FLAUNTING his wealth and his off shore tax haven bank accounts mitt romney's yacht "cracker bay", a name reflecting mitt's sense of humor referencing all us common people, flies the flag of the Cayman Islands while in Tampa. Those attending the romney fund raiser on board didn't seem to have any problem with handing over their money to purchase their presidential candidate on board his foreign flagged boat, offering proof of whose interest he will represent if elected.
By David Edwards
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s
campaign on Wednesday partied with wealthy donors on a 150-foot yacht
that flies the flag of the Cayman Islands, according to an ABC News
report.
Members of the Romney Victory Council, who have each raised more than
$1 million for the candidate, mingled with Romney’s brother, Scott, and
other relatives in Tampa aboard the luxury yacht “Cracker Bay.”
While they waited outside the unadvertised event, ABC News
snapped photos of the Cayman Islands civil ensign flag flying on the yacht’s stern.
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) was reportedly scheduled to speak to the more than 50 people attending.
“It was a really nice event,” billionaire energy industry executive Wilbur Ross told the network. “These are good supporters.”
Romney came under fire earlier this year when it was
revealed that he had millions stashed in the Cayman Islands, a notorious tax haven. In August,
Vanity Fair reported that Romney still had a personal stake in at least 12 of Bain Capital’s Cayman Island funds, worth up to $30 million.
The candidate
recently insisted
to Fox News host Chris Wallace that “there was no reduction — not one
dollar reduction — in taxes by virtue of having an account in
Switzerland or a Cayman Islands investment.”
“I think it’s ironic they do this aboard a yacht that doesn’t even
pay its taxes,” a woman who lives at the marina where Cracker Bay is
moored told ABC News.
Watch this video from ABC News, broadcast Aug. 29, 2012.
Photo: Flickr/Daniel Cornwall]
[Correction: An earlier version of the report incorrectly identified Fox News host Chris Wallace]
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/29/romney-party-yacht-cracker-bay-flies-cayman-islands-flag-in-tampa/
Cap'n Mitt and the Pirates of Cracker Bay
Ever since humans first took to the sea, pirates have inexplicably
vanished and reappeared along our coasts and waterways. Who were those
mysterious figures who appeared along the mist-shrouded docks and
beaches of Tampa Bay during last week's Republican Convention? While
all eyes were on the Democrats, we decided to find out.
Pirates are often portrayed as a festive lot, so our investigation began with an ABC News
report
of an event where corporate campaign donors were lavishly entertained
by The Commodores, whose hit "Brick House" captivated 70's-era dancers
with its hypnotic chorus --
Chick-a-maw, chick-a-maw, chick-a-maw-maw,
Chick-a-maw, chick-a-maw, chick-a-MAW-maw!
-- and the extra syllables and syncopated pauses added to selected word:
"She's a ba-rick" --(pause) -- "house/she's mighty mighty just lettin' it all hang out ....
It is a wondrous thing to watch rich white people getting down --
trust me, I know -- and many a groove thing was undoubtedly shaken at
the Commodores event, where Sen. John Cornyn of Texas thanked donors
from Blue Cross Blue Shield, AFLAC, and AT&T. Each has financial
interests affected by the law known as "Obamacare."
But boogieing and piracy are not the same thing, so our search
continued. Elsewhere in Tampa a conservative group called the American
Access Network
sold access to elected officials
"advertised the chance to mingle with members of Congress and senior
staff at an arena skybox overlooking the convention floor for $30,000,"
according to
ABC. And even better offers were available:
"Full access to the group's intimate luncheons and hot ticket
concerts were open to their biggest supporters -- those who gave
$250,000."
As the Commodores might say:
Yeeowww!
Unethical? Sure. But piracy? We weren't sure. The trail grew warmer when we learned about the
yacht party
thrown by a Florida developer for "bundlers" who had raised $1 million
or more for Mitt Romney's campaign. ABC reports that more than fifty
people were entertained aboard the
Cracker Bay, a yacht flying the ensign of the Cayman Islands, where the American-owned
vessel was registered.
As the astute reader may have already noted, the boat shares its nationality with a big chunk of Mitt Romney's money.
We wondered at the use of the name "Cracker," a derisive Southern
term for white males, since that appeared to be the primary's
demographic group represented at these affairs. Were these wealthy men
mocking their poorer counterparts, who are sometimes disparaged with the
term? But another GOP patron professed ignorance when reached aboard
his boat, the SS
Peckerwood.
"We let the help name our boats," he explained.
In true piratical fashion, guests aboard the
Cracker Bay
attempted to conceal their identity, in this case by covering up their
name tags as they boarded the boat. But reporters observed Texas oil
heir Charlie Moncrief, whose family
saga would put
Dallas to shame.
Another guest was ultra-right real estate investor Melvin Sembler,
who earned notoriety for running a sadistic and exploitative string of
youth "rehabs." It would ruin the lighthearted tone of this piece to
describe the horrors which STRAIGHT, Inc. inflicted on young people, so
we'll leave the horrifying details to
Alternet and the
Institute for Policy Studies instead.
Self-respecting pirates would be ashamed to be associated with the
likes of Mel Sembler, who bought himself the ambassadorships to
Australia and Nauru under George H. W. Bush and the Italian
ambassadorship under George W. Bush. Which ambassadorship might Sembler
purchase under a Romney Administration? The U.N.? The moon?
Then there's
Cracker Bay "captain" Gary Morse. Morse owns the
development company behind "The Villages," a string of "master-planned"
retirement communities in Florida. Florida's unusual "special taxing
district" regulations allow private corporations like
Disney
to usurp government functions, including taxation, while exempting
themselves from most government regulations. (Mystery writer Carl
Hiassen has written a nonfiction
book called
Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World which addresses Disney's misuse of these laws).
"The Villages" are governed by "Community Development Districts" --
most of which are controlled by Morse himself. From a comprehensive and
compelling
Bloomberg report:
Morse
controls almost every facet of life at the Villages... On a
33-square-mile parcel... he's built and sold more than 44,000 homes...
created 39 golf courses and developed 4.5 million square feet of
commercial space, including two hotels, 60 restaurants and two movie
theaters... Morse owns the local newspaper, a television channel and an
AM radio station... (his) commercials have been fixtures on the Golf
Channel. His bank lends to retirees fleeing south; his insurance company
provides them coverage. He even gets paid to pick up the trash and
organize tee times.
It's like something out of
The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan's surrealistic 1960s television series on the BBC.
"Be seeing you!" How does Morse do it?
Bloomberg
explains: "Morse... has become one of America's wealthiest real estate
tycoons with the help of tax-exempt municipal bonds issued by special
government entities he's created to fund the expansion of the Villages."
Traditional pirates operate outside government control, often in
self-governed areas which anarchy theorists sometimes describe with the
acronym "TAZ" (for "Temporary Autonomous Zone"). But if pirates have
typically been "non-state actors," Morse hijacks government itself and
exploits them to expand his own wealth. In other words, he's a lot like
Mitt Romney and other wealthy Republicans: They gripe about the cost of
government, even as they exploit it to enrich themselves at public
expense.
"Special taxing districts" are a microcosm of the para-piratical
dystopia Republicans would create for the entire country, where
corporate rule is supreme and democracy is as faint a memory as
oceangoing corsairs.
Bloomberg reports that Morse's empire includes "four jet
planes -- including a 21-seat Dassault Falcon 900 and two 22-seat
Dassault Mystere-Falcon 50s, which can fly 3,623 miles without
refueling." That sounds like the makings of a fleet. Was there a secret
global flotilla of conservative bandit ships ringing the world's
oceans? To help us find out, local informants arranged a secret meeting
with a figure known to us only as "Cap'n Mitt." In the minutes just
before dawn, a schooner emerged as if by magic from the mists off Tampa
Bay.
The pirate ship's rigging creaked in the salty breezes as an ageless
figure, his ample hair and square jaw strangely familiar beneath his
eyepatch and sailor's hat, peered at us from the fog-shrouded deck.
"Are you a Republican?" we asked him. "Aye," he said tersely. From
the crow's nest high above us, a dog barked. "But are you a pirate?" He
chuckled. "Well, we don't run from government, we
own it. But
what do Republicans do then?" he asked rhetorically. "We privatize
public services." I waited. "And what's another word for 'pirate'?" He
paused for dramatic effect.
"'
Privateer,'" he answered himself with a smirk.
"Is the
Cracker Bay part of your fleet?" He nodded.
"What part of the Republican Platform appeals to the rich men who fly
your flag?" we asked. "Is it the return to the lawless days of
deregulation?" He chuckled. "That pleases them mightily," he said.
"What about taking away government agencies' ability to protect people
from corporate predators?" He smiled. "Aye," he said, "that does too."
"But how do you explain this piracy to the voters?"
He chuckled, then cast off for deep waters. The ghostly ship was
already fading back into the mist-shrouded deep as he said "Everybody
loves a party." He smiled enigmatically. "So we pretend they're invited
to ours." I shouted my final words as the ship began to vanish into the
mist: "But they're not! That's obvious by now! What can you possibly
say to sell a program like that?"
The now-invisible buccaneer chuckled. "With enough money and media power
behind me, all I have to say is ... " The unseen freebooter's voice
echoed across the fog-shrouded waves: "...
chick a maw, chick a maw maw! Yeoww!"
And with that his vessel disappeared, never again to be seen by human eyes or revealed by campaign disclosure laws.
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Former Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
