In yet another case of an "evolving" opinion, Republican Mitt Romney has once again betrayed the high-minded rhetoric of his past campaigns in favor of a more corrupt but lucrative political strategy. Romney has now made it quite clear, he has a price and he is ready to take bids.
Back in 1994 in Burlington, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney spoke about the growing influence of political action lobbying organizations. He told the gathered businessmen the Burlington Business Round Table,
“I also would abolish PACs. You probably have one – I don’t like them. I don’t like the influence of money – whether it’s business, labor or any other group. I do not like that kind of influence. Lobbyists, I want to register, know who they are. I want to make sure gifts are limited. I think we have to really become much more vigilant in seeing the impact on money – and I don’t care how it’s organized – on politics.”
The "evolved" Romney of today is, however, far less idealistic and, with the Supreme Court's support of Citizens United, he seems quite willing to sell himself to whomever has the cash. Romney's SuperPAC (the nonsensically named) Restore Our Future announced in June that it had collected $100 million. Late last year, I wrote a detailed post on the early million dollar contributors to Restore our Future and the methods they used to remain covert. Open Secrets has a updated list of the names and amounts of the top contributors.