Ethics Challenged Republican of the Week - Mitt Romney Owns Boeing Stock, Takes Their Side in Labor Despite
As Mitt Romney steps up his attacks on the National Labor Relations Board for its decision to block Boeing from retaliating against striking workers by building a new plant in South Carolina, a new report from Bloomberg notes that the former Massachusetts governor owns a significant amount of stock in the Seattle-based aerospace corporation.
According to his recently-released personal financial disclosure form, Romney owns up to $100,000 in Boeing stock. Though Romney’s personal assets, which total between $190 million and $250 million, are managed by a blind trust which he does not control, its contents are listed on the Massachusetts Republican’s disclosure forms and are easy for anyone to find with a simple Google search.
Given the potential for a conflict of interest, ThinkProgress spoke with Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom about the Boeing matter. Ferhnstrom denied any possibility of impropriety, telling ThinkProgress that “[Romney's] personal investments are all in a blind trust. Those are investment decisions that are made by a trustee.” Fehrnstrom sidestepped the fact Romney doesn’t have to manage his own investments to know what’s in them, maintaining simply that there was “no” conflict of interest.
Conservatives continue to have a twisted and strange view of freedom in the USA. They think big business should have all the power to do anything they want and the workers who make corporate profits possible should have no rights at all. That is the secret code, the implied meaning when conservatives say they are "pro business". What they really mean is that we should live in an America where labor has no rights.
