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Mitt: A Rhyming Word For Hypocrite.

     In a September 25th speech at Education Nation, Mitt Romney said: “The largest contributors to the Democratic Party are teachers' unions. And so, if they can elect someone, then that person is supposed to be representing the public vis-a-vis the teachers' union, but actually most of the money came from the teachers' union. It's an extraordinary conflict of interest. That's something I think is a problem and should be addressed.” He added later, “We simply can't have a setting where the teachers' unions are able to contribute tens of millions of dollars to the campaigns of politicians and then those politicians, when elected, stand across from them at the bargaining table.”
     Romney has a point – according to Open Secrets, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association contributed about $5.4M to federal candidates, parties and committees during the 2008 election cycle. About 95% of the contributions went to Democratic causes. Tens of millions indeed!
     However, CBS News reports that at least 26 people or companies gave $1M or more to Restore Our Future, the main Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney. The top three donors to Republican causes gave a total of $72.1M* – over 50% more than the entire total collected by the Democratic Super PACs. I think it is safe to assume that they are expecting a substantial return on their investment.
     Through July, the top two Republican Super PACs have raised a total of $137M compared to $47.5M for the top three Democratic Super PACs.
     If Romney wins the election, he “is supposed to be representing the public vis-a-vis” any legislation affecting the business community. Not a problem? Yeah! Right!
* 1. Sheldon Adelson & Family. Total: $37.5 million
Adelson is CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.
2. Harold Simmons/Contran. Total: $18.7 million
Simmons is CEO of Dallas-based holding company Contran Corp. and publicly-traded Valhi.
3. Bob Perry. Total: $15.9 million
Perry is a Houston-based homebuilder and president of Perry Homes.

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My books, “There Are Only Seven Jokes” and “The Spirit Runs Through It” are available in paperback or Kindle at Amazon.
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