Charlie Pierce on Romney's gross history of cronyism
As Mass. governor, Romney used his position to sneak his buddies into various government boards with solid pension plans. And when he worked for the 2002 Winter Olympics he rewarded his friends by stealing public land for them, building roads for them and so on. At taxpayer expense.
Why Romney Is and Was the Real Crony - Esquire
And then there's the Salt Lake Olympics, which forced Willard into his retroactive retirement from Bain Capital, so he could finish the job of converting an international bribery scandal into a festival of old-fashioned American taxpayer-supported crony capitalism. In 2002, investigative reporters Donald Barlett and James Steele published a piece in Sports Illustrated exposing in damning detail how, in "saving" the Olympics, Romney and his pet organizing committee kept their friends fat and happy....
Is this a great country or what? A millionaire developer wants a road built, the federal government supplies the cash to construct it. A billionaire ski-resort owner covets a choice piece of public land. No problem. The federal government arranges for him to have it. Some millionaire businessmen stand to profit nicely if the local highway network is vastly improved. Of course. The federal government provides the money. How can you get yours, you ask? Easy. Just help your hometown land the Olympics. Then, when no one's looking, persuade the federal government to pay for a good chunk of the Games, including virtually any project to which the magic word Olympics can be attached. For the past few years, while attention was focused on the Great Olympic Bribery Scandal-in which Salt Lake City boosters dispensed as much as $7 million in gifts, travel, scholarships, medical care, jobs and other goodies to IOC members (and their relatives and companions) to ensure that Utah's capital city would be chosen to host the 2002 Winter Games-private and public interests have siphoned an estimated $1.5 billion out of the U.S. Treasury, all in the name of those same Olympics.