Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks to workers at the Care and Share of Southern Colorado food bank. (Photo : Reuters)
Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has criticized the Obama administration, claiming they give favors to businesses that have donated to the democratic campaign.
In recent interviews, Romney has described Obama's administration as "Chicago-style cronyism."
"I think it stinks to high heaven and I think the administration needs to explain how it is they would consider giving money to campaign contributors' businesses," Romney said.
Like Us on Facebook
The Obama campaign commented Romney was trying to attempt to divert attention from his time in Bain Capital. The controversy with Bain stems from Romney's role between 1999 and 2002, when US workers were laid off and shipped jobs overseas. Romney has stated he was not in the decision-making at Bain as of Feb. 1999 and occupied with the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Bain Capital is a Boston-based venture capital group founded by Romney in 1984. He stated he left the firm in 1999, but documents from Bain in 2002 listed Romney as the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president."
A statement released by Bain Capital said Romney has had "absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm with any of its portfolio companies since the day of his departure" in Feb. 1999.
In a telephone conference with reporters, Romney's senior adviser Ed Gillespie said Obama brought "Chicago-style politics" to Washington D.C., however the Romney campaign has not disclosed the names of the companies or individuals that allegedly received favors from the Obama administration.
According to The Guardian, if the Bain controversy persists, Romney may have to push the announcement of his vice presidential candidate earlier than expected.
New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny stated friends of the Republican candidate believe he has made his decision on a running mate and might announce it before heading to London for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Previous reports stated he would reveal his running mate in the end of August.
Potential candidates include Florida's Marco Rubio, Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, South Dakota's John Thune, and former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice.
