Posted on 08/15/2007 10:47:12 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
Among the investments in Mitt Romney's vast portfolio worth upward of $287 million are two companies that perform or support stem cell research.
The former Massachusetts governor opposes the creation of new lines of human stem cells for research and vetoed a stem cell research bill as governor. He has said it was while considering that legislation that he evolved to his current opposition to abortion.
Many abortion opponents also oppose embryonic stem cell research, because it is conducted on cellular lines from embryos.
Romney's investments are in Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, and Millipore Corp., based in Billerica, Mass. According to their Public Financial Disclosure Form released Monday, the Romneys -- Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann -- jointly own shares in Novo Nordisk, valued between $100,101 to $250,000. They also have a mutual fund investment that includes shares in Millipore, which supplies research tools and human embryonic stem cells to researchers.
The investments are held in a blind trust set up in late 2002 before Romney took office as governor. Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Romney, said it was not known when they were purchased. He said the Romneys had no knowledge of their current holdings and are forbidden under terms of the blind trust to direct the trustee to buy or sell investments.
The Romney campaign says Novo Nordisk has, so far, done research with stem cells only from mice. According to its Web site, Millipore obtains from Australian in vitro fertility clinics human embryonic stem cells that would otherwise be discarded. Stems cells obtained that way are the exception to Romney's general opposition to stem cell research.
"Some cell stems ... are obtained from surplus embryos from in vitro fertilization" Romney wrote in a 2005 Boston Globe op-ed piece explaining his objections to the legislation in Massachusetts. "I support that research."
Still, Romney's holdings could present a problem for him with some conservatives who oppose all human embryonic stem cell research.
Mildred Jefferson, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, told the Boston Herald: "I believe [pulling the investments] is a step he should take. I do believe [Romney] is an honorable man, and having declared that he understands the ethical violation of embryonic stem cell research, I feel certain he would not want to have his money go to support it."
On a conference call with reporters Monday, Brad Malt, of the law firm Ropes & Gray, said he has tried to adjust the investments so they are consistent with Romney's positions as a candidate. For example, he sold investments in two European companies doing business with Iran.
"The trustee clearly stated that he has -- to best of his ability -- executed transactions in a manner consistent with the public statements and policy positions of the governor and will continue to do so where applicable," Madden told ABC News in a written statement.
According to The Washington Post, another Republican presidential contender, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, who strongly opposes stem cell research, owns a mutual fund that invests in Novo Nordisk.
Something he confirmed as his current position in a recent presidential debate.
It's also notable that Mr. Romney was hosted several months ago for a fundraiser in California by a major player in embryonic stem cell research.
This is all especially important, since Romney claimed this issue as what caused him to supposedly become pro-life, after supporting abortion on demand since 1970, before Roe vs. Wade.
fyi...
So making a living off of hotel porn and cannibalizing embryos is okay as long as he set up his blind trust in such a way to make it okay.
This guy is better than Clinton at having it both ways.
Where do you people come from anyway?
Your obvious malice toward pro-lifers marks you as a perfect supporter for the real Mitt Romney.
Oh yeah. They don’t call him Slick Willard for naught.
What part of “BLIND Trust” don’t you understand? And I don’t even like Romney all that much. But beating up on him for this is silly.
Who do you think sets the framework of the Romney Blind Trust? Could it be...Romney?
Convenient how that works for him.
You are so desperate it’s laughable.
Yeah, right.
"The blind trust is an age-old ruse," Romney told the Boston Globe in October of that year. "You give a blind trust rules. You can say to a blind trust, don't invest in properties which would be in conflict of interest or where the seller might think they're going to get an advantage from me."
If the answer to that is yes, it WOULD NOT BE a Blind Trust.
Mutual Funds could have bought and sold Millipore several times among millions of investors—including most American investor-retirees.
This article did its job. It got Republicans fighting each other about a non-issue.
I expected that from ABC News. I am very disappointed, however, that even well informed Freepers do not understand what a blind trust is.
Oh it’s like the issue with porn, he is allowed by Mormonism to say he is against something and yet profit from it.
Nice try at a typical Romney liberal dodge. Who bought the stocks to start with? Was the ESC provider doing that business when the stocks were purchased? Just having the stock in a blind trust doesn’t mean Romney and his wife didn’t know what business the company engaged in when the Romneys bought the stocks. Now, want to try a different spin cycle? You could call Romney’s Mormon political operatives brigade to come and change the thread into an ‘all about Mormonism’ with the added mantra of ‘questioning the heresies in Mormonism is bashing individual Mormons.’ That seems to be the current modus operendi.
Oh heck, I probably do. Who has the kind of time to know what every stock in every mutual fund is?
I would imagine they're kinda busy. Defending so many years worth of Romney lies and deceptions is time-consuming ya know...and more keep piling up day by day.
If you ever plan on running for POTUS, you might wanna...
I'm a young man, hopefully by that day we'll have moved beyond this gotcha politics.
You bet.
Actually, I wouldn't call this "gotcha" politics at all, though. This is part of the fabric of who Mitt Romney is.
As an astute banker/investor, Mitt better get his head straight
on the great gulf between ESCs and adult stem cells.
After decades of research, one works and produces results.
So far, one does not.
(and NO FLAMES PLEASE; ESCs might be a panacea, but sure do seem lacking
even after lots of research and TAX dollars supporting the research)
This is the tactic that RINO Jim Petro used against true conservative Ken Blackwell in the primary for Ohio’s governor race in 2006. I could turn on my radio without hearing that Ken invested in this and that.
I decided right there I didn’t give a darn what people’s brokers put them in, ever.
It’s not like an investor boycott of equities on the secondary market ever did any good.
Romney still supports the destruction of human embryos for scientific experimentation. He just masks it behind newfound opposition to cloning or taxpayer funding. There are recent writings of his, and comments in a recent presidential debate, that make this crystal clear.
There are still folks who are profiting from this practice raising him money, too.
He is also supporting what is called “altered nuclear transfer,” which is a sophisticated attempt to get around pro-life opposition to embryonic stem cell research. They clone an embryo, disabling it in the process, and then harvest the body parts. Disturbing stuff.
Excellent!
What we have here is Bubba II.
Even if you don’t oppose him for this, if you’re a conservative, there are a multitude of other reasons to not give this Massachusetts liberal the electoral time of day.
I think he’s a more talented liar than Bubba ever was.
See post #13.
He’s a member of our nation’s new movers and shakers: The porn rich.
And, in Romney’s case, the porn extends to ANYTHING that can make him some money.
What happened to good character?
..that doesn't mean your constant Romney bash has changed my mind, the guy has impressed me.
Me. too. I'm so cynical now days hardly anything surprises me but Mitt Romney managed to surprise me.
Well, I can’t help the fact that Romney’s liberal record leaves you unfazed, or that “slick” “impresses” you.
Whom bought the stock to start with? Get a clue, dude/dudette. You’ll enjoy FR more if you actually read what someone pings to you. But you need not worry, I will never ping or post anything to you again. You’re too important.
Do you have a link to this quote? I am dubious that it is accurate.
While you're slinging mud at Romney, Giuliani is still the frontrunner and his numbers may be going even higher based upon a polling trend I saw today. But don't bother with that. It's not like he might end up being the nominee or anything like that.
I hadn’t noticed much support left in this forum for Giuliani that needed to be dealt with. Have you?
"The blind trust is an age-old ruse." - Mitt Romney, when criticizing his opponent Ted Kennedy
Can you quote me the scripture or doctrine that says that?
Has it gotten so bad that you have to stoop to lying about the Mormon faith? Well at least we know where you are coming from.
The Lapdogs here like EV love to lapp the Dems gossip!
It only took the Democrats a few hours after Mitt Romney released his personal financial filing to dig up an interesting tidbit from Romney’s 1994 challenge of Senator Ted Kennedy.
During that campaign, Romney objected to Kennedy’s blind trust’s purchase in 1981 of a property in Washington D.C., which the trust then leased to federal tenants. Romney called it “a conflict of interest, pure and simple” and rejected Kennedy’s argument that he was knew nothing about the trust’s investments.
“The blind trust is an age-old ruse,” Romney told the Boston Globe in October of that year. “You give a blind trust rules. You can say to a blind trust, don’t invest in properties which would be in conflict of interest or where the seller might think they’re going to get an advantage from me.”
Like Kennedy, Romney’s campaign has responded to questions about those investments by saying that Romney was not aware of the blind trust’s contents until yesterday, when the FEC filings were made public.
The campaign has also said that Malt tried to align the trust’s holdings with Romney’s politics “to the best of his ability.”
Asked about Romney’ s 1994 remarks, Romney spokesman Kevin Madden wrote:
“The governor’s trust is in fact a blind trust.
There is an important distinction bewteen the references you cite.
The trustee in charge of executing the governor’s assets made it very clear during his explanation of the terms of the administration of the trust that he made transactions that, to the best of his ability, (were) consistent with the governor’s public positions and statements.
“For instance, in order to avoid the appearance of any conflict or impropriety, the trustee did not invest in Massachusetts municipal bonds.”
Fiduciary (dictionary)
1. A person legally appointed and authorized to hold assets in trust for another person. The fiduciary manages the assets for the benefit of the other person rather than for his or her own profit.
Of or relating to a holding of something in trust for another: a fiduciary heir; a fiduciary contract. Of or being a trustee or trusteeship.
Held in trust.
Of or consisting of fiat money.
Of, relating to, or being a system of marking in the field of view of an optical instrument that is used as a reference point or measuring scale.
n., pl. -ies.
One, such as an agent of a principal or a company director, that stands in a special relation of trust, confidence, or responsibility in certain obligations to others.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1881353/posts?page=46#46
Apparently you missed or were part of the apologetics for Mitt banking his checks from Marriott Board of Directors, the same board that okays the porn in Marriott rooms. He doesn’t harm his standing with Mormonism just for accepting profits from porn sales so why would he be harmed for buying stocks to profit from ECS farming? After all, he bought the stocks then put them in a blind trust to cover his butt and it appears it works with folks like you.
Romney needs to apologize for lying about Ronald Reagan and abortion.
Stop the scummy lies, Willard.
Incidentally, how would an atheist with your history at FR (trying at obsessive level to paint faith folks to be fools) know anything about such moral issues?
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