Romney's Dirty Donors

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Add one more to smooth talking Mitt Romney's growing list of dirty donors. In addition to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth backers Bob Perry and Sam Fox and Romney national finance chair John Rakolta, who backed a group responsible for a Michigan ad comparing Democrats to Hitler, a new report reveals that Romney's new Ohio finance chair contributed close to half a million dollars to a group responsible for deceptive push polls in six states last year.

Last month, the Romney campaign announced that S. Craig Lindner "will be co-chair of Romney's Ohio fundraising effort." (Cincinnatienquirer.com, 3/28/07) Today, a report by the Campaign Finance Institute revealed that Linder donated $479,224 to Common Sense Ohio, which was responsible for $827,000 in deceptive ads and push polls in seven states during the 2006 elections. (Openers, Cleveland Plain Dealer blog, 4/11/07) The last minute calls funded by Common Sense Ohio distorted the records of Democratic candidates like Ted Strickland in Ohio, Ben Cardin in Maryland, Harold Ford in Tennessee, and Jon Tester in Montana. (New York Times, 11/6/06)

Of course, Romney's connection to Common Sense Ohio isn't completely new. Under Romney's leadership, the Republican Governors Association gave $70,000 to Common Sense Ohio. (Plain Dealer, 9/30/06)

"Days ahead of this weekends fundraising reporting deadline, the voters are getting a clear picture of where Mitt Romney's dirty money is coming from," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "The fact that his biggest backers are responsible for some of the most divisive and disgusting campaign tactics in generations shows that Mitt Romney's smooth talk about ending divisiveness in Washington is just another part of his campaign to say whatever he thinks the voters want to hear."

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,88116.shtml