BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Mitt Romney’s ultra-controversial speech, secretly recorded and uploaded to the website MotherJones.com, took place in the $4.5-Million estate of Marc J. Leder — co-chief executive officer of Sun Capital Partners. Romney was attending a $50,000 per plate fundraising dinner.
A quick search by BocaNewsNow.com reveals that Leder paid $4,450,000 in April of 2002 for the home at 18249 Long Lake Drive in the Long Lake Estates. Planting him firmly in the middle of what some observers now say is Romney’s target “One Percent” audience, Leder paid Palm Beach County $55,683 in property taxes this year.
Romney, according to the video and Mother Jones, said this when asked how he could win in November:
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax…[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.
According to the New York Times, also reposted on Mother Jones:
Mr. Leder personifies the debates now swirling around this lucrative corner of finance. To his critics, he represents everything that’s wrong with this setup. In recent years, a large number of the companies that Sun Capital has acquired have run into serious trouble, eliminated jobs or both. Since 2008, some 25 of its companies—roughly one of every five it owns—have filed for bankruptcy. Among the losers was Friendly’s, the restaurant chain known for its Jim Dandy sundaes and Fribble shakes. (Sun Capital was accused by a federal agency of pushing Friendly’s into bankruptcy last year to avoid paying pensions to the chain’s employees; Sun disputes that contention.) Another company that sank into bankruptcy was Real Mex, owner of the Chevy’s restaurant chain. In that case, Mr. Leder lost money for his investors not once, but twice.
You can read the full report on MotherJones.com by clicking here.
