Romney aide quits in badge scam

Boston Herald ^ | July 20, 2007 | Casey Ross

[Josh Painter]

A controversial aide to former Gov. Mitt Romney has resigned from his presidential campaign following a Herald story in which the aide was accused of creating phony badges to strong-arm reporters and gain access to restricted areas.

Romney Director of Operations Jay Garrity released a statement detailing his decisions to leave the campaign this afternoon.

“I have resigned from the Mitt Romney for President campaign so that media attention on me will not become a distraction to the campaign’s efforts,” Garrity said in the statement. “I am completely confident that I will be cleared of any wrongdoing, because the allegations being made against me are demonstrably false.”

Garrity is being investigated in two states for allegedly impersonating a law enforcment officer. In one of the incidents, he is accused of harassing a reporter for the New York Times [NYT] while traveling between campaign stops in New Hampshire.

A presidential campaign source told the Herald that Garrity created phony badges and directed subordinates to use them to project an image of security on the campaign trail. The source said the badges were employed to strong-arm staff and reporters at campaign venues.

Romney’s campaign today confirmed that the badges were issued to aides while Romney was governor, but the campaign denied knowledge of their continued use to intimidate reporters and others.

[mirkwood]

I wear mine proudly!

[Gideon T. Reader]

What an idiot! Anyone could have told him that a “jack”, or “claw” would have been better than a stupid badge.
Why not just “Taser” those MSM punks, anyway.

My I submit a looooooong list of eligibles.?

[tiger-one]

Jay Garrity’s abuse of power, with a staff who impersonated a Law Enforcement Officers, providing badges, radios with ear pieces and sleeve microphones, not only to use as communications equipment, but to complete the phony profile of a legitimate LE agency reflects directly on Gov. Romney. I am sure Mitt will be giving a statement to cover his ass, but there is nothing he can say which will better describe his ability to manage his staff. If he says, I knew but did not know the extent, or I did not know, it will be more than flip / flop, it will be a lie.

Do we want a person as POTUS who believes he is above the law even when elected as Governor?

[Alice in Wonderland]

My brother-in-law was arrested when he impersonated a law enforcment officer. He wore a vintage police uniform (think Keystone Cops) when he rode thru town on a horse. The horse wore a couple of signs advertising my b-i-l's antique store: Beautiful Things from the Past.

[Petronski]

Hard to believe this guy wasn’t fired on the spot. Despite this behavior, Willard wanted to keep him on. I’m getting a whiff of Nixon from this whole thing.

[tiger-one]

He also held this position while Willard was Governor.

http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2007/07/20/details-of-trooper-garrity-saga-revealed/

Google “Jay Garrity”badge You will get almost 500 hits.

So far the only thing Romney’s people are saying they did not authorize the badge.

I am former LE, live NH and wish this clown stopped me. I would have had NH’s Finest on him like flies on dog dung.