DNC - HuffPo: Mitt Romney's maids' salary raises questions

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/mitt-romney-maids-salary-tax-returns-election-2012_n_1228843.html

Mitt Romney's maids' salary raises questions

Huffington Post // Christine Wilkie

WASHINGTON -- For a woman with three houses and sixteen grandkids, Ann Romney doesn't have very much help around the house, according to her 2010 tax return.

IRS forms released Tuesday by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign show that despite reporting income of $21.7 million, the couple paid only $20,603 in taxable wages for household help in 2010. This figure was divided among four women: Rosania Costa ($4,808), Kelli Harrison ($8,667), Susan Moore ($2,238) and Valerie Cravens Anae ($4,890).

According to a number of Boston-based domestic staffing agencies, the salary range for a housekeeper is between $20 and $30 an hour, which adds up to an annual salary of $40,000 to $50,000 based on forty-hour weeks and two weeks of paid vacation a year.

But this number is only for one house, and the Romneys have three houses -- a 2,000 sq. ft. townhouse in Belmont, Mass., a 5,400 sq. ft. lake house on 11 acres in Wolfeboro, N.H., and a beach house in La Jolla, Calif., that is undergoing renovations to double its size.

Even if the Romneys avoided spending time in La Jolla in 2010, they spent plenty of time in New Hampshire, with regular visits in the summer from five sons and their families.

Yet the Romneys still paid only half of the lowest range of an average housekeeper's salary, which raises the question of who cleaned the Romney houses the other 50 percent of the time. A Romney campaign adviser declined to respond to questions from The Huffington Post about the housekeeping salaries.

Wouldn't it be nice to learn that the Romneys split up household cleaning between them on days when the housekeeper was out? After all, Mitt Romney was "unemployed" in 2010, as he infamously reminded a group of voters in Tampa, so he had some extra time. And Mitt even knows how to do laundry, according to a photo tweeted Monday by his son Tagg Romney.

The more worrisome alternative is that the Romneys underpaid their household help.

The Massachusetts Coalition of Domestic Workers holds a meeting on the third Tuesday of every month to work towards passage of a statewide Bill of Rights for domestic workers, but so far their efforts have fallen short.

UPDATE: 5:27 p.m. -- At least one of the four women paid for domestic work by the Romney family in 2010 also worked as chief of staff to the executive director of Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC at the same time.

Kelli Harrison was paid wages of $8,667 by the Romneys for personal assistant-type tasks and errands, said a source with knowledge of the situation. Harrison was the most highly paid of the four women listed as domestic employees of the Romney family, and the other three women did not work for the Romney PAC at all, the source confirmed. Harrison was paid for her PAC work with PAC funds.

The designation of household employees is broad, and can include housekeepers, baby-sitters, personal assistants and other house-related tasks. It's possible that the Romney's hired an outside cleaning service to clean their houses and that managed the payroll, but the campaign declined to elaborate on their arrangement. Given the private nature of jobs like these, most high-profile individuals prefer to maintain their own staffs of people who know them well and who they trust.

Another employee, Valerie Cravens Anae, may be the same woman whose Facebook profile indicates that she attended the Mormon-affiliated Brigham Young University. Anae was paid $4,890 in taxable wages for domestic work at the Romney house in 2010.

The campaign declined to specify whether Harrison was still working for the Romney family personally. The other two women listed as domestic employees, Susan Moore and Rosania Costa, could not be located.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Statement on New Hampsh ire Primary Results

Manchester, New Hampshire – Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz released the following statement on the results of tonight’s Republican primary in New Hampshire: 

“Mitt Romney may have won in New Hampshire tonight, but he can't run from the fact that his support was rapidly eroding before any vote was even cast.  Over the course of the last few months Romney had the support of as much as 45 percent of the primary electorate – at one point boasting a nearly 30 percent lead over the rest of the GOP field.  But tonight he fell far short of meeting expectations – especially in a state where he’s a part-time resident, which is next door to his home state of Massachusetts, in the same media market. He fell short next to a state where he raised a family and served as Governor, and where he’s been running on and off for political office over nearly two decades and for president for seven years.  

“But what’s more troubling for Mitt Romney is the fact that the premise of his candidacy is unraveling.  He leaves here wounded by a series of episodes that made it clear to voters – both in New Hampshire and for those watching across the country – that he is completely out of touch with the concerns of America’s working and middle-class families.  Romney disingenuously claimed just a few days ago that he once feared getting a pink slip when in fact his campaign can’t offer any examples of when that might have been the case.  Yesterday, he went as far as saying that he enjoys being able to fire people.  He continues to call himself a job creator, but his accounts of creating 100,000 jobs at Bain Capital have been knocked down across the board.  Even worse, as one of his colleagues said, he never considered what they did at Bain Capital as job creation. What they did was make a profit while companies were sometimes driven to bankruptcy, workers were laid off, and jobs were sent overseas.  These revelations have led to a precipitous drop in Mitt Romney’s support – and his failure to perform better in the Granite State is a significant setback for both his campaign and his candidacy for president.” 

###

DNC - Manchester: DNC Chair & NH Democratic Party Chair to Preview GOP Debate at St. Anselm

Manchester, NH – On Saturday, January 7^th, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and NH Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley will hold a press conference at Saint Anselm College’s Institute of Politics to discuss Mitt Romney’s real record as governor of neighboring Massachusetts.

The central question of this election is going to be who will restore economic security for the middle class. Mitt Romney believes that we can just cut our way to prosperity.  He believes America should join a race to the bottom based on loopholes and outsourcing.  He believes that Wall Street should be able to write its own rules again and pursue whatever means necessary to create profits regardless of the consequences for middle class families.

Who:
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC Chair
Ray Buckly, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair

What:
Media availability to discuss Romney’s real record as governor of neighboring Massachusetts

Where:

Lobby of Saint Anselm College Institute of Politics
100 Saint Anselm Drive
Manchester, NH

When:
Saturday, January 7 at 4:00 PM

DNC - Romney Doesn't Take Middle Class Seriously, Jokes About Number of Homes He Owns

This evening at a spaghetti dinner in Tilton, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney dismissed a question from a middle class New Englander asking if Romney believed the wealthiest Americans, like himself, should pitch in a little more so that middle class Americans could get a tax cut.  When the questioner mentions that Romney owns four houses, he laughs and says “that’s a good idea.”  Romney, in fact, owns three homes.

If you don’t believe us that his comments are out of touch, watch for yourself.

http://youtu.be/nnL_2_-R78Y

And you can read the transcript here:

QUESTIONER: I’m a middle class American, like a lot of people here. We’re all hurting, we really are. We New Englanders, we know that you should help your neighbors. It’s a little hard for me because I know you’re a multi-millionaire, I read this morning you have like four houses. Would you be willing to give up some of that so that we middle Americans can get some tax cuts?

ROMNEY: (Laughing) Well that’s an idea! Okay, that’s right. Um… Let’s see, well I don’t have four houses, that’s number one – although it’s a good idea, thank you for the idea.

SINCE 2008 – WHEN MCCAIN’S PROBLEM OF HAVING AN EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF HOMES – ROMNEY DOWNSIZED HIS SQUARE FOOTAGE BUT STILL OWNS THREE HOMES…

Since 2008 Romney Repositioned His Personal Real Estate Portfolio – Not Downsizing The Number Of Homes Just Square Feet.  Boston Globe wrote of what Romney focused on between 2008 and 2011: “Amid the political fund-raisers and donations, Romney also repositioned his personal real estate portfolio. While he didn’t downsize in the number of homes owned — he had and still owns three — he did so in square footage. He retained his vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, the lead presidential primary state and site of Romney’s announcement tomorrow in Stratham. But he traded his colonial in Belmont for a townhouse, and his nearly 10,000-square-foot ski house in Deer Valley, Utah, for a 3,000-square-foot oceanfront home in La Jolla, Calif. McCain himself had been criticized for his extensive — and some said, excessive — real estate holdings.” [Boston Globe, 6/1/11]

• ·         Boston Globe [Boston Globe, 6/1/11]
  

…THOUGH HE IS WORKING ON PLANS TO QUADRUPLE THE SIZE OF HIS $12 MILLION CALIFORNIA BEACH HOUSE

Romney Was Working On Plans To Quadruple The Size Of His La Jolla Home. GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney, scheduled to attend a series of fundraisers this weekend in San Diego, is also working on plans to nearly quadruple the size of his $12 million oceanfront manse in La Jolla. Romney has filed an application with the city to bulldoze his 3,009-square-foot, single-story home at 311 Dunemere Dr. and replace it with a two-story, 11,062-square-foot structure. No date has been set to consider the proposed coastal development and site development permits, which must be approved by the city. [San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/20/11]

…JUST NOT WHILE HE IS A CANDIDATE

Romney Campaign Said Romney’s Massive California House Expansion Would Not Occur While Romney’s Candidate. “A Mitt Romney campaign official emails to clarify that while the candidate has filed papers to expand his house in La Jolla, the project won't actually start while Romney is a presidential candidate. ‘Construction will not begin until the permits have been obtained and the campaign is finished,’ the official said. The reason for the expansion, according to the official, is family: ‘They want to enlarge their two bedroom home because with five married sons and 16 grandchildren it is inadequate for their needs.’” [Politico, 8/21/11]

DNC - CNN: DNC highlights old Romney-McCain tension

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/05/dnc-highlights-old-romney-mccain-tension/

DNC highlights old Romney-McCain tension

CNN // Ashley Killough

As Arizona Sen. John McCain travels to South Carolina Thursday to show his support for Mitt Romney, national Democrats point to the duo's rivalry from the last presidential cycle.

The Democratic National Committee released a new web video showcasing McCain's 2008 attacks against Romney, many of which toe the same line the DNC now uses to paint Romney as a flip-flopper.

"He's very consistent–totally consistent–because he's had two positions at least on every issue," McCain jokes in one of the clips, referring to Romney as he talks to supporters on the campaign trail four years ago.

Other clips show the former Republican presidential nominee taking jabs at Romney’s record during debates or television interviews.

"I don't know how to respond to a lot of his charges, because tomorrow he may have a different position," McCain said in a 2008 Fox News interview.

But McCain made headlines Wednesday when he backed Romney in New Hampshire, one day after the former governor took first place in the Iowa caucuses, the nation’s first Republican nominating contest.

The web video ends with: “If McCain thinks Romney has two positions on every issue, which Mitt is he endorsing?”

While Romney and McCain engaged in a bitter feud during the 2008 primary season, the sparring soon ended after Romney dropped out in early February and quickly threw his support behind McCain.

Both men said they shared a mutual respect for each other, and Romney later became a major surrogate for McCain during the general campaign. Romney also stumped for McCain during the senator’s re-election bid in 2010.

The DNC has frequently – and almost solely – targeted Romney’s record throughout the campaign.

Team Romney has repeatedly hit back, saying the attacks indicate that Democrats expect Romney to become the nominee and use the ads as a way to “distract” Americans from President Barack Obama’s record in the White House.