“I don’t manage them, I don’t even know where they are,” Romney told Radio Iowa Monday of his investment portfolio. “That trustee follows all U.S. laws, all taxes are paid as appropriate, all of them have been reported to the government. There’s nothing hidden there.”
So, how blind is Willard's allegedly blind trust? Not very according to CNN Money. "The trust is hardly blind," it reports.
You know who else thinks blind trusts aren't blind? Willard Mitt Romney. Listen to him tackle the issue in 1994, back when SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It).
For example, the trustee who manages the portfolio, Bradford Malt, is a friend of the candidate. A close personal relationship with the trustee, according to federal ethics rules, is most definitely out-of-bounds.
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Federal officeholders are required to either fully disclose all their financial holdings and any possible conflicts of interest, or place their holdings in a blind trust. Robert Kelner, a Republican election lawyer in Washington, D.C. with no ties to a current presidential campaign, explained the federal rules governing those blind trusts
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But listen up, commoner. You don't need to see His Lordship's stinkin' tax returns. Beyond being way too complex for your ordinary brain to comprehend, Willard's people have said since 2002 that voters should put their thinky matter and skepticism into their blind trust.
"The Office of Government Ethics requires that a financial institution be appointed as the trustee and that the financial institution not be controlled by or have done business with the candidate," said Kelner. "It would preclude you from hiring your favorite lawyer as the trustee."
"You are just going to have to take my word for it.”
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