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Romney campaign gave bonuses to top staff

justabubba said:
but do we see something inept, as in the campaign and those who have been steering it
romney obviously thinks it is bonus-worthy
which tells us a lot about how he would view his own administration - no matter how it actually performs ... or doesn't
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That's the problem with most businesses. In a lot of cases, bonuses are paid regardless of performance, especially for high earners. i.e. New CEO comes in, company performance plummets, CEO is let go with a generous severance package of a few million. This is business as usual. The kind of business in which Romney is touting his "business experience".
 
Fisher said:
As far as I know there are no regulations on campaign staff pay and every campaign has paid staff. I think some campaign managers get a cut of the ad budget as a bonus/pay but IDK. I still think it is a non-story but you may feel otherwise.
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I'm not making a big deal of it. I didn't think. I was just asking, what I thought were, reasonable questions. I didn't intend for it to be taken as partisan hyperbole. :shrug:
 
areafiftyone said:
Mitt Romney’s campaign handed out more than $200,000 in bonuses last month to senior staffers, according to new disclosure records filed Thursday.

Richard Beeson, Romney’s national political director, received a $37,500 payment on Aug. 31 in addition to his salary, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

In addition, records show at least six other top staffers each received $25,000 bonuses on the same date: campaign manager Matt Rhoades, general counsel Kathryn Biber, policy advisor Lanhee Chen, communications director Gail Gitcho, digital director Zach Moffatt and advisor Gabriel Schoenfeld. Two other employees received $10,000 bonuses.

A Romney spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment on the payments Thursday.

The Romney campaign appears to be on a payroll schedule which, in normal months, would mean two paychecks per month. But in August many received three regular paychecks on the 1st, 15th and 31st, meaning that those who received the largest bonuses were paid more than $45,000 during August. Beeson and most other senior staffer make about $165,000 a year based on their salary payment levels, records show.

The bonuses came the day after Romney formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Tampa. Despite strong fundraising since May, new records show that the campaign was struggling badly for money in August because it had run low on primary funds and was unable to tap into contributions collected for the general election until after the nomination. As a result, the campaign borrowed $20 million.

Records show that the campaign still owed $15 million of a $20 million loan from the Bank of Georgetown on Aug. 31. The campaign has since paid off another $4 million of the total by collecting new contributions for its primary account, officials have said.

Continue reading here: Romney campaign gave bonuses to top staff
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Where does it state what the money paid to Beeson and the others was for? This was a game played in 2008 with the candidate's financial reports to the FEC. The opposition could/would take the vague "expense description" and make up whatever nefarious details they wanted.

Chalking this one up to a "non-story".....
 
Gina said:
I'm not making a big deal of it. I didn't think. I was just asking, what I thought were, reasonable questions. I didn't intend for it to be taken as partisan hyperbole. :shrug:
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Not saying you personally. The existence of this story is what makes me think it is partisan gotcha. I have been told that politicians who are not allowed to give bonuses will up employee pay up to the max allowed by law temporarily or close their office early when they lose but pay people until the end of the term. That is essentially a roundabout way to give bonuses as well.
 
cool... bonuses for non or negative performance... wall street rulez!
 
Fisher said:
Not saying you personally. The existence of this story is what makes me think it is partisan gotcha. I have been told that politicians who are not allowed to give bonuses will up employee pay up to the max allowed by law temporarily or close their office early when they lose but pay people until the end of the term. That is essentially a roundabout way to give bonuses as well.
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Does it say anywhere in the FEC report that the expense was a payroll "bonus"? Or did the blogger link in the OP just manufacture that determination on his own....?
 
Fisher said:
Not saying you personally. The existence of this story is what makes me think it is partisan gotcha. I have been told that politicians who are not allowed to give bonuses will up employee pay up to the max allowed by law temporarily or close their office early when they lose but pay people until the end of the term. That is essentially a roundabout way to give bonuses as well.
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As I've said, I've never heard of giving campaign staff outright bonuses. That is what spurred my interest. So at that level, the story is informative.

I'm only too well aware of the number of ways there are around giving bonuses. :) It's the boldness of outright bonus pay that I question, especially for a staff with an under-performing campaign. I think that is less of a gotcha than good discussion, as long as we leave out, the outrage.
 
Cole said:
Does it say anywhere in the FEC report that the expense was a payroll "bonus"? Or did the blogger link in the OP just manufacture that determination on his own....?
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As long as it is reported, I don't see any relevance as to whether somebody should or should not vote for Mitt Romney in the story. Beyond that, it is process story #4,657 of this election in my mind.
 
Gina said:
That is an appropriate use of campaign funds? I have to wonder Maggie. I thought the money was to be used to elect the candidate, I don't see how bonuses are legitimate. Maybe I'm not savvy about this stuff.

EDITED: If it were merited, maybe, but they haven't run a spectacular campaign. IIMHO anyway.
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Campaign funds are used to run a campaign in all respects. Those myriad people working to get him elected have to get paid.
 
99percenter said:
He can't afford to give bonuses right now. Obama is outraising him and obama's superpac is outraising his.
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Loyalty deserves being rewarded. That's the way you keep your staff to the bitter end...
 
MaggieD said:
Loyalty deserves being rewarded. That's the way you keep your staff to the bitter end...
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Here and I thought that in a high-stress, high-workload situation, one of the obvious ways to keep everyone happy is to throw some money at them as a thank-you for all their efforts. Silly me, right?
 
MaggieD said:
Campaign funds are used to run a campaign in all respects. Those myriad people working to get him elected have to get paid.
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I agree Maggie, of course they do and some are very well paid since they are professionals in the field. I just didn't think bonuses would be the norm. It's not like a corporation's money, this came from donations. I could be splitting hairs, but it just doesn't smell right. FWIW
 
MaggieD said:
Loyalty deserves being rewarded. That's the way you keep your staff to the bitter end...
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But in the "real world" of jobs, when my employers have been in the straights Romney's campaign is in, I didn't get a raise and bonuses were out of the question.
 
Gina said:
That is an appropriate use of campaign funds? I have to wonder Maggie. I thought the money was to be used to elect the candidate, I don't see how bonuses are legitimate. Maybe I'm not savvy about this stuff.

EDITED: If it were merited, maybe, but they haven't run a spectacular campaign. IIMHO anyway.
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But, you're not the one that gets to decide that. Most times, campaigner goo-roos hire on under the condition that they recieve a performance bonus. Not too sure if they check with Gina, to decide of they met the performance criteria, or not.
 
apdst said:
But, you're not the one that gets to decide that. Most times, campaigner goo-roos hire on under the condition that they recieve a performance bonus. Not too sure if they check with Gina, to decide of they met the performance criteria, or not.
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Where did I say they had to check with me? Isn't DP for giving opinions? :shrug:
 
Gina said:
Where did I say they had to check with me? Isn't DP for giving opinions? :shrug:
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Sure it is. My opinion, is that Gina's opinion on whether, or not, Romney's senior people deserve a bonus doesn't mean much.

BTW, when you said that Romney couldn't afford to pay bonuses, that wasn't an opinion, it was a statement of fact.
 
apdst said:
Sure it is. My opinion, is that Gina's opinion on whether, or not, Romney's senior people deserve a bonus doesn't mean much.

BTW, when you said that Romney couldn't afford to pay bonuses, that wasn't an opinion, it was a statement of fact.
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And you are fine to give your opinion, but not to say I said something I didn't.

Ok, that was a fact, but you didn't quote that post. :)
 
Gina said:
And you are fine to give your opinion, but not to say I said something I didn't.

Ok, that was a fact, but you didn't quote that post. :)
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You stated, as a fact, that they didn't run a spectaculare campaign. Sorry, but yes, you did say it.
 
MaggieD said:
What's your point?
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He hates Romney and he hopes people not smart enough to make decent salaries will hate Romney for this
 
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