Open marriage, adultery and midnight tax returns – Romney Vs Gingrich

Justin Cash

Name:Justin Cash
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Publishing ones tax returns in the middle of the night would suggest one has something to hide. This is no less true when the individual who did so could potentially lead the free world. GOP nomination contender Mitt Romney recently revealed that, for the year of 2010, he paid an effective rate of just under 15% on his estimated $250 million fortune. This puts him in the top 1% of Americans in terms of wealth. Unfortunately, this disguised the revelation that Romney and his wife Anne have also donated more than $7 million in charitable contributions in the last two years.

Mitt Romney at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. Photo by Gage Skidmore

But charity is not nearly so impressive when one can afford it as easily as Romney can. The disclosure of his earnings will hardly endear him to an American public that is seeing incomes being eroded under austerity measures. Yet the attacks he has received from within his own party seem a touch insincere. The Republican Party, being committed to low government spending and therefore to low taxes, seemed to betray its own values when it deplored the menial rate Romney was subject to. Apparently they want low taxes for everyone except their own candidates.

What is more, it appears that Romney did pay all the tax that was due of him. Not a dollar more, not a dollar less. His campaign team enlisted the help of a former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Fred Goldberg, to appease the critics. As an experienced professional, Goldberg was charged with reviewing the tax returns and, in a statement released by team Romney, concluded: “There is no indication or suggestion of any tax motivated or aggressive tax planning activities. In my judgment, they [the Romneys] have fully satisfied their responsibilities as taxpayers”.

The amount Romney pays in tax, frankly, is not up to him. The federal government dictates its level and he is subject to the same system as every other American citizen. One may suggest that he pays too little in tax, but he has probably done so legally and one can hardly begrudge him for abiding by the law. He couldn’t afford not to with ambitions of running for President. If the complaint against Mr. Romney is that he has not paid his fair share, then reform of the tax system, particularly with regard to investments, is the answer. But as it stands, he is well within his rights to contribute exactly as he does to the federal coffers.

This is not the end of the background checks that Romney has undergone since taking his place as frontrunner in the GOP nomination contest. He is also facing questions over his investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two firms heavily implicated in the financial meltdown of 2008. Of course he invested significant amounts in these two ex-giants of American finance. But he did so along with thousands of other investors from every corner of the globe. It would have taken an unrealistically impressive level of foresight to predict that both of them would have collapsed as spectacularly as they did.

And if we are to look for partners in Romney’s crimes, we need look no further than his fellow nomination contender Newt Gingrich. Gingrich owes his recent surge to his rhetoric and not to his squeaky clean credentials. Let us not forget that as Speaker, Gingrich was being paid $1.3 million by Freddie Mac whilst the firm was in free-fall. He has been married three times and openly admitted to committing adultery. Accusations from his second-wife’s that he requested an “open marriage” resurfaced days before voting in the South Carolina primary began. Somehow, none of this seemed to matter. It was a vote that Gingrich won convincingly.

Newt Gingrich at the 2011 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa. Photo Gage Skidmore

There are also other points in Romney’s background that cast him in a good light. Gingrich hasn’t run a state. Romney has. And he has done so impressively, improving the fortunes of an ailing Massachusetts as Governor. He is also credited with much of the success of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics in 2002 as head of its Organizing Committee. Romney has been challenged over his dealings whilst CEO of Bain and Company, a sizeable management consultancy business. But his record shows that he in fact dragged the company out of a crisis and will have gained valuable executive experience at the same time. In his capacity as co-founder of spin off private equity firm Bain Capital, he is perfectly placed to gain valuable insight into the workings of the financial sector. This is an election fought over economics, so who better to call upon than someone with experience in both financial institutions and budgetary management?

Yes, he is of the Mormon faith, and this is what cost him dearly in deeply evangelical South Carolina. But what difference will his religion make if it will not influence his policies? At present, there is little indication that it will. Still, expect the negative ads to keep flocking in. In particular, expect Gingrich’s background to be put under the same scrutiny as Romneys. It will be interesting to see how he fares under the microscope.