There is no question Mitt Romney is a scumbag. But it amazes me how low this man stoops. Romney didn’t give free tickets to the families of 9/11 victims. Instead he gave them to Utah Legislators! He did this, just months after 9/11.
Mitt Romney, in pledging to turn around the Olympics in 2002, had promised to restore the honor and integrity of the scandal-clouded Salt Lake City. The Games captured the world’s attention and became all the more urgent after terrorists attacked us on 9-11. But while Romney invoked the wellspring of American patriotism after the attacks, he neglected their heroes, the fallen firefighters of that early September morning.
Romney’s executive assistant, Donna Tillery, twice denied requests to provide free or discounted tickets to widows and orphans of the felled firefighters but gave them for free to Utah legislators just six weeks later, according to a new book, The Real Romney (HarperCollins, 2012).
Tillery sent e-mails to A.J. Barto, a former Salt Lake City firefighter helping the 9-11 widows and orphans, citing a policy barring giveaways, but Romney gave 100 free surplus tickets ($885 each) to Utah legislators. “I was outraged at the hypocrisy,” Barto told Kranis and Helman. “In less than two months, he went from saying, ‘We’re going to run a tight ship’ to throwing out free tickets to a group of people who could help him politically.” (221)
The gifts would have helped Romney politically. After living in Utah for three years, Romney flirted with running for office in the Beehive State. He even reportedly contemplated running as a Democrat, though in the post-Olympics buzz there was no office available until 2004 which was too late for someone riding the successes of the the Games.
So Romney contemplated office in Utah as a Democrat? Very interesting. This man is a Progressive and the only thing he has going for him is that he’s not Obama. That still doesn’t give him a pass for being a scumbag.
Tags: 2012 Winter Olympics, 9/11
