Whitewashing...

[_Drifting]

I wonder where Romney got this idea from...

(Reuters) - Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned.

The move during the final weeks of Romney's administration was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say.

The effort to purge the records was made a few months before Romney launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He is again competing for the party's nomination, this time to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency in 2012.

Five weeks before the first contests in Iowa, Romney has seen his position as frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates whittled away in the polls as rival Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has gained ground.

When Romney left the governorship of Massachusetts, 11 of his aides bought the hard drives of their state-issued computers to keep for themselves. Also before he left office, the governor's staff had emails and other electronic communications by Romney's administration wiped from state servers, state officials say.

Those actions erased much of the internal documentation of Romney's four-year tenure as governor, which ended in January 2007. Precisely what information was erased is unclear.

Republican and Democratic opponents of Romney say the scrubbing of emails - and a claim by Romney that paper records of his governorship are not subject to public disclosure - hinder efforts to assess his performance as a politician and elected official.

As Massachusetts governor, Romney worked with a Democrat-led state house to close a budget shortfall and signed a healthcare overhaul that required nearly all state residents to buy insurance or face penalties.

Massachusetts' healthcare law became a model for Obama's nationwide healthcare program, enacted into law in 2010. As a presidential candidate, however, Romney has criticized Obama's plan as an overreach by the federal government.

Massachusetts officials say they have no basis to believe that Romney's staff violated any state laws or policies in removing his administration's records.

They acknowledge, however, that state law on maintaining and disclosing official records is vague and has not been updated to deal with issues related to digital records and other modern technology.

BUYING UP HARD DRIVES

Romney's spokesmen emphasize that he followed the law and precedent in deleting the emails, installing new computers in the governor's office and buying up hard drives.

However, Theresa Dolan, former director of administration for the governor's office, told Reuters that Romney's efforts to control or wipe out records from his governorship were unprecedented.

Dolan said that in her 23 years as an aide to successive governors "no one had ever inquired about, or expressed the desire" to purchase their computer hard drives before Romney's tenure.

The cleanup of records by Romney's staff before his term ended included spending $205,000 for a three-year lease on new computers for the governor's office, according to official documents and state officials.

In signing the lease, Romney aides broke an earlier three-year lease that provided the same number of computers for about half the cost - $108,000. Lease documents obtained by Reuters under the state's freedom of information law indicate that the broken lease still had 18 months to run.

As a result of the change in leases, the cost to the state for computers in the governor's office was an additional $97,000.

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney's presidential campaign, referred questions on the computer leasing deal and records removal to state officials.

Last week, Saul claimed that Deval Patrick, the present Massachusetts governor and a Democrat, was encouraging reports about Romney's records to cast the former governor as secretive. Patrick's office has not responded to that allegation.

[_subgenius]

I wonder where Romney got this idea from...

(Reuters) - Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned.

The move during the final weeks of Romney's administration was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say.

The effort to purge the records was made a few months before Romney launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He is again competing for the party's nomination, this time to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency in 2012.

Five weeks before the first contests in Iowa, Romney has seen his position as frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates whittled away in the polls as rival Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has gained ground.

When Romney left the governorship of Massachusetts, 11 of his aides bought the hard drives of their state-issued computers to keep for themselves. Also before he left office, the governor's staff had emails and other electronic communications by Romney's administration wiped from state servers, state officials say.

Those actions erased much of the internal documentation of Romney's four-year tenure as governor, which ended in January 2007. Precisely what information was erased is unclear.

Republican and Democratic opponents of Romney say the scrubbing of emails - and a claim by Romney that paper records of his governorship are not subject to public disclosure - hinder efforts to assess his performance as a politician and elected official.

As Massachusetts governor, Romney worked with a Democrat-led state house to close a budget shortfall and signed a healthcare overhaul that required nearly all state residents to buy insurance or face penalties.

Massachusetts' healthcare law became a model for Obama's nationwide healthcare program, enacted into law in 2010. As a presidential candidate, however, Romney has criticized Obama's plan as an overreach by the federal government.

Massachusetts officials say they have no basis to believe that Romney's staff violated any state laws or policies in removing his administration's records.

They acknowledge, however, that state law on maintaining and disclosing official records is vague and has not been updated to deal with issues related to digital records and other modern technology.

BUYING UP HARD DRIVES

Romney's spokesmen emphasize that he followed the law and precedent in deleting the emails, installing new computers in the governor's office and buying up hard drives.

However, Theresa Dolan, former director of administration for the governor's office, told Reuters that Romney's efforts to control or wipe out records from his governorship were unprecedented.

Dolan said that in her 23 years as an aide to successive governors "no one had ever inquired about, or expressed the desire" to purchase their computer hard drives before Romney's tenure.

The cleanup of records by Romney's staff before his term ended included spending $205,000 for a three-year lease on new computers for the governor's office, according to official documents and state officials.

In signing the lease, Romney aides broke an earlier three-year lease that provided the same number of computers for about half the cost - $108,000. Lease documents obtained by Reuters under the state's freedom of information law indicate that the broken lease still had 18 months to run.

As a result of the change in leases, the cost to the state for computers in the governor's office was an additional $97,000.

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney's presidential campaign, referred questions on the computer leasing deal and records removal to state officials.

Last week, Saul claimed that Deval Patrick, the present Massachusetts governor and a Democrat, was encouraging reports about Romney's records to cast the former governor as secretive. Patrick's office has not responded to that allegation.

kinda lowering the bar for a "Mormon discussion" aren't we...doesn't politics qualify for the the telestial forum?

[_UnicornMan]

Whitewashing as bothered me for a while....I realize part of my disillusionment with the Church came from the mighty claims it makes about its own access to truth. But then, I found a lot of truth about itself was hidden from me!! I learned about the MM massacre for the first time as a missionary -- from a non-member. He was taken aback that I had no clue about that event in our history. I don't think it helped our case any when we wanted to teach him the truth...how could he trust us to teach the truth about the Church when we didn't know it ourselves?

One thing that kind of got me was how the Church buried the last sentence in the FP letter on tithing...the first two sentences define tithing as 10% of increase, taken to mean "income". Then, there is a statement which indicates that each member should decide for themself what they owe the Lord, and make a payment accordingly.

That last sentence, which puts a certain amount of personal judgment into the payment of tithing was left out of Gospel Principles, out of the CHI, and out of most if not all lessons and talks I've heard at Church on the subject.

As an organization with a divine commission, I think it beehoves the Church to show the same honesty it expects from its members....this tendency to pick and choose what shores up the Church's case the best bothers me.

[_harmony]

kinda lowering the bar for a "Mormon discussion" aren't we...doesn't politics qualify for the the telestial forum?

No. Politics can be discussed in any forum.

[_subgenius]

kinda lowering the bar for a "Mormon discussion" aren't we...doesn't politics qualify for the the telestial forum?

No. Politics can be discussed in any forum.

But rule#5 of the universal rules states:
If you wish to start a thread having nothing to do with Mormonism, do so only in the Off-Topic Forum. That's what it's there for.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26

exactly how is this thread's topic related to Mormonism, surely just mentioning Romney does not qualify as "related to Mormonism", after all the thread does not even mention the church, its doctrine, etc...

[_Quasimodo]

kinda lowering the bar for a "Mormon discussion" aren't we...doesn't politics qualify for the the telestial forum?

Nah, not at all. MItt's the Mormon candidate (Huntsman is not really in the running). This board is about "all things Mormon"... it qualifies.

[_subgenius]

Nah, not at all. MItt's the Mormon candidate (Huntsman is not really in the running). This board is about "all things Mormon"... it qualifies.

this thread is clearly a violation of rule #5
by this board's own rules this thread belongs in "off topic" nothing in this thread's OP constitutes "Mormonism".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism

*crickets*

[_Quasimodo]

Nah, not at all. MItt's the Mormon candidate (Huntsman is not really in the running). This board is about "all things Mormon"... it qualifies.

this thread is clearly a violation of rule #5
by this board's own rules this thread belongs in "off topic" nothing in this thread's OP constitutes "Mormonism".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism

*crickets*

Last I heard, Mitt is a Mormon. That is all it takes.

[_Drifting]

Nah, not at all. MItt's the Mormon candidate (Huntsman is not really in the running). This board is about "all things Mormon"... it qualifies.

this thread is clearly a violation of rule #5
by this board's own rules this thread belongs in "off topic" nothing in this thread's OP constitutes "Mormonism".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism

*crickets*

Have you researched how many of your posts are substantive contributions to the topic in hand and how many are just cries of foul?

50/50?

Here's the linkage of the OP to Mormonism so that even the mst blinkered faithful soul can understand the point.

Mormon leaders have attempted to whitewash Mormon history and keep it away from the eyes of members.

Romney is alleged of using an modus operandi of a similar ilk, which, given his connections, may well have been learnt from the example of the Church.

Care to contribute to that discussion?

*seagulls*

[_subgenius]

...Mormon leaders have attempted to whitewash Mormon history and keep it away from the eyes of members.

oh, i see....now you found some feeble way to justify your feeble position.
nice backpedal and revision

Romney is alleged of using an modus operandi of a similar ilk, which, given his connections, may well have been learnt from the example of the Church.

interesting, the OP makes no mention of this, nor does it even attempt to correlate an "m.o." with the church, nor does it even illustrate the church having done anything similar.

Care to contribute to that discussion?

i saw no actual discussion in the OP, but i am glad to contribute to the relatively easy dismantling of the OP.

So, rather than admit your post is posted in the wrong forum, and rather than admit the already transparent motive behind such a post, you would rather compromise what little integrity you may have had left and insist that you actual intended your post to be about "Mormonism".
Nice character trait, now i see why your topics are always so insightful and wrought full of ever deepening exploration of "Mormonism"
can we talk about baptisms for the dead now? or how about anything having to do with Brigham Young? Why have you not implicated the FLDS as actually being endorsed by the church....or better yet, got a post where the church prophet's have secretly been meeting with the Pope and the USA President in an effort to control the genealogical record of the world so that the New World Order can begin with ancestry.com?