Officials with Barack Obama's re-election team seized on a Boston Globe report on Thursday that said that documents filed by Mitt Romney and Bain Capital say Romney remained chief executive and chairman of the firm three years beyond the date he said he ceded control of the private equity firm.
The timing of Romney’s departure from Bain is a key point of contention because he has said his resignation in February 1999 meant he was not responsible for Bain Capital companies that went bankrupt or laid off workers after that date.
Calling it a trust issue, Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter said in a conference call that Romney "through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the S.E.C. which is a felony, or misrepresenting his position to the American people."
The attorney for the Obama campaign, Bob Bauer, said simply "This is serious business," adding that there are "scores of filings that make it very clear that over a period of time that Romney says he was not active with Bain, that he was still CEO and President of Bain."
The Globe story comes out just hours after the Romney camp began airing a new ad that calls Obama a liar, essentially, for claims about Romney outsourcing jobs while at Bain.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2012.