Want some insight into how Willard Romney would handle a Congress that is as gridlocked our current one is now? And how Massachusetts lawmakers felt about Romney’s corporate style? Look no further:
BOSTON (AP) — What worked for Mitt Romney in the corporate boardroom didn’t fly in the more raucous corridors of the Massachusetts Legislature. [...]
[H]is top-down, corporate management style soon rankled Democrats who overwhelmingly controlled the state House and Senate and saw themselves as an equal partner in the government. His approach jolted a clubby political culture where schmoozing over after-hours drinks and cutting backroom deals are well-worn pathways to success.
Unlike his three GOP gubernatorial predecessors, the politically inexperienced Romney was never at ease in the chummy world of trading favors for votes. He bypassed rank-and-file Democrats and dealt mostly with the party’s legislative leaders during his four-year term, though he did work with Democrats to pass the state’s health care overhaul. [...]
Some Democratic lawmakers accused Romney of being aloof, unapproachable and not much interested in working with them to build the kind of friendships and alliances that are needed to help pass legislation.
By treating government as a business, he alienated the very people he needed to work with. The only exception was when he worked with Democrats on the type of health care bill he now wants to repeal.
Former House Speaker Tom Finneran said that “Romney delivered a PowerPoint presentation brimming with numbers and charts on his plan for fixing the budget” and that it was obvious that he didn’t value input, just went around “issuing marching orders.”
There’s your CEO, folks. Not exactly conducive to playing well with others.
“Initially his sense was, `I have been elected governor, I am the CEO here and you guys are the board of directors and you monitor the implementation of what I say,’” Finneran said. “That ruffled the feathers of legislators who see themselves as an equal branch (of government).”
There’s that sense of entitlement again. This out of touch candidate is most definitely not “one of us,” and he appears to revel in his elevated status.
Tom Birmingham, a former state Senate president, said, “To call him disengaged would be charitable.” The AP article says that he opted for confrontation over compromise.
So a President Romney would be more of the same, only on steroids.
Ed Schultz has been pounding the “vulture capitalism” point relentlessly, and now Think Progress has details about CEO pay skyrocketing while the average worker’s is nearly stagnant. Here’s a sample:
In 2011, CEOs in the Fortune 500 made an average of $12 million, about 380 times what the average worker makes:
The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay between CEOs of the S&P 500 Index companies and U.S. workers widened to 380 times in 2011 from 343 times in 2010. Back in 1980, the average large company CEO only received 42 times the average worker’s pay.
This explosion in pay certainly isn’t justified by corporate performance.
And the GOP wonder why people talk about class warfare? The enormous wealth gap, income inequality, and their sacred Ryan budget complete with tax cuts for the wealthy don’t ring a bell?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s still fundraising time, and here’s how to donate:
PLEASE NOTE: TO USE PAYPAL, CLICK ON CHIP-IN WIDGET
You can donate at any time by using the PayPal donate buttons in the sidebar (now with requested WePay!), or if you need a snail mail addy, feel free to email thepoliticalcarnival@gmail.com.
In addition, if anyone wants to sponsor us for three months with an ad in the sidebar, please email Paddy. Since it’s an election year, any ad will be getting increased views.
BONUS! We’re doing something special this time around and giving away two of our brand spankin’ new TPC t-shirts to random donors! We’ll draw names out of the proverbial hat and let you know. (You can’t even buy these yet.)
So, to be the one of the first IN THE WORLD to sport your Political Carnival t-shirt, drop a little coinage in the kitty!
Please never forget that we truly appreciate you guys with or without the donations. Every single day.
Sometimes all you need is a visual to make you realize how shockingly off kilter the priorities of this country can be. Heroes barely scrape by while corporate CEOs make off like the bandits many of them are. And by heroes, I don’t just mean Navy SEALs.
While 99ers listen to their tummies growling, the only sound the wealthy hear is “ka-ching!”
Navy SEALs drop from helicopters and dodge bullets while eliminating the country’s number one most wanted killer, but corporate executives dodge taxes along with insults from bloggers like me as they stretch out in their gas-guzzling private jets.
What would the numbers look like if the base salary of a Navy SEAL — who risk their very lives in their day-to-day work — was compared to the compensation of the CEOs of some of America’s wealthiest corporations? Data from the AFL-CIO’s Executive Pay Watch finds that the average 2010 CEO compensation at an S&P 500 company was $11,358,445:
Not fair, not balanced, not right.
Think Progress has more here.
The word in Washington is that President Obama is close to naming departing [Google] CEO Eric Schmidt as the nation’s next Secretary of Commerce.[...]
Former Reagan Administration Commerce Department counsel Clyde Prestowitz essentially endorsed Schmidt for the job.
That bodes well for a smooth confirmation process. Bing must be furious.
I just got home and have to catch up, so here’s a quick FYI:
NBCUniversal held a town hall today to introduce its employees to their new corporate overlords.[...]
New NBCU CEO Steve Burke told the crowd they would all be getting 25 shares in Comcast…
H/t: TheJimMix
Elizabeth Warren is not only a great communicator and very charismatic, she’s scary smart.
Case in point, cutting the financial industry big shots (and the Party of No) off at their corporate knees by taking a generous moment or eleventy-two to hold some pow-wows. Now at least they can’t whine and cry about her not giving them the time of day:
(Reuters) – Elizabeth Warren has been on what looks like a diplomatic mission, meeting with some of the biggest names in the financial industry since becoming President Barack Obama’s chief adviser on consumer issues in late September.
On Wednesday Warren’s office released a copy of her calendar that shows her shuttling between media appearances, meetings with bank CEOs and get-togethers with lawmakers as she attempts to set up and sell the public on the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, scheduled to launch in July. [...]
Warren’s calendar, however, shows top executives have not had trouble getting time with her to make their case.
Those who she will meet with, has met with, or has talked to include:
And lobbying groups, such as:
They’re no match, no matter what they might think.
UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has some good news. Please read the whole thing. Here is an excerpt:
Elizabeth Warren was the first senior Obama administration official to recognize the potentially incendiary impact of a bill that would have made it significantly easier for mortgage companies to foreclose on homes, and her subsequent warnings played a crucial role in persuading the President to veto the measure, according to freshly released documents and people familiar with the deliberations.
Commenters: We have guidelines for comments. Please read them here. Thanks!
The Political Carnival T-Shirt

Modeled by @suzannegypsy
Suzanne Kulperger
Please donate to The Political Carnival
using the Paypal 'Donate' button below.
Have you watched
a Blunt today?
Would you like to donate to The Political Carnival monthly? You can on our Support TPC page.
Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below:
Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002
Translate The Political Carnival via Google
The Political Carnival is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Photographs on The Political Carnival site (please read):
Photographs from other sources sometimes appear on TPC for humorous or illustrative purposes. As it is not our intention to use these images in any inappropriate manner or to infringe upon any rights held by others, anyone holding legal rights in the use of these images who wishes to have them taken down please contact us immediately requesting such removal, with which we will comply promptly.