Mitt Romney,  President 2008

Mitt Romney Clashes With AP Reporter Over Lobbyist Campaign Adviser Part Two

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=cGnyLhhYtZM[/youtube]

Republican presidential hopeful, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney argues with AP Reporter Glemn Johnson during a media availability at a Staples store in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008.

Mitt Romney blows up but the AP reporter is correct. Ron Kaufman, a senior Romney campaign adviser is a registered lobbyist.

Kaufman, the former White House political director for President George H.W. Bush and a lobbyist at the Dutko Group, is a senior adviser to the Romney campaign. He frequently travels with Romney and is intimately involved with the campaign.

Romney, however, parsed his words, angrily telling Johnson that Kaufman doesn’t actually run the campaign.

“I said I don’t have lobbyists running my campaign and he’s not running my campaign,” said Romney, adding that Beth Myers is his campaign manager and she runs the campaign.

But in fact, Romney does employ lobbyists at his campaign and he has lobbyists who advise him regularly on a volunteer basis as he seeks the Republican nomination for president.

  • For instance, Thomas D. Rath is a senior adviser who helped guide Romney through the byways of New Hampshire politics. Rath, the former attorney general of New Hampshire, is also a registered lobbyist who represents clients in New England and nationally.
  • Former Rep. Vin Weber is a lobbyist at Clark & Weinstock, and he’s the policy chairman for the Romney campaign.
  • Barbara Comstock, a communications consultant and frequent spokesperson for Romney on television, is a lobbyist at Corallo Comstock.
  • Caeser Conda is an economic policy adviser and a lobbyist at DC Navigators.
  • And Warren Tompkins is Romney’s South Carolina consultant, as well as a lobbyist.

Another Mitt Romney spin and lie.

Add this one to the list of Flip-Flops, Lies and Oddities:

Remember:

romneymittvsfactweb

For the working press it may be one lie too many.

It had been a long time coming. In Michigan, the frustration over Romney’s complete disingeniousness about “bringing your jobs back” conjured a rare degree of camaraderie, and we caucused together and came up with a list of questions that we agreed to ask no matter who got called on at the next press conference. For instance: “If Bain Capital was going to invest in the auto industry, what segment would it invest in, and how would that help Michigan?” Salon’s Mike Madden actually got that in, but it elicited a non-answer: “I’ve been out of the private sector too long to advise people on that kind of thing.” In other words, his experience in the private sector is relevant, until he’s called upon to use it.

For Flap, Romney’s disingenuous nature and his outright dishonesty would negate any possibility he would EVER vote for the man.


3 Comments

  • Stefano Picciotto

    Glen is a professional and Romney is a liar! I congratulate the reporter for standing up to Romney and getting the TRUTH to the public. We need more of that type of information out in the open.

    • David Powell

      Romney never denied that Kaufman was a campaign advisor. He did deny Glen’s incessant accusation that Kaufman was Romney’s Campaign Manager. Romney did NOT lie. Glen was not professional, but highly obnoxious and Romney did well to hold his composure as well as he did.