In an exclusive interview, Romney campaign surrogate John Sununu responded to the most recent attacks by the Obama campaign and the mainstream media about Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital and the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which the Obama campaign has suggested could constitute a “felony”–a claim for which the Romney campaign has demanded an apology.
Breitbart News: It’s been established now that Gov. Romney did not play an active role in the management of Bain Capital after February 1999. Why, then would Gov. Romney have kept his name on the documents that were filed with the SEC?
John Sununu: I don’t know the exact answers, but I can give you approximate answer. Those kinds of partnerships are extremely complex. It takes time to unwind them, to make fair allocation for what people are owed for previous involvement and nobody was in a hurry to finish the paperwork. He ran off to help finish the Olympics, and worked 24/7 out there. And nobody ever anticipated anything as unethical and slimy as the Boston Globe has done to distort reality in any way at all. They weren’t packaging the timing to be Boston Globe slime-proof.
Breitbart News: Was there any legal problem with what Gov. Romney did?
John Sununu: No. People are officers of corporations all the time. Different officers of corporations sign different documents. Different officers have management responsibilities, and different officers have no responsibilities, and they may still have signatory powers.
Breitbart News: Did Gov. Romney contemplate coming back to Bain at the time he left?
John Sununu: I have no idea. But you know something? I will tell you my opinion. In my opinion, he didn’t even worry about it. With successful people, you have enough confidence in yourself that you know if you come back, you come back; if you don’t, you don’t; but either way you have confidence in yourself. You know you are going to be able to earn that next paycheck all over again. Unlike certain people who do nothing but devote themselves to community organizing.
Breitbart News: Some of the fact-checking organizations have backed Gov. Romney’s claims, but Politifact has just taken a more skeptical view: “Looking at all the evidence made public so far, we do not think Romney was actively involved in the day-to-day management of Bain after 1999. But it doesn’t mean his influence disappeared after he left.”
John Sununu: The first point is that they acknowledge there was no outsourcing while Gov. Romney was actively leading Bain until 1999. Second, they are suggesting that there somehow was an insidious plan to outsource, but that they were not going to do it until Mitt Romney leaves. Third, I assure you that having been involved in business, I’ve learned enough to tell you that new leadership does things the way new leadership wants to do them. Anyone who makes the kind of suggestion that you have quoted knows as little about management as Barack Obama, and neither they nor Barack Obama could run a lemonade stand.
Breitbart News: Is the Romney campaign concerned that the Obama campaign’s attacks are having an effect? Is there a plan to fight back by defending Gov. Romney’s record at Bain? Is that why Gov. Romney is granting interviews to the major networks today?
John Sununu: There has been no effect from the attack. But what you do is that you make sure you deal with it immediately. And that’s what they are doing. There’s no concern that the attack is doing this or that. Romney is doing what good management does: you deal with something as soon as it happens. As for campaign strategy, I don’t know. I’m not privy to those discussions inside the campaign. I’m sort of the crazy uncle of the campaign. I kind of freelance in a roundabout way, at will.
Breitbart News: Is there anything analogous in Obama’s own life that you can point to, aside from the outsourcing you mentioned, where his relationship to an organization is in doubt?
John Sununu: There are so many pieces of Obama’s life that are sealed that one doesn’t need to look very far–we can talk about college records, we can talk about all kinds of things. There are tons of things we don’t know about. I suspect that in his post-presidency memoirs, which may also reach the top of the fiction list, there might be some new information there. The New York Times should be chastised for having put his book on the wrong list. It belongs on the fiction list, as David Marannis has shown.
Breitbart News: Will Gov. Romney be taking out ads to present evidence to explain the Bain issue?
John Sununu: I don’t think that is the goal right now. The focus is still the jobs issue, with 24.5 million unemployed or underemployed Americans giving up on looking for work–you know, Einstein had a definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. That’s also the definition of incompetence. For Obama, it’s spend and tax, spend and tax no matter what.
Breitbart News: Has the Romney campaign missed an opportunity to talk about the bigger philosophical issue? Is there something wrong with outsourcing or offshoring?
John Sununu: There’s no missed opportunity. Campaigns are not good opportunities to teach Economics 101. And unfortunately that’s what we’re involved in. As President, you will hear Mitt Romney talk about a lot of things like that as he tries to make Americans comfortable with success again. We have gone from nation that prided ourselves on being the best opportunity for success to a nation that wants successful people to be condemned. That’s the kind of thing that will change with Mitt Romney.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.