Close your eyes and imagine what would happen if this story were about any Democrat

[No Elephants]

instead of about the man who wants to be the Republican President of the United States of America come January. No wonder the cons started a false rumor that Obama would spend the 4th fundraising in France.



And now, for the inconvenient July 4 truth.

Jul 4, 3:51 AM EDT

Assets offshore hint at larger Romney wealth

By STEPHEN BRAUN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For nearly 15 years, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's financial portfolio has included an offshore company that remained invisible to voters as his political star rose.

Based in Bermuda, Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. was not listed on any of Romney's state or federal financial reports. The company is among several Romney holdings that have not been fully disclosed, including one that recently posted a $1.9 million earning - suggesting he could be wealthier than the nearly $250 million estimated by his campaign.

The omissions were permitted by state and federal authorities overseeing Romney's ethics filings, and he has never been cited for failing to disclose information about his money. But Romney's limited disclosures deprive the public of an accurate depiction of his wealth and a clear understanding of how his assets are handled and taxed, according to experts in private equity, tax and campaign finance law.

Sankaty was transferred to a trust owned by Romney's wife, Ann, one day before he was sworn in as Massachusetts governor in 2003, according to Bermuda records obtained by The Associated Press. The Romneys' ownership of the offshore firm did not appear on any state or federal financial reports during Romney's two presidential campaigns. Only the Romneys' 2010 tax records, released under political pressure earlier this year, confirmed their continuing control of the company.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ROMNEY_OFFSHORE_COMPANY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-04-03-51-46

Laws were not broken, at least, not as far as anyone knows so far. However, we have a very wealthy man who goes to lengths not to invest in his country and not to disclose--and who wants to be president.

Tried to defraud Utah of nonresident state taxes, as well, which came to light only because he immediately ran for Governor of Massachusetts, which required him to have been a massachusetts resident. A man with all that money, trying to chisel his beloved Utah out of a portion of his state taxes, meanwhile jeopardizing his deeply desired shot at becoming Mass. Governor, so that he could run for president in 2008 on something other than Bain.

A member of the 99% would have had his assets seized by the Utah State Department of Revenue and maybe been jailed. Instead, Romney got to pay the difference between non-resident taxes and residents taxes.

Not only did Utah do nothing, but Massachusetts Democrats let him run for Governor as a resident of Massachusetts (and let both Romneys vote that year as residents of Massachusetts, too). (Then again, Leona Helmsley went to jail. Her husband never did, but she did.)

if only they had sued him then, as I desperately wanted them to do, Obama might be running now against Santorum.

Sorry, but that degree of desire on Mitt's part to steal a comparatively few tax dollars from Utah was pathological, in light of the circumstance, including his vast wealth and long-standing Presidential ambitions.

Then we have his failure to disclose and the lengths he will go to in order to keep constituents from knowing the truth about him, be they Massachusetts voter or national voters.

And that's before we even get to his switching political positions and stories 180 degrees without blinking.

Any Democrat with his record running for dogcatcher (intending no offense to dogcatchers) would have been scorned out of politics at least a decade ago.

Instead, Mittens is running for president and the polls have him relatively close. (Still too early for polls to be heeded, but nonetheless....)

Though Willard is indeed jaw droppingly wooden, this describes ventriloquist dummy material, not Presidential timber.