On Romney's character....
In July 1996, the 14-year-old daughter
of Robert Gay, a partner at Bain Capital, had disappeared. She had
attended a rave party in New York City and had become high on ecstasy.
Three days later, her distraught father had no idea where she was. Mitt
Romney closed down the entire firm and asked all 30 partners and
employees to fly to New York to help find Gay’s daughter. Romney set up
a command center at the LaGuardia Marriott and hired a private detective
firm to assist with the search. He established a toll-free number for
tips, coordinating the effort with the NYPD, and went through his
Rolodex and called everyone Bain did business with in New York, and
asked them to help find his friend’s missing daughter. Romney’s
accountants at Price Waterhouse Cooper put up posters on street poles,
while cashiers at a pharmacy owned by Bain put fliers in the bag of
every shopper. Romney and the other Bain employees scoured areas of New
York City on foot and talked with everyone they could – prostitutes,
drug addicts – anyone.
That day, their hunt made the evening
news, which featured photos of the girl and the Bain employees searching
for her. As a result, a teenage boy phoned in, asked if there was a
reward, and then hung up abruptly. The NYPD traced the call to a home in
New Jersey, where they found the girl in a stranger's basement,
shivering and experiencing withdrawal symptoms from a massive ecstasy
dose. Doctors later said the girl might not have survived another day.
Romney’s former partner credits him with saving his daughter’s life,
saying, “I’ll never forget this.”
So, here’s an epiphany: Mitt Romney
simply can’t help himself. He sees a problem, and sets to work solving
it. He doesn’t do it for self-aggrandizement or for personal gain - he
does it because that’s just how he’s wired.
Many people are unaware of the fact
that when Romney was asked by his old employer, Bill Bain, to come back
to Bain & Company as CEO to rescue the firm from bankruptcy, Romney left
Bain Capital to work at Bain & Company for an annual salary of one
dollar.
When Romney went to the rescue of the
2002 Salt Lake Olympics, he accepted no salary for three years, and
wouldn’t use an expense account.
He also accepted no salary as Governor
of Massachusetts.
Character counts
