Wesley Donehue created the website phoneyfred.org
Wesley Donehue is not an employee of the Romney campaign, but is an employee of several firms which have been hired by the Romney campaign
One employer of Wesley Donehue is Tompkins, Thompson, Sullivan, which is run by Warren Tompkins, who is Romney's senior adviser in South Carolina, and Terry Sullivan, who is on Romney's payroll as the South Carolina state director.
Wesley Donehue is also employed by Under the Power Lines and Mark Direct, which are companies founded by and associated with Warren Tompkins, who is Romney's senior adviser in South Carolina. The Phony Fred web-site was hosted on a Under the Power Lines server.
----------------------
So, what do you make of these facts?
The connection between Romney and Warren Tompkins appears to be strong. It would be hard for Romney to distance himself from Tompkins. It would appear to be fair to hold Romney accountable, on some level, for the actions of Tompkins.
Similarly, the connection between Romney and Tompkins/Thompson/Sullivan, Under the Power Lines, and Mark Direct also appears to be strong, since they all have Warren Tompkins in common. It would appear to be fair to hold Warren Tompkins accountable, on some level, for the actionis of Tompkins/Thompson/Sullivan, Under the Power Lines, and Mark Direct. So, Romney would appear to have some responsibility for the actions of these companies, because his relationship to Warren Tompkins.
So, the question becomes whether Wesley Donehue was operating on his own or under the direction of his employers (which is to say, Warren Tompkins), or if he was operating independently.
What do you think? Was Donehue working on his own, or under the direction of his employers?
Because, to my mind, if Donehue was working at the direction of his employers, the charge that there is a arms length relationship to Romney sticks.
My understanding is that William Donehue is NOT an employee of the company, but is a PARTNER, which means he is not “under” Tompkins, but his equal. My guess is they each bring their own business to the consulting company, and the company provides common services to the clients of both men.
I think pointing out the fact that Donehue was Tompkin’s partner was a rational and acceptable thing, and chiding Romney for the incident was OK as well, since there was a “connection”.
But I am very wary of these attacks on “associations”, because I’ve seen them used too many times to “associate” people unfairly, mostly to attack good republicans who are successful and therefore have associated with a lot of people over the years.
If there was any evidence at all that Donehue needed Tompkin’s approval for what he did, that would make Tompkins at least indirectly “responsible”. But that doesn’t appear to be the case.