Modbert
Daydream Believer
- Sep 2, 2008
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Taxes key to Mitt Romney's '04 pitch to Standard & Poor's - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com
Of course, there is much more to this story so feel free to read more after the jump. Personally, I would say this wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Gov. Mitt Romney lobbied the credit ratings agency Standard & Poors in 2004 to raise his states credit rating in part because Massachusetts had raised taxes during an economic downturn two years earlier.
The claim was part of a presentation to the ratings agency obtained by POLITICO under a state freedom of information law from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance. The Nov. 4 presentation, stamped confidential, helped persuade S&P to raise the states grade and handed Romney the perfect talking point for last weeks humiliating national downgrade by the same agency.
The presentation to the ratings agency reveals that Romneys administration made the case to Standard & Poors that his state was creditworthy because of both spending cuts the current preferred GOP method and new revenues, including fees he imposed and tax loopholes he closed. The presentation also prominently cited a controversial set of tax increases in the summer of 2002, which Romney, then a candidate, had opposed.
The documents, 27 pages of confidential discussion materials (Part 1, 2, 3, 4) and a 50-page presentation focused on the 2005 budget, dont make clear whether Romney participated in the presentation. Eric Kriss, who served as Romneys secretary of administration and finance, said he believed Romney and his top aides had delivered the presentation on a conference call with the ratings agency analysts.
Of course, there is much more to this story so feel free to read more after the jump. Personally, I would say this wouldn't surprise me one bit.