Not only have we never had a presidential candidate with a Swiss bank account, I don’t think we’ve ever had one who was once a registered lobbyist:
“Romney wasn’t just the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney was also a registered lobbyist for the organization, Utah state records show. [...] Romney last worked as a lobbyist on Dec. 31, 2000, according to a spokesman for the state lieutenant governor, who oversees the registry.
“”Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney and his top lieutenants have suddenly canceled their state lobbyist licenses,” the newspaper reported in January 2002. “The withdrawal of lobbying registrations for six SLOC officials was requested in late December, just weeks before the opening of the Utah Legislature and at the same time rumors abound of lawmakers being offered free Olympic event tickets. State law says businesses with registered lobbyists must report gifts to lawmakers, while it is unclear about other organizations that donate freebies to legislators.”
“During Romney’s campaign for Massachusetts governor following the games, he boasted of his lobbying abilities. “I’m in favor of getting more money from the federal government. … We need to do a better job getting money from Washington,” he said. “And I’m going to go after the transportation department and get more money there if at all possible. I was successful in doing that in organizing the Olympics — got record funds from the federal government. I’ll do that here.”"
What we know so far:
- Mitt successfully lobbied (and received) $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars for the 2002 SLC Olympics (1.5 times the amount spent by lawmakers to support all seven Olympic Games held in the U.S. since 1904), and
- All the operational / key records were destroyed regarding those funds and how the SLC Olympics was managed. And, once again, Romney claims he’d already left before the records were destroyed. Convenient!
