Solyndra and Voting Machines

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   Sooner28posted 11 years ago

   If conservatives think it is "rewarding" green campaign donors when the government gives out loans to businesses (which is pretty common if you are actually informed), then I must wonder why there are not cries of corruption over Romney's son and brother being invested in a company that will be in charge of providing voting machines in many swing states, and that has also donated to the Romney campaign.
   
   http://www.thenation.com/article/170470 … apitalism#
   
   http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/19137
   
   Again, why so silent conservatives?

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      JaxsonRaineposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Ok Sooner, could you please clearly outline the relationship between Romney and these voting machines?

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         Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Did you even read the articles?
         
         Here is the most important part that I wanted readers to take away based on the forum topic.
         
         "Solarmere’s tangled web of investments now includes Hart Intercivic voting machines which will be used in Cincinnati Ohio says Truth Out which could guarantee Mitt Romney the White House."
         
         Solarmere-------->H.I.G. Capital---------->Hart Intercivic
         
         "Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States."  http://truth-out.org/news/item/12204-do … our-e-vote
         
         Hard facts that the investments are there.  Is this not a problem?  What if Obama was invested in a company that then held the majority of shares in a company that manufactured voting machines? 
         
         Conservatives would come unglued, and rightfully so!

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   JaxsonRaineposted 11 years ago

   I'm trying to get some specifics.
   
   What exactly is the nature of Solarmere's investment in HIG Capital?
   
   What is the nature of HIG Capital's investment in HART Intercivic?

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      Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      "As we have previously reported, H.I.G. Capital has on its board of directors at least three close associates of the Romney family. H.I.G. Capital directors John P. Bolduk and Douglas Berman are major Romney fundraisers. So is former Bain and H.I.G. manager Brian Shortsleeve. H.I.G. employees have contributed at least $338,000 to Romney's campaign. Fully a third of H.I.G.'s leadership previously worked at Romney's old Bain firm."
      
      http://www.politicolnews.com/ohio-votin … neys-role/
      
      http://www.alan.com/2012/10/21/ohio-vot … to-romney/
      
      Spelling fix.  The company is actually called Solamere, not Solarmere.

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         JaxsonRaineposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I don't think you're getting it.
         
         Romney owns Solamere own HIG owns HART would be a conflict of interest.
         
         Romney's son owns Solamere does business with HIG is invested in HART, is not the same thing.
         
         Basically, you are saying that Romney knows a lot of rich investors, so anything anyone that he knows or has ever done business with, is a conflict of interest.

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            Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Romney is invested in H.I.G. Capital, which is then invested in Hart, which will be providing voting machines in many important swing states.
            
            H.I.G. Capital and Hart have both donated to the Romney campaign, and are filled with Romney supporters.
            
            I'm not saying that just because Romney knows rich investors he is therefore in a conflict of interest.
            
            When Bain campaign contributors are in high levels of these companies, and Hart has used notoriously flawed voting machines, there is a problem here.
            
            Do you think it's wise that a company manufacturing our voting machines is openly supporting one candidate over another?

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               JaxsonRaineposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Who is invested in HIG Capital? In what capacity/amount?
               
               How is HIG Capital invested in HART? In what capacity/amount?

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                  Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't know the exact amounts the Romneys have invested in H.I.G.  The only thing I can find is that they are "major investors."  I'll reintroduce the quote. "Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States"  Major investors in H.I.G, who then are the majority on the board of directors in Hart. 
                  
                  Also, according to the New York Times, "Like many private funds, Solamere does not publicly disclose its portfolio. The co-investments appear to be mostly in smaller companies, including one that makes napkins and another that sells collectibles."-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/us/politics/ties-to-romney-08-helped-fuel-equity-firm.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
                  
                  
                  
                  However, "Hart InterCivic Inc., the leading national provider of election voting systems, election management products and services, today announced that an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, LLC, has partnered with Hart InterCivic’s owners and management to make a strategic investment in the Company. The investment positions the Company for continued growth in its state, county and municipal technology businesses. The financial terms of the investment were not disclosed."- http://www.higprivateequity.com/NewsRelease.php?id=881  straight from the H.I.G. website.  However much a strategic investment is, that is H.I.G.'s stake in Hart.
                  
                  Furthermore, with regards to H.I.G., "Out of 49 partners and directors, 48 are men, and 47 are white. Eleven of these men, including H.I.G. Founder Tony Tamer, were formerly employed at Bain and Company, and two of those men, John P. Bolduc and Douglas Berman are Romney bundlers along with former Bain and H.I.G. manager Brian Shortsleeve.
                  
                  Additionally, four of these men were formerly employed at Booz Allen Hamilton. Bush family friendly Carlyle group is an owner of Booz Allen which also made voting machines for the United States military. Booz Allen was also the key subcontractor for the controversial PioneerGroundbreaker program, an NSA data mining operation that gathered information on American citizens until it was shut down and replaced with even more invasive successor programs like MATRIX and Total Information Awareness.
                  
                  H.I.G. Capital employees have given $338,000 to Mitt Romney's campaign. That amounts to over $1500 per employee. Bain Capital, Mitt's former company, by comparison, only gave him $268,000. H.I.G. is the 11th largest donor to the Romney Campaign."- http://www.freepress.org/departments/di … /2012/4725
                  
                  To sum up.  The Romney's have invested some substantial undetermined amount of money in H.I.G.  H.I.G. controls the board of directors for Hart, and the major players in H.I.G. are open Romney supports and have contributed to his campaign.  This is a conflict of interest.

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   Sooner28posted 11 years ago

   http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2 … concern/3/

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   JaxsonRaineposted 11 years ago

   Exactly. You don't know. You have no idea.
   
   Let me repeat that. YOU HAVE NO IDEA what Solamere's relationship with HIG capital is.
   
   But, let's just jump the gun!

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      Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Lol.
      
      Even if there weren't a sketchy relationship on that aspect (which is obvious to any nonpartisan observer), what about Romney supporters making up the majority of the leaders at H.I.G, and controlling the board of directors of Hart?

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         JaxsonRaineposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         1 - You can't even describe the relationship, but you call it sketchy. That's obvious from a nonpartisan viewpoint.
         
         2 - I call them intelligent. They know how business works, they know Romney's the right guy. Being a supporter =/= conflict of interest.

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            Sooner28posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Ha.  Investments by powerful political figures are not insignificant.    Your partisanship is blinding you to what's going on here. 
            
            The CEO of Diebold Electronic Voting Systems said he was going to deliver Ohio to Bush.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar … Jul13.html  It's not unprecedented.
            
            
            The Romney people have simply learned not to be so open about what they want to do. 
            
            "Has one or more personal, business, or financial interests or relationships which would cause a reasonable individual with knowledge of the relevant facts to question the integrity or impartiality of those who are or will be acting under a proposed or existing FDIC contract;" http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/conflict-of-interest/
            
            I don't see how you could possibly maintain that Romney's supporters would maintain their integrity with the voting machines, when the past isn't indicative that would happen at all.

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