvard Business School in 1971. Romney’s lawyers produced as evidence utility bills paid at the Belmont home and Belmont-based bank and investment accounts Romney kept while living in Utah.

Attorney John Montgomery: domicile in Massachusetts but residence in Utah

(Biz Journal) June 21, 2002 – John Montgomery, Romney’s attorney, stressed in his opening remarks at the hearing the difference between a domicile, of which a person can have only one, and residences, of which a person can have many.

In addition to his home and voting records, other evidence that Romney’s domicile was in Massachusetts while he worked in Utah included a Belmont social club membership, Massachusetts bank accounts and automobiles registered and insured in Massachusetts, Montgomery said.

Under questioning from Steinfield, Romney said he did not vote in any local elections in Massachusetts in 2001. He also said that the home in Belmont is registered in his wife’s name, not his own, and that he does not own a home in the state under his own name.

Steinfield also questioned Romney about a $54,500 property tax discount he received on a home he owns in Park City, Utah, under a program that gives tax reductions to those who claim primary residence in Utah. Romney said he did not seek the discount and received it in error.

Romney also answered questions about revisions to his Massachusetts tax returns for 1999 and 2000, which originally were filed under part-time resident status and nonresident status, respectively. Romney amended those returns in April, after deciding to run for governor.

NY Times: G.O.P. Candidate Seeks to Clarify Massachusetts Residency Issue

See my earlier diary – Romney Can’t Help It – His Faith and Social Darwinism.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Marie2 on July 13, 2012 at 5:02 pm

The ease with which that question was settled in the Mittster’s favor is curious. The report doesn’t mention what many would consider to be additional relevant data: his 1999 — 2001 federal tax returns and his 2001 state tax returns. Nor if he voted in 2000 and if so, where.

No reason he had to move to Utah to manage the SLC Olympics UNLESS he was contractually obligated to do so. Fraser Bullock, SLOC COO:

“I always joke that I was already living in Utah, and Mitt wanted to save the relocation expenses,” Bullock adds.

2002 BYU puff piece link. Bullock Wikipedia bio

Oui on July 13, 2012 at 3:23 pm

Rove hits big: The birth of a mega-donor

Steve Wynn, the flamboyant Las Vegas billionaire who claims to have voted for President Barack Obama in 2008, was the perfect get for Rove. Wynn was loaded, had soured on Obama and was just the kind of wealthy businessman who could help underwrite a plan hatched by Rove and other influential conservatives to spend close to $1 billion total to win the White House, Senate and House in 2012.

Super PACs co-founders Spies and Forti worked together on Romney’s 2008 campaign — along with Wynn’s corporate government affairs director Mike Britt, who worked in George W. Bush’s political shop under Rove. Spies and Britt wouldn’t comment on what they discussed or their roles in Wynn’s operation. But lobbying filings show Spies’s firms — first McKenna Long & Aldridge and then Clark Hill — have been paid $375,000 by the publicly traded casino-developing and management company Wynn runs, Wynn Resorts, to lobby Congress on a range of internet gambling issues and international taxation, while Britt has been involved in state government lobbying for Wynn.

When Democrats don’t “deliver”

Wynn called Reid to express frustrations with the Democratic health care overhaul before Reid’s 2010 reelection. Afterwards, the casino mogul teamed with his once-bitter rival Adelson to oppose an effort by Reid to slip language into a tax bill to legalize online gambling. “Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn called members personally to tell them that the bill wasn’t sufficient,” said a senior congressional aide.

Both Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands corporation and Wynn Resorts have gambling operations in Macao. And the pair lately have collaborated more on political efforts, such as a 2012 fundraiser at Adelson’s Venetian hotel for a joint fundraising committee linked to House Speaker John Boehner, and a 2011 fundraiser for Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) at the Wynn.

Billionaire Adelson Blocked Palestinian Peace Deal Olmert

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Marie2 on July 13, 2012 at 4:40 pm

wrt W Spann, LLC — that surfaced last year and was resolved when Edward Conard, came forward and admitted that he’d made the donation. Unfortunately, after Citizen’s United, there was nothing technically illegal in what he’d done. He could have avoided all the scrutiny and remained anonymous if he’d simply written the check to Rove’s fund.

Oui on July 13, 2012 at 10:38 am

.

Residency challenge to Mitt Romney’s gubernatorial candidacy rejected

BOSTON (CNN Archive) June 25, 2002– Republican Mitt Romney is eligible to run for governor, a state board ruled Tuesday, unanimously rejecting Democrats’ claim that he doesn’t meet Massachusetts’ residency requirement because of the time he spent in Utah running the Salt Lake City Olympics.

The ruling lays to rest a dispute that has dominated the governor’s race for weeks. The Democrats said they would not appeal. [Arrogance? – Oui]

The five-member Ballot Law Commission — made up of three Republicans, one Democrat, and one member with no declared affiliation — concluded that Romney “was credible in all respects regarding the fact that (he) intended Massachusetts to be his domicile from 1971 to the present.”

Romney lived in the Boston suburb of Belmont from 1971 to 1999, then moved to Utah to oversee the 2002 Winter Olympics. He returned to Massachusetts in March. While living in Utah, he maintained his Belmont home and was registered to vote in Massachusetts.

But the state Democratic Party argued that Romney did not meet the state constitutional requirement that a candidate for governor be a legal resident of Massachusetts for seven years before the election.

At the center of the case were Massachusetts tax returns Romney filed while in Utah. Romney filed in 1999 as a part-year Massachusetts resident and in 2000 as a nonresident. Romney changed those returns to Massachusetts resident in April, after deciding to run for governor, saying his longtime tax advisers at Pricewaterhouse Coopers had made a mistake.

The Democrats also highlighted a $54,500 tax break Romney received on his Utah home that was reserved for primary residences, and public statements he had made in Utah to show he was considering running for office there.

During two days of questioning, Romney said he had considered Massachusetts his legal residence since arriving to attend Harvard Business School in 1971. Romney’s lawyers produced as evidence utility bills paid at the Belmont home and Belmont-based bank and investment accounts Romney kept while living in Utah.

Attorney John Montgomery: domicile in Massachusetts but residence in Utah

(Biz Journal) June 21, 2002 – John Montgomery, Romney’s attorney, stressed in his opening remarks at the hearing the difference between a domicile, of which a person can have only one, and residences, of which a person can have many.

In addition to his home and voting records, other evidence that Romney’s domicile was in Massachusetts while he worked in Utah included a Belmont social club membership, Massachusetts bank accounts and automobiles registered and insured in Massachusetts, Montgomery said.

Under questioning from Steinfield, Romney said he did not vote in any local elections in Massachusetts in 2001. He also said that the home in Belmont is registered in his wife’s name, not his own, and that he does not own a home in the state under his own name.

Steinfield also questioned Romney about a $54,500 property tax discount he received on a home he owns in Park City, Utah, under a program that gives tax reductions to those who claim primary residence in Utah. Romney said he did not seek the discount and received it in error.

Romney also answered questions about revisions to his Massachusetts tax returns for 1999 and 2000, which originally were filed under part-time resident status and nonresident status, respectively. Romney amended those returns in April, after deciding to run for governor.

NY Times: G.O.P. Candidate Seeks to Clarify Massachusetts Residency Issue

See my earlier diary – Romney Can’t Help It – His Faith and Social Darwinism.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
- Marie2 on July 13, 2012 at 5:02 pm
  
  The ease with which that question was settled in the Mittster’s favor is curious. The report doesn’t mention what many would consider to be additional relevant data: his 1999 — 2001 federal tax returns and his 2001 state tax returns. Nor if he voted in 2000 and if so, where.
  
  No reason he had to move to Utah to manage the SLC Olympics UNLESS he was contractually obligated to do so. Fraser Bullock, SLOC COO:
  
  “I always joke that I was already living in Utah, and Mitt wanted to save the relocation expenses,” Bullock adds.
  
  2002 BYU puff piece link. Bullock Wikipedia bio
Oui on July 13, 2012 at 3:23 pm

.

Rove hits big: The birth of a mega-donor

Steve Wynn, the flamboyant Las Vegas billionaire who claims to have voted for President Barack Obama in 2008, was the perfect get for Rove. Wynn was loaded, had soured on Obama and was just the kind of wealthy businessman who could help underwrite a plan hatched by Rove and other influential conservatives to spend close to $1 billion total to win the White House, Senate and House in 2012.

Super PACs co-founders Spies and Forti worked together on Romney’s 2008 campaign — along with Wynn’s corporate government affairs director Mike Britt, who worked in George W. Bush’s political shop under Rove. Spies and Britt wouldn’t comment on what they discussed or their roles in Wynn’s operation. But lobbying filings show Spies’s firms — first McKenna Long & Aldridge and then Clark Hill — have been paid $375,000 by the publicly traded casino-developing and management company Wynn runs, Wynn Resorts, to lobby Congress on a range of internet gambling issues and international taxation, while Britt has been involved in state government lobbying for Wynn.

When Democrats don’t “deliver”

Wynn called Reid to express frustrations with the Democratic health care overhaul before Reid’s 2010 reelection. Afterwards, the casino mogul teamed with his once-bitter rival Adelson to oppose an effort by Reid to slip language into a tax bill to legalize online gambling. “Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn called members personally to tell them that the bill wasn’t sufficient,” said a senior congressional aide.

Both Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands corporation and Wynn Resorts have gambling operations in Macao. And the pair lately have collaborated more on political efforts, such as a 2012 fundraiser at Adelson’s Venetian hotel for a joint fundraising committee linked to House Speaker John Boehner, and a 2011 fundraiser for Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) at the Wynn.

Billionaire Adelson Blocked Palestinian Peace Deal Olmert

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Marie2 on July 13, 2012 at 4:40 pm

wrt W Spann, LLC — that surfaced last year and was resolved when Edward Conard, came forward and admitted that he’d made the donation. Unfortunately, after Citizen’s United, there was nothing technically illegal in what he’d done. He could have avoided all the scrutiny and remained anonymous if he’d simply written the check to Rove’s fund.

Romney Surrounded By Wealth and Secrecy

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