Look Who Parks Their Cash at Bain

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Bain Donations to Dems

We don’t usually quote whole articles here, but this one was too good to just rip a couple quotes out of… this article originally appeared in the New York Post:

By DEROY MURDOCK

Democrats convened in Charlotte, NC, will double down on their claim that Bain Capital is really the Bain crime family. They will accuse Republican nominee Mitt Romney and Bain’s other “greedy” co-founders of stealing their winnings, evading taxes and lighting cigars with $100 bills on their yachts.

But Bain’s private-equity executives have enriched dozens of organizations and millions of individuals in the Democratic base — including some who scream most loudly for President Obama’s re-election.

Government-worker pension funds are the chief beneficiaries of Bain’s economic stewardship. New York-based Preqin uses public documents, news accounts and Freedom of Information requests to track private-equity holdings. Since 2000, Preqin reports, the following funds have entrusted some $1.56 billion to Bain:

* Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund ($2.2 million)

* Indiana Public Retirement System ($39.3 million)

* Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System ($177.1 million)

* The Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System ($19.5 million)

* Maryland State Retirement and Pension System ($117.5 million)

* Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada ($20.3 million)

* State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio ($767.3 million)

* Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System ($231.5 million)

* Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island ($25 million)

* San Diego County Employees Retirement Association ($23.5 million)

* Teacher Retirement System of Texas ($122.5 million)

* Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System ($15 million)

These funds aggregate the savings of millions of unionized teachers, social workers, public-health personnel and first responders. Many would be startled to learn that their nest eggs are incubated by the company that Romney launched and the financiers he hired.

Leading universities have also profited from Bain’s expertise. According to Infrastructure Investor, Bain Capital Ventures Fund I (launched in 2001) managed wealth for “endowments and foundations such as Columbia, Princeton and Yale universities.”

According to BuyOuts magazine and S&P Capital IQ, Bain’s other college clients have included Cornell, Emory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Notre Dame and the University of Pittsburgh. Preqin reports that the following schools have placed at least $424.6 million with Bain Capital between 1998 and 2008:

* Purdue University ($15.9 million)

* University of California ($225.7 million)

* University of Michigan ($130 million)

* University of Virginia ($20 million)

* University of Washington ($33 million)

Major, center-left foundations and cultural establishments also have seen their prospects brighten, thanks to Bain Capital. According to the aforementioned sources, such Bain clients have included the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ford Foundation, the Heinz Endowments and the Oprah Winfrey Foundation.

Why on Earth would government-union leaders, university presidents and foundation chiefs let Bain oversee their precious assets?

“The scrutiny generated by a heated election year matters less than the performance the portfolio generates to the fund,” California State Teachers’ Retirement System spokesman Ricardo Duran said in the Aug. 12 Boston Globe. CalSTRS has pumped some $1.25 billion into Bain.

Since 1988, Duran says, private-equity companies like Bain have outperformed every other asset class to which CalSTRS has allocated the cash of its 856,360 largely unionized members.

Is Bain really a gang of corporate buccaneers who plunder their ill-gotten gains by outsourcing, euthanizing feeble portfolio companies and giving cancer to the spouses of those whom they fired? If so, union bosses, government retirees, liberal foundations and elite universities thrive on the wages of Bain’s economic Darwinism.

If, however, these institutions relish the yields that Bain Capital generates by supporting start-ups and rescuing distressed companies, 80 percent of which have prospered, then this money is honest — and Team Obama isn’t.

Video: Mitt Romney & Bain Capital Successes

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www.youtube.com screen capture 2012-8-30-13-9-14

The Democrat Party and the complicit legacy media are bending over backwards to find, and totally distort, a couple of failings that occurred while Mitt Romney was at Bain Capital.

Today I’d like to share some of their successes… via video:

Steel Dynamics

Bain Capital allowed entrepreneurs, like those at Steel Dynamics, to create businesses and jobs for Americans all across the country.

GT Bicycles

Through its partnership with Bain Capital, GT Bicycles grew into an incredibly successful company that was able to create twice as many jobs.

Wesley Jessen

Under Mitt’s leadership, Bain Capital helped turn Wesley Jessen from almost bankrupt into a profitable business. This allowed people, like Ray Fernandez, to build their own businesses.

Brookstone

Under Mitt’s leadership, Bain turned Brookstone from almost bankrupt into a world class brand, which created opportunity and jobs all across the country.

Alliance Laundry

Bain Capital helped Alliance Laundry save and build their business.

Bain & Co

Bain & Co. found itself in financial trouble and facing an uncertain future. Employees were left scared, not knowing what to expect. Then Mitt Romney stepped back in and got Bain & Co. back on track. Saving jobs. Creating jobs. Fixing businesses. That’s what Mitt Romney knows how to do.

 

Mitt’s Time at Staples:

Staples: Ed

When Mitt came to Staples, he made it clear that he valued Staples employees and each employee was critical to the company’s success.

Staples: Jim

Mitt’s bold and decisive leadership helped to build Staples into the successful business it is today.

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Muth’s Truths: With Ryan, Right has Reason to Rejoice

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By Chuck Muth
August 16, 2012

With Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his partner in the GOP’s hostile take-over attempt of Obama/Biden, Inc., conservatives now own this election…whether they want it or not.

Romney was not the first choice of movement conservatives in the GOP nominating contest and, as such, still needed to secure his base with a solid veep pick.  He could claim ‘til the cows came home to be “severely conservative,” but conservatives learned long ago not to listen to what Republicans say, but to watch what they do.

In that regard, conservatives have adopted as a barometer the adage of “personnel is policy” to gauge whether an elected official will actually govern after getting elected the way the elected official campaigned.  And indeed, you’ll find no better example of the reliability of this divining rod than in the case of Nevada’s governor.

Without a doubt, Brian Sandoval campaigned as a solid conservative in his 2010 GOP primary fight against conservatives Jim Gibbons and Mike Montandon.  But his very first personnel pick of a moderate, establishment Republican as his chief of staff was a red-sky-at-morning warning of things to come.

Indeed, the new governor went on to load up his cabinet and administration with competent career bureaucrats rather than – as Ronald Reagan did after winning the presidency in 1980 – with competent ideological true believers.

So it really should have come as no surprise that the minute the going got tough at the end of the 2011 session, Gov. Sandoval abandoned his “no new taxes” promise faster than Usain Bolt runs 100 meters.  Or that he is incrementally moving towards full implementation of ObamaCare.

But back to Mitt Romney.

The Ryan pick gives the right hope that, if elected, at least the former Massachusetts governor won’t be openly hostile to movement conservatives (the way John McCain would have been).  And should he continue to staff his administration with competent conservatives and not competent career bureaucrats we might just be able to rescue this country before it’s too late.

However, that Romney’s first personnel pick is truly one of “us,” conservatives now have a huge stake in seeing to R&R Partners’ success in November.  Because if Romney loses to the “severely incompetent” incumbent president, conservatives, tea partiers and Paulistas will be blamed for pushing Romney too far to the right.

On the other hand, with a conservative victory, business owners will once again start “building that,” and in fairly short order the private sector will actually be doing “just fine” for real.  And with any luck at all, “President” Romney will then ruthlessly do to unproductive government programs and departments what Bain Capital did to unproductive businesses.

Indeed, let’s make Bain a verb; as in “bain the government.”  Can I get an “Amen”?

Democrats Receive More Bain Capital Dollars Than Republicans

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NOTE: “They’re going to have a difficult time explaining why they’re padding their war chest with contributions from the same executives that they’re accusing of hurting jobs,” said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

From The Hill:

Democrats have accepted more political donations than Republicans from executives at Bain Capital, complicating the left’s plan to attack Mitt Romney for his record at the private equity firm.

During the last three election cycles, Bain employees have given Democratic candidates and party committees more than $1.2 million. The vast majority of that sum came from senior executives.

Republican candidates and party committees raised over $480,000 from senior Bain executives during that time period.

Recipients include Democratic senators facing tough reelection races this year, such as Jon Tester (Mont.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Bill Nelson (Fla.).

The Hill reviewed contributions made from the 2008, 2010 and 2012 cycles.

Romney has collected more money from Bain Capital employees than any federal candidate since the beginning of 2007, amassing more than $166,000 in contributions. He took more than $84,000 from Bain employees in the first three quarters of 2011.

But President Obama received a sizable share as well. He has accepted more than $80,000 from Bain employees since the beginning of 2007. Bain Capital employees gave $27,500 to Obama during the first three quarters of 2011.

The donations were reported to the Federal Election Commission and culled in a database created by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks federal campaign spending.

Obama does not accept money from lobbyists, but does accept donations from Wall Street executives. Campaign finance records show that Democrats collect more money from Wall Street than does the GOP.

The sums collected by Democrats from managing partners and other senior executives at Bain could hamper the Democratic message that Romney is a corporate raider who does not care about workers, charges based on his record as CEO of Bain.

Democrats could be forced to justify attacking Bain — which specializes in buying companies and boosting profitability, often by laying off workers — while accepting campaign funds from the same executives who made the cost-cutting decisions.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Introduces a New Website, FreeEnterprise.com

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Here’s an introduction from the Chamber’s Senior Vice President for Communications, Tom Collamore:

For 100 years, the U.S. Chamber has been standing up for American businesses—large and small. We’ve fought to ensure the business community has a seat at the table, a voice in the debate, and a stake in the policy decisions that influence America’s future. Throughout this year, we’ll be celebrating our 100th Anniversary (check out the interactive timeline and video). But our focus is on the future. We face new challenges and uncertainty, and it will take the power of free enterprise and the initiative of businesses to overcome them.

As you know, today Tom Donohue delivered his annual State of American Business Address where he outlined five immediate priorities that the Chamber will address to boost America’s competitiveness in the global economy—producing American energy; rebuilding our infrastructure; expanding trade, investment, and tourism; advancing regulatory and legal reforms; and developing an innovation agenda.

In addition to these priorities, the Chamber will continue into the next 100 years with its mission of protecting the principles of American free enterprise, bringing together like-minded supporters to discuss and advocate for free market policies. Today, we launched the new FreeEnterprise.com, an innovative platform for free market news and ideas. The site aggregates the Chamber’s greatest content, and includes newsmaker interviews, opinion pieces, and social and multi media. With this launch, the Chamber establishes itself as the dominant voice of business in the digital space. We hope you’ll use this exciting new resource and share it with your networks.

This exciting new effort is the first of its kind in the association world.

Regards,

Tom Collamore

Members of Congress Weigh in on Free Enterprise

Here are two exclusives from FreeEnterprise.com:

Follow them on Twitter @FreeEnterprise and Join more than 200,000+ fans on Facebook.
 

Video Trailer: King of Bain “When Mitt Romney Came To Town”

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Pro-Newt Gingrich PAC Winning Our Future.com just released”King of Bain – When Mitt Romney Came to Town,” a film slamming Romney’s career at Bain Capital.

Many people think it’s unfair to attack Mitt Romney for being a Capitalist but the makers of this film explain it thusly:

Capitalism made America great – free markets, innovation, hard work – the building blocks of the American Dream. But in the wrong hands some of those dreams can turn into nightmares. This film is about one raider and his firm and how they destroyed that dream for thousands of Americans and their families – Mitt Romney and Bain Capital.

From their website:

Mitt Romney. Was he a job creator or a corporate raider?

That’s the question this film answers.

And it’s not pretty.

Mitt Romney was not a capitalist during his reign at Bain. He was a predatory corporate raider. His firm didn’t seek to create value. Instead, like a scavenger, Romney looked for businesses he could pick apart. Indeed, he represented the worst possible kind of predator, operating within the law but well outside the bounds of what most real capitalists consider ethical.

He is exhibit number one the left wants to use in the coming election to give capitalism a bad name.

He and his friends at Bain were bad guys. Any real capitalists should disavow Romney’s ‘creative destruction’ model that made him wealthy at the expense of thousands of American jobs.

Mitt Romney and his cronies pioneered ‘deindustrialization,’ a process by which they searched out vulnerable companies, took them over, loaded them with debt, and collected obscene fees while doing so. He sent jobs overseas or killed them altogether, and then picked apart the remains – including pension funds – before the companies went bankrupt.

Some might call that the free market. Most of us think its just plain wrong.

If you wonder why America has lost so many manufacturing jobs overseas, look no further than Mitt Romney – the King of Bain.

Think you know Mitt?

Think again . . .

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Wall Street cash shifts to Romney from Obama

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From Reuters:

(Reuters) – Wall Street money is heavily favoring Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the race to unseat President Barack Obama, the latest signal of business unease with Obama’s tenure and perhaps a bet on his re-election chances.

Romney, a co-founder of buyout firm Bain Capital, stresses his Wall Street acumen in his bid to win the Republican nomination to challenge Obama in the November 2012 election.

About a quarter of the $18 million Romney raised in the second quarter came from the financial sector, while 4.4 percent of the $48 million Obama’s campaign raised came from that group, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Employees at the five biggest U.S. banks made the list of Romney’s top 20 donors, while just Goldman Sachs made it onto Obama’s contributor roll.

With 14 months before voters go to the polls, Obama’s handling of the fledgling economic recovery is at all-time lows with unemployment stubbornly stuck above 9 percent.

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