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110-659: America Rising was founded in March 2013 by Mitt Romney 's 2012 presidential campaign manager, Matt Rhoades . Political strategist Tim Miller left the Republican National Committee (RNC) to join the clearinghouse. As of January 2014, between the PAC and the LLC run by fellow opposition research veteran Joe Pounder , the organization employed 47 people, full or part-time. CNN reported that America Rising would be split into two entities:

220-576: A 4-D ministerial deferment while living in France as a missionary. He later sought and received two additional student deferments. When those ran out, he drew number 300 in the December 1969 draft lottery , ensuring he would not be drafted. At culturally conservative BYU, Romney remained separated from much of the upheaval of that era. He became president of the Cougar Club booster organization and showed

330-490: A moderate or more neoconservative Republican , Romney was the lone Republican to vote to convict Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial , making him the first senator ever to have voted to remove a president of the same party from office. Romney also voted to convict in Trump's second trial in 2021. He marched alongside Black Lives Matter protestors, voted to confirm both Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson to

440-576: A split screen video of Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Braley being readied for a televised appearance alongside a similar video of former U.S. Senator John Edwards . America Rising also released a video of Braley saying of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley , "you might have a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee ." The campaign of Alaska U.S. Senator Mark Begich 's reelection opponent, Dan Sullivan , used

550-553: A stake president for an area covering Boston and many of its suburbs. By 1971, he had participated in the political campaigns of both his parents. In 1971, Romney graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) and in 1975 he received a JD–MBA degree from Harvard . He became a management consultant and in 1977 joined Bain & Company in Boston . As Bain's chief executive officer (CEO), he helped lead

660-568: A 30-month stint in France as a Mormon missionary , a traditional rite of passage in his family. He arrived in Le Havre , where he shared cramped quarters under meager conditions. Rules against drinking, smoking, and dating were strictly enforced. On average, individual Mormon missionaries do not gain many converts and Romney was no exception: he later estimated 10 to 20 for his entire mission. He initially became demoralized and later recalled it as

770-465: A June 1970 newspaper profile of children of cabinet members, Mitt said that U.S. involvement in the war had been misguided – "If it wasn't a political blunder to move into Vietnam, I don't know what is" – but supported Nixon's ongoing Cambodian Incursion as a sincere attempt to end the war. During the U.S. military draft for the Vietnam War, Romney sought and received two 2-S student deferments , then

880-565: A budget of between $ 10 and $ 15 million for the 2013-2014 election cycle. Raj Shah , appointed to be White House Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Communications for Research in the Trump Administration in 2017, was also a co-founder of the PAC. He had been deputy research director at the RNC in 2012 and, from there, ultimately became the head of opposition research at

990-400: A businessman who said he had created 10,000 jobs and as a Washington outsider with a solid family image and moderate stances on social issues. When Kennedy tried to tie Romney's policies to those of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush , Romney responded, "Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to take us back to Reagan-Bush." Romney said, "Ultimately, this

1100-555: A career in business rather than law. He was recruited by several large companies but joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), reasoning that working as a management consultant for a variety of companies would better prepare him for a future position as a chief executive. Part of a 1970s wave of top graduates who chose to go into consulting rather than join a large company directly, he found his legal and business education useful in his job. He applied BCG principles such as

1210-492: A caregiver for her two young children. The FEC ruled that federal candidates can use campaign funds to pay for childcare costs that result from time spent running for office. Grechen Shirley became the first woman in history to receive approval to spend campaign funds on childcare. Critics including former FEC chairman Bradley Smith and Stephen M. Hoersting, former executive director of the Center for Competitive Politics , criticize

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1320-481: A complaint – including time for defendants to respond to the complaint, time to investigate and engage in legal analysis, and finally, where warranted, prosecution – necessarily takes far longer than the comparatively brief period of a political campaign. While campaigning in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New York , Democratic primary candidate Liuba Grechen Shirley used campaign funds to pay

1430-521: A deal where it profited handsomely from early payments and management fees, even though the subject company itself later went into bankruptcy. Dade Behring was another case where Bain Capital received an eightfold return on its investment but the company itself was saddled with debt and laid off over a thousand employees before Bain Capital exited (the company subsequently went into bankruptcy, with more layoffs, before recovering and prospering). Referring to

1540-401: A few years, the firm considered him one of its best consultants. In fact, clients sometimes preferred to use him rather than more-senior partners. Two family incidents during this time later surfaced during Romney's political campaigns. A state park ranger in 1981 told Romney his motorboat had an insufficiently visible license number and that he would face a $ 50 fine if he took the boat onto

1650-407: A few years. Bain Capital lost money in many of its early leveraged buyouts, but then found deals that made large returns. The firm invested in or acquired Accuride Corporation , Brookstone , Domino's Pizza , Sealy Corporation , Sports Authority , and Artisan Entertainment , as well as some lesser-known companies in the industrial and medical sectors. Much of the firm's profit was earned from

1760-548: A fine of $ 187,500. However, the FEC divided 3-3 on party lines on a motion to pursue further investigation into Donald Trump, thus closing the investigation. In June 2023, the FEC deadlocked over requests to create guidelines for campaign advertisements which use content generated by artificial intelligence. The vote failed 3-3 with all Republican commissioners voting against the request and all Democratic commissioners voting in favor, with Republican commissioner Allen Dickerson arguing that

1870-459: A former quarterback for the Chicago Bears . Romney was called "Billy" until kindergarten, when he expressed a preference for "Mitt". In 1953, the family moved from Detroit to the affluent suburb of Bloomfield Hills and his father became the chairman and CEO of American Motors the following year and helped the company avoid bankruptcy and return to profitability. By 1959, his father had become

1980-550: A hands-on role in the Boston Stake's matters, helping in domestic maintenance efforts, visiting the sick, and counseling burdened church members. A number of local church members later credited him with turning their lives around or helping them through difficult times. Others, rankled by his leadership style, desired a more consensus-based approach. Romney tried to balance the conservative directives from church leadership in Utah with

2090-506: A list of all donors over $ 200, along with each donor's home address, employer and job title. This database also goes back to 1980. Private organizations are legally prohibited from using this data to solicit new individual donors (and the FEC authorizes campaigns to include a limited number of "dummy" names as a measure to prevent this), but may use this information to solicit political action committees . The FEC also maintains an active program of public education, directed primarily to explaining

2200-560: A mansion far more comfortable than the accommodations he experienced elsewhere in the country. When the French expressed opposition to the U.S. role in the Vietnam War , Romney debated them. Those who yelled at him and slammed their doors in his face merely reinforced his resolve. In June 1968, while in southern France and driving an automobile that was hit by another vehicle, Romney was seriously injured. The crash killed one of his passengers,

2310-567: A nationally known figure in print and on television, and Mitt idolized him. Romney attended public elementary schools until seventh grade, when he enrolled as one of only a few Mormon students at Cranbrook School , a private upscale boys' preparatory school a few miles from his home. Many students there came from backgrounds even more privileged than his. Not particularly athletic, he also did not distinguish himself academically. He participated in his father's successful 1962 Michigan gubernatorial campaign , and later worked as an intern in

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2420-480: A nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on Staples's board of directors for over a decade. Romney soon switched Bain Capital's focus from startups to the relatively new business of leveraged buyouts : buying existing companies with money mostly borrowed from banking institutions using the newly bought companies' assets as collateral, taking steps to improve the companies' value, and then selling those companies when their value peaked, usually within

2530-644: A new challenge, as well as another chance to prove himself in public life, he did. On February 11, 1999, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002 hired Romney as its president and CEO. Before Romney took over, the event was $ 379 million short of its revenue goals. Officials had made plans to scale back the Games to compensate for the fiscal crisis, and there were fears it might be moved away entirely. In addition,

2640-451: A newfound discipline in his studies. During his senior year, he took a leave of absence to work as driver and advance man for his mother's unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign; together, they visited all 83 Michigan counties . Romney graduated from BYU in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a 3.97 GPA . He gave commencement addresses to both the College of Humanities and

2750-446: A political figure who had opposed Kennedy, he would become a focal point for opposition to the structure. He thus kept to a limited, behind-the-scenes role in attempts to ease tensions between the church and local residents. In 1998, Ann Romney learned that she had multiple sclerosis ; Mitt described watching her fail a series of neurological tests as the worst day of his life. After experiencing two years of severe difficulties with

2860-448: A quorum. On December 9, three new members were confirmed by the Senate. The chair of the commission rotates among the commissioners each year, with no commissioner serving as chair more than once during a six-year term. However, a commissioner may serve as chair more than once if they serve beyond the six-year mark and no successor is appointed; for example, Ellen L. Weintraub (Democratic)

2970-444: A relatively small number of deals; Bain Capital's overall success-to-failure ratio was about even. Romney discovered few investment opportunities himself (and those that he did often failed to make money for the firm). Instead, he focused on analyzing the merits of possible deals that others brought forward and on recruiting investors to participate in them once approved. At Bain Capital, Romney spread profits from deals widely within

3080-498: A result of his experience there, Romney developed a lifelong affection for France and its people, and has remained fluent in French. At their first meeting following his return, Romney and Ann Davies reconnected and decided to get married. Before their wedding, Romney moved to Utah and enrolled at Brigham Young University , where Ann had been studying. They married on March 21, 1969, in a civil ceremony in Bloomfield Hills and

3190-446: A result, he enrolled in the recently created four-year joint Juris Doctor / Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School . He readily adapted to the business school's pragmatic, data-driven case study method of teaching . Living in a Belmont, Massachusetts , house with Ann and their two children, his social experience differed from that of most of his classmates. He

3300-522: A studio that produced R-rated films . Romney served on the board of directors of Damon Corporation, a medical testing company later found guilty of defrauding the government; Bain Capital tripled its investment before selling off the company, and the fraud was discovered by the new owners (Romney was never implicated). In some cases, Romney had little involvement with a company once Bain Capital acquired it. Bain Capital's leveraged buyouts sometimes led to layoffs, either soon after acquisition or later after

3410-465: A successful stint as president and CEO of the then-struggling Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics led to a relaunch of his political career. Elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002 , Romney helped develop and later signed a health care reform law (commonly called "Romneycare") that provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and individual mandates to purchase insurance . He also presided over

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3520-487: A super PAC that aimed to spread negative stories about congressional Democratic incumbents and candidates through digital channels and earned media, and an LLC that would house a video library to be shared with GOP candidates, the RNC and other right-leaning groups. To avoid making illegal in-kind corporate contributions, the LLC would likely need to charge candidates for access to the library. Pounder and Miller estimated it would have

3630-484: A symbolic salary of one dollar (remaining managing general partner of Bain Capital during this time). He oversaw an effort to restructure Bain & Company's employee stock-ownership plan and real-estate deals, while rallying the firm's 1,000 employees, imposing a new governing structure that excluded Bain and the other founding partners from control, and increasing fiscal transparency. He got Bain and other initial owners who had removed excessive amounts of money from

3740-437: A system in which any partner could veto one of these potential opportunities, and he personally saw so many weaknesses that few venture capital investments were approved in the initial two years. The firm's first significant success was a 1986 investment to help start Staples Inc. , after founder Thomas G. Stemberg convinced Romney of the market size for office supplies and Romney convinced others; Bain Capital eventually reaped

3850-457: A team to handle financial and management issues, sought to counter anti-Mormon sentiment, and tried to solve social problems among poor Southeast Asian converts. An unpaid position, his local church leadership often took 30 or more hours a week of his time, and he became known for his considerable energy in the role. He also earned a reputation for avoiding any overnight travel that might interfere with his church responsibilities. Romney took

3960-415: A vote to punish Fox News for the selection criteria it used in a presidential debate. Critics of the commission also argue that the membership structure regularly causes deadlocks on 3-3 votes. Since 2008, 3-3 votes have become more common at the FEC. From 2008 to August 2014, the FEC has had over 200 tie votes, accounting for approximately 14 percent of all votes in enforcement matters. On May 6, 2021,

4070-489: Is a campaign about change." Romney's campaign was effective in portraying Kennedy as soft on crime but had trouble establishing its own consistent positions. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race about even. Kennedy responded with a series of ads that focused on Romney's seemingly shifting political views on issues such as abortion; Romney responded, "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country." Other Kennedy ads centered on layoffs of workers at

4180-409: Is appointed for a six-year term, but each ending on April 30. Two commissioners are appointed every two years. However, commissioners continue to serve after their terms would expire until a replacement is confirmed, but may resign at any time. By law, no more than three commissioners can be members of the same political party . The commission had fewer than six commissioners for several years after

4290-483: Is led by six commissioners who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate . The commission was unable to function from late August 2019 to December 2020, with an exception for the period of May 2020 to July 2020, due to lack of a quorum. In the absence of a quorum, the commission could not vote on complaints or give guidance through advisory opinions. As of May 19, 2020, there were 350 outstanding matters on

4400-522: Is required for a decision. Critics have argued that the even number of commissioners and the supermajority requirement was a "set up for deadlock and political shenanigans," especially in an age of polarization. Between 1996 and 2006, the FEC tied in only 2.4% of Matters Under Review (MURs). In 2008 and 2009, such deadlocks spiked to 13% and to 24.4% in 2014. By 2016, commissioners deadlocked on more than 30% of substantive votes and consequently enforcement intensity decreased significantly. Critics of

4510-427: Is the political director for American Crossroads. Miller and Dubke both contend their firms' arrangements do not violate the law because they each employ different workers on opposite sides of a firewall between the campaigns and the outside groups. Dubke said he works on some projects alongside Forti, but they don't interact on Alaska issues and Forti works out of a separate office for American Crossroads. A spokesman for

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4620-485: The 1992 presidential primaries for the Democratic former senator from Massachusetts, Paul Tsongas . By 1993, Romney had begun thinking about entering politics, partly on Ann's urging and also to follow in his father's footsteps. He decided to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy , who was seeking reelection to a sixth term. Political pundits viewed Kennedy as vulnerable that year, in part because of

4730-489: The 2012 presidential election , becoming the first LDS Church member to be a major party 's nominee. He lost the election to President Barack Obama . After reestablishing residency in Utah, Romney ran for U.S. Senate in 2018 . When Romney won the Republican nomination and general election, he became the first person in modern American history to be elected governor and U.S. senator of different states. Generally considered

4840-533: The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), to enforce and regulate campaign finance law. Initially, its six members were to be appointed by both houses of Congress and the president, reflecting a strong desire for Congress to retain control. Two commissioners were to be appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate and two by the speaker of the House of Representatives , each upon recommendation by

4950-537: The Supreme Court , supported gun control measures, and did not vote for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. He has long been hawkish on issues such as Iran , China , and Russia , and is one of Israel 's staunchest supporters in Congress. He has been accused by Trump loyalists of being a Republican In Name Only . In 2023, Romney announced he would not run for reelection in 2024 and would retire from

5060-456: The growth-share matrix , and executives viewed him as having a bright future there. At BCG, he was a colleague of Benjamin Netanyahu , with whom he formed a friendship that has lasted for more than 40 years. In 1977, he was hired by Bain & Company , a management consulting firm in Boston formed a few years earlier by Bill Bain and several other ex-BCG employees. Bain later said of

5170-503: The 1965–1966 academic year. He was not part of the counterculture of the 1960s then taking form in the San Francisco Bay Area . As opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War grew, a group staged a May 1966 sit-in at Stanford's administration building to demonstrate against draft status tests; Romney joined a counterprotest against that group. He continued to enjoy occasional pranks. In July 1966, he began

5280-553: The 30-year-old Romney, "He had the appearance of confidence of a guy who was maybe ten years older." Unlike other consulting firms, which issued recommendations and then departed, Bain & Company immersed itself in a client's businesses and worked with them until changes were implemented. Romney became a vice president of the firm in 1978, working with such clients as the Monsanto Company , Outboard Marine Corporation , Burlington Industries , and Corning Incorporated . Within

5390-455: The Ampad plant owned by Bain Capital. The latter was effective in blunting Romney's momentum. Kennedy and Romney held a widely watched late October debate that had no clear winner, but by then, Kennedy had pulled ahead in polls and remained so. Romney spent $ 3 million of his own money on the race and more than $ 7 million overall. Despite a disastrous showing for Democrats nationwide , Kennedy won

5500-502: The CIA and filed a mandatory "SF-86" form with sensitive personal information, accused the group of using the information publicly as a campaign strategy by Republicans. In December 2018, the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General "officially cleared" America Rising "of any wrongdoing" in obtaining the personnel file of the Democratic candidate. The IG report concluded that the group went through

5610-615: The FEC closed an inquiry into whether the payment to Stormy Daniels by Donald Trump violated campaign financial law during the 2016 election. The FEC voted 2-2, between Democrats and Republicans, against a motion to take further action. Republican Vice Chairman Allen Dickerson recused himself, while independent Commissioner Steven Walther did not vote. Similarly, in June 2021, the FEC found that National Enquirer violated US election laws and $ 150,000 paid by AMI to Karen McDougal amounted to an illegal campaign contribution. Publisher AMI agreed to

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5720-513: The FEC for pursuing overly aggressive enforcement theories that they believe amount to an infringement on the First Amendment right to free speech. Division over the issue became especially prominent during the last several years of the Obama administration. Commissioners deadlocked on several votes over whether to regulate Twitter, Facebook, and other online mediums for political speech, as well as

5830-448: The FEC, including many former commissioners and campaign finance reform supporters, have harshly complained of the FEC's impotence, and accused it of succumbing to regulatory capture where it serves the interests of the ones it was intended to regulate. The FEC's bipartisan structure, which was established by Congress, renders the agency "toothless." Critics also claim that most FEC penalties for violating election law come well after

5940-529: The Games' image had been damaged by allegations of bribery against top officials including prior committee president and CEO Frank Joklik. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee forced Joklik and committee vice president Dave Johnson to resign. Utah power brokers, including Governor Mike Leavitt , searched for someone with a scandal-free reputation to take charge of the Olympics. They chose Romney based on his business and legal expertise as well as his connections to both

6050-459: The Games's safety after the September 11 attacks by coordinating a $ 300 million security budget. He oversaw a $ 1.32 billion budget, 700 employees, and 26,000 volunteers. The federal government provided approximately $ 400 million to $ 600 million of that budget, much of it a result of Romney's having aggressively lobbied Congress and federal agencies. It was a record level of federal funding for

6160-619: The LDS Church and the state. The appointment faced some initial criticism from both non-Mormons and Mormons that it represented cronyism and made the Games seem too Mormon-dominated. Romney donated to charity the $ 1.4 million in salary and severance payments he received for his three years as president and CEO, and also donated $ 1 million to the Olympics. Romney restructured the organization's leadership and policies. He reduced budgets and boosted fundraising, alleviating corporate sponsors' concerns while recruiting new ones. Romney worked to ensure

6270-473: The LDS Church, he is a great-grandson of Miles Park Romney and a great-great-grandson of Miles Romney , who converted to Mormonism in its first decade. Another great-great-grandfather, Parley P. Pratt , helped lead the early church . Romney has three older siblings: Margo, Jane, and Scott. Mitt was the youngest by nearly six years. His parents named him after a family friend, businessman J. Willard Marriott , and his father's cousin, Milton "Mitt" Romney ,

6380-593: The Republican nomination for the Senate seat, but Romney proved the most effective fundraiser. He won 68% of the vote at the May 1994 Massachusetts Republican Party convention; businessman John Lakian finished a distant second, eliminating Jeghelian. Romney defeated Lakian in the September 1994 primary with more than 80% of the vote. In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious reelection challenge of his career. The younger, telegenic, and well-funded Romney ran as

6490-623: The Senate when his term expires in 2025. Willard Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947, at Harper University Hospital in Detroit , Michigan, one of four children born to automobile executive George W. Romney and former actress and homemaker Lenore Romney (née LaFount). His mother was a native of Logan, Utah , and his father was born to American parents in a Mormon colony in Chihuahua , Mexico. Of primarily English descent, he also has Scottish and German ancestry. A fifth-generation member of

6600-480: The Sullivan campaign, Mike Anderson, failed to respond to a request to address how it ensures its vendors avoid violating coordination rules. He wrote: "There are very clear guidelines, and our campaign staff, consultants and vendors strictly adhere to them." The Federal Election Commission (FEC) avoids policing the relationships between outside groups and candidates, failing to bring enforcement, according to Larry Noble,

6710-481: The United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections . Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act , the commission describes its duties as "to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections." It

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6820-484: The actual election in which they were committed. Additionally, some critics claim that the commissioners tend to act as an arm of the "regulated community" of parties, interest groups, and politicians when issuing rulings and writing regulations. Others point out, however, that the commissioners rarely divide evenly along partisan lines, and that the response time problem may be endemic to the enforcement procedures established by Congress. To complete steps necessary to resolve

6930-422: The advice of Bain Capital lawyers, Romney met the strikers, but told them he had no position of active authority in the matter. By 1999, Bain Capital was on its way to becoming one of the foremost private equity firms in the nation, having increased its number of partners from 5 to 18, with 115 employees and $ 4 billion under management. The firm's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments

7040-462: The agency's enforcement docket and 227 items waiting for action. In December 2020, three commissioners were appointed to restore a quorum; however, deadlocks arising from the equal number of members from the Republican and Democratic parties with the absence of a tie-breaking vote has resulted in some controversial investigations not being pursued. The FEC was established in 1974, in an amendment of

7150-543: The board of the Points of Light Foundation , which had embraced his father's National Volunteer Center . Romney felt restless as the decade neared a close; making more money held little attraction for him. Although no longer in a local leadership position in his church, he still taught Sunday School . During the long and controversial approval and construction process for the $ 30-million Mormon temple in Belmont , he feared that, as

7260-526: The church's local lay clergy . In the early 1970s, he served in a ward bishopric. He then served for a time as a seminary teacher and then as a member of the stake high council of the Boston Stake while Richard L. Bushman was stake president. In 1977, he became a counselor to the president of the Boston Stake. He served as bishop of the ward at Belmont, Massachusetts, from 1981 to 1986. As such, in addition to home teaching , he also formulated Sunday services and classes using LDS scriptures to guide

7370-407: The committee for the 2016 campaign. After 2012, he focused specifically on developing deep anti- Hillary Clinton playbooks for America Rising and the RNC. America Rising shares its office space and multiple current and former executives with Definers Public Affairs , an opposition research firm, and NTK Network, a digital news aggregator . In the 2014 Iowa senate race , America Rising released

7480-457: The committee had nearly $ 1 billion in committed revenues at that time. Olympics critic Steve Pace, who led Utahns for Responsible Public Spending, thought Romney exaggerated the initial fiscal state to lay the groundwork for a well-publicized rescue. Kenneth Bullock, another board member of the organizing committee and also head of the Utah League of Cities and Towns , often clashed with Romney at

7590-522: The company out of a financial crisis. In 1984, he co-founded and led the spin-off company Bain Capital , a private equity investment firm that became one of the largest of its kind in the nation. After stepping down from his positions at Bain Capital and in the LDS Church, Romney ran as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts in 1994 and lost to the incumbent, Ted Kennedy . He then resumed his position at Bain Capital. Years later,

7700-469: The congregation. After the destruction of the Belmont meetinghouse by a fire of suspicious origins in 1984, he forged links with other religious institutions, allowing the congregation to rotate its meetings to other houses of worship during the reconstruction of the Belmont building. From 1986 to 1994, Romney was president of the Boston Stake, which included more than a dozen wards in eastern Massachusetts and almost 4,000 church members. He organized

7810-551: The desire of some Massachusetts members to have a more flexible application of religious doctrine. He agreed with some requests from a liberal women's group that published Exponent II calling for changes in the way the church dealt with women, but he clashed with women he felt were departing too much from doctrine. In particular, he counseled women not to have abortions except in the rare cases allowed by LDS doctrine and encouraged unmarried women facing unplanned pregnancies to give their babies up for adoption. Romney later said that

7920-561: The disease, she found – while living in Park City , Utah, where the couple had built a vacation home – a combination of mainstream, alternative, and equestrian therapies that enabled her to lead a lifestyle mostly without limitations. When her husband received a job offer to take over the troubled organization responsible for the 2002 Winter Olympics and Paralympics , to be held in Salt Lake City in Utah, she urged him to accept it; eager for

8030-425: The dog suffered a bout of diarrhea. The dog incident in particular later became fodder for Romney's critics and political opponents. In 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found and lead the spin-off private equity investment firm Bain Capital. He initially refrained from accepting Bill Bain's offer to head the new venture until Bain rearranged the terms in a complicated partnership structure so that there

8140-461: The election with 58% of the vote to Romney's 41%, the smallest margin in any of Kennedy's reelection campaigns for the Senate. The day after the election, Romney returned to Bain Capital, but the loss had a lasting effect; he told his brother, "I never want to run for something again unless I can win." When his father died in 1995, Mitt donated his inheritance to BYU's George W. Romney Institute of Public Management . He also became vice-chair of

8250-410: The elimination of a projected $ 1.2–1.5 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees, and closing corporate tax loopholes . He did not seek reelection in 2006 , instead focusing on his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2008 presidential election , which he lost to Senator John McCain . Romney ran for president again four years later and was the Republican nominee in

8360-416: The firm concluded in early 2002; he transferred his ownership to other partners and negotiated an agreement that allowed him to receive a share of the profits as a retired partner in some Bain Capital entities, including buyout and investment funds. The private equity business continued to thrive, earning him millions of dollars in annual income. During his business career, Romney held several positions in

8470-441: The firm had concluded its role. Exactly how many jobs Bain Capital added compared to those lost because of these investments and buyouts is unknown, owing to a lack of records and Bain Capital's penchant for privacy for itself and its investors. Maximizing the value of acquired companies and the return to Bain's investors, not job creation, was the firm's primary investment goal. Bain Capital's acquisition of Ampad exemplified

8580-489: The firm to keep people motivated, often keeping less than 10% for himself. Data-driven, he often played the role of a devil's advocate during exhaustive analysis of whether to go forward with a deal. He wanted to drop a Bain Capital hedge fund that initially lost money, but other partners disagreed with him and it eventually made billions. He opted out of the Artisan Entertainment deal, not wanting to profit from

8690-652: The firm to return substantial amounts, and persuaded creditors, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , to accept less than full payment. Within about a year, he led Bain & Company to a return to profitability. He then turned it over to new leadership and returned to Bain Capital in December 1992. Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital from November 1993 to November 1994 to run for U.S. Senate. During that time, Ampad workers went on strike and asked Romney to intervene. Against

8800-439: The firm, and conducting prolonged negotiations for the terms of his departure. He did not involve himself in the firm's day-to-day operations or the investment decisions of its new private equity funds. He retained his position on several boards of directors during this time and regularly returned to Massachusetts to attend meetings. In August 2001, Romney announced that he would not return to Bain Capital. His separation from

8910-423: The former general counsel for the FEC from 1987 to 2000. Nobel says the FEC's three Democrats and three Republicans frequently deadlock as they vote on whether or not to initiate investigations. Ann Ravel , the frustrated vice chair of the FEC authored a 2014 New York Times op-ed about the stalemates entitled, "How Not to Enforce Campaign Laws." America Rising Squared, a non-profit division of America Rising oversaw

9020-583: The governor's office. Romney took up residence at Cranbrook when his newly elected father began spending most of his time at the state capitol . At Cranbrook, Romney helped manage the ice hockey team, and joined the pep squad . During his senior year, he joined the cross country running team. He belonged to 11 school organizations and school clubs , including the Blue Key Club, a booster group he had started. During his final year there, his academic record improved but fell short of excellence. Romney

9130-568: The identical opposition research files as did an outside group aligned with it. Their source was America Rising, which has a corporate political research arm that purveys its materials directly to campaigns, but it also sells to outside groups like Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS). "Everyone is paying for the same research, information, and then they can use it at their own discretion. Nobody's discussing how they want to deploy that information," said Tim Miller, America Rising's executive director. The Sullivan campaign also employed

9240-403: The lake. Disagreeing about the license and wanting to continue a family outing, Romney took it out anyway, saying he would pay the fine. The ranger arrested him for disorderly conduct . The charges were dropped several days later. In 1983, on a 12-hour family road trip, he placed the family's dog in a windshield-equipped carrier on the roof of their car , and then washed the car and carrier after

9350-513: The law to the candidates, their campaigns, political parties and other political committees that it regulates. The most significant powers of the FEC require an affirmative vote. These powers include the ability to conduct investigations, report misconduct to law enforcement, pursue settlements with candidates, and to bring a civil action in court to enforce campaign finance regulations. The FEC can also publish advisory opinions on campaign finance issues and issue campaign finance regulations. Under

9460-490: The layoffs that sometimes occurred, Romney said in 2007: "Sometimes the medicine is a little bitter but it is necessary to save the life of the patient. My job was to try and make the enterprise successful, and in my view the best security a family can have is that the business they work for is strong." In 1990, facing financial collapse, Bain & Company asked Romney to return. Announced as its new CEO in January 1991, he drew

9570-682: The next day, they flew to Utah for a Mormon wedding ceremony at the Salt Lake Temple ; Ann had converted to the faith while he was away. Romney had missed much of the tumultuous anti-Vietnam War movement in America while in France. Upon his return, he was surprised to learn that his father had joined that movement during his unsuccessful 1968 presidential campaign . George was now serving in President Richard Nixon's cabinet as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development . In

9680-559: The only time when "most of what I was trying to do was rejected." Romney soon gained recognition within the mission for the many homes he called on and the repeat visits he was granted. He became a zone leader in Bordeaux in early 1968, and soon thereafter became an assistant to the mission president in Paris. While in Paris, Romney resided at the Mission Home for several months, and enjoyed

9790-463: The president and confirmed by the Senate. Congress then amended the FECA to comply with Buckley and now the six FEC commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Since 1990, the FEC has grown more polarized, with considerable deadlocks in decision-making. The commission consists of six commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate . Each commissioner

9900-486: The proper channels and submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the file to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Mitt Romney [REDACTED] Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since 2019. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and

10010-505: The public), audits a limited number of campaigns and organizations for compliance, and administers the presidential public funding programs for presidential candidates. Until 2014, the FEC was also responsible for regulating the nomination of conventions and defends the statute in challenges to federal election laws and regulations. The FEC also publishes reports, filed in the Senate, House of Representatives and presidential campaigns, that list how much each campaign has raised and spent, and

10120-470: The resignation of Ann Ravel (Democratic) in March 2017. President Donald Trump nominated James E. Trainor III (Republican) on September 14, 2017, for a term expiring on April 30, 2023, to enable replacement for Lee Goodman (Republican), who resigned in February 2018, creating a second vacancy. When Matthew Petersen (Republican) resigned on August 31, 2019, the commission had only three commissioners, and

10230-592: The respective majority and minority leaders in that chamber, and the last two appointed by the president. They were to be confirmed by both Houses of Congress, rather than only by the Senate. The appointment process was invalidated in 1976, in Buckley v. Valeo , when the Supreme Court held that the commissioners of the FEC were "Officers of the United States" under the Appointments Clause , and must be nominated by

10340-491: The same political consulting firm, Black Rock Group, as did the Crossroads GPS sister organization, American Crossroads , a super PAC that had spent more than a million dollars on campaign ads attacking Begich or promoting Sullivan. Operatives Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove co-founded the two latter organizations. One of the partners at Black Rock, Michael Dubke , is a strategist for Sullivan's campaign; another, Carl Forti ,

10450-461: The staging of a U.S. Olympics. An additional $ 1.1 billion of indirect federal funding came to the state in the form of highway and transit projects. Romney emerged as the local public face of the Olympic effort, appearing in photographs, in news stories, on collectible Olympics pins depicting him wrapped by an American flag, and on buttons carrying phrases like "Hey, Mitt, we love you!" Organizing committee chair Robert H. Garff later said, "It

10560-414: The statute, there is an even number of commissioners with no more than three commissioners being members of the same political party. However, there is no tie-breaking process, such as by the chair. In addition, there is a quorum requirement of four commissioners. This results in four of the six commissioners being required for a FEC decision, which in turn means that on controversial issues bipartisan support

10670-410: The targeting of environmental advocates such as Bill McKibben and Tom Steyer by deploying "trackers" to videotape them. Brian Rogers, executive director of America Rising Squared, said that the firm had focused on McKibben and Steyer because they "aggressively target conservative thought leaders." In 2018, Abigail Spanberger , a Democratic congressional candidate who had previously been an agent for

10780-414: The time, and later said that Romney deserved some credit for the turnaround but not as much as he claimed. Bullock said: "He tried very hard to build an image of himself as a savior, the great white hope. He was very good at characterizing and castigating people and putting himself on a pedestal." Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission ( FEC ) is an independent agency of

10890-750: The unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole, and in part because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy's reputation had suffered. Romney changed his affiliation to Republican in October 1993 and formally announced his candidacy in February 1994. In addition to his leave from Bain Capital , Romney also stepped down from his church leadership role in 1994. Radio personality Janet Jeghelian took an early lead in polls among candidates for

11000-460: The whole of BYU. The Romneys' first son, Taggart , was born in 1970 while they were undergraduates at BYU and living in a basement apartment . Their son Matthew was born in 1971 and Joshua in 1975. Benjamin (1978) and Craig (1981) were born after Romney had begun his career. Romney wanted to pursue a business career, but his father advised him that a law degree ( Juris Doctor ) would be valuable to his career even if he never practiced law. As

11110-453: The wife of the mission president. Romney then became co-president of a mission that had become demoralized and disorganized after the May 1968 general strike and student uprisings and the car accident. With Romney rallying the others, the mission met its goal of 200 baptisms for the year, the most in a decade. By the end of his stint in December 1968, he was overseeing the work of 175 others. As

11220-418: The years spent as an LDS minister gave him direct exposure to people struggling financially and empathy for those with family problems. For much of his business career, Romney did not take public political stances. He had kept abreast of national politics since college, and the circumstances of his father's presidential campaign loss had irked him for decades. He registered as an Independent and voted in

11330-487: Was 113% and its average yearly return to investors was around 50–80%. Starting in February 1999, Romney took a paid leave of absence from Bain Capital in order to serve as the president and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee . Billed in some public statements as keeping a part-time role, Romney remained the firm's sole shareholder, managing director, CEO, and president, signing corporate and legal documents, attending to his interests within

11440-498: Was chair in 2003, 2013 and 2019. The chair of the commission in 2022 is Allen Dickerson , who was elected in December 2021, succeeding Shana Broussard . The FEC administers federal campaign finance laws. It enforces limitations and prohibitions on contributions and expenditures, administers the reporting system for campaign finance disclosure, investigates and prosecutes violations (investigations are typically initiated by complaints from other candidates, parties, watchdog groups, and

11550-417: Was involved in several pranks while attending Cranbrook. He has since apologized for them, stating that some of them may have gone too far. In March of his senior year, he began dating Ann Davies ; she attended the private Kingswood School , Cranbrook's sister school. The two became informally engaged around the time he graduated from high school in June 1965. Romney attended Stanford University during

11660-411: Was no financial or professional risk to Romney. Bain and Romney raised the $ 37 million needed to start the new operation, which had seven employees. Romney held the titles of president and managing general partner. Though he was the sole shareholder of the firm, publications also called him managing director or CEO. Initially, Bain Capital focused on venture capital investments. Romney set up

11770-475: Was nonideological and did not involve himself in the political issues of the day. Romney graduated from Harvard in 1975. He was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top 5% of his business school class and received his Juris Doctor degree cum laude for ranking in the top third of his law school class. After receiving his JD–MBA from Harvard, Romney passed the Michigan bar exam but decided to pursue

11880-450: Was obvious that he had an agenda larger than just the Olympics", and that Romney wanted to use the Olympics to propel himself into the national spotlight and a political career. Garff believed the initial budget situation was not as bad as Romney portrayed, given there were still three years to reorganize. Utah Senator Bob Bennett said that much of the needed federal money was already in place. A Boston Globe analysis later found that

11990-571: Was the Republican Party 's nominee for president of the United States in the 2012 election . Raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan , he spent over two years in France as a Mormon missionary . He married Ann Davies in 1969; they have five sons. Active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) throughout his adult life, Romney served as bishop of his ward and later as

12100-414: Was unable to conduct most of its regulatory and decision-making functions due to lack of a quorum. Trainor was confirmed by the Senate on May 19, 2020, restoring the commission's quorum of four. One meeting was held online, due to the coronavirus pandemic, on June 18, 2020. On June 25, however, Caroline Hunter (Republican) resigned, effective July 3, with the result that the commission once again lacked

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