Two former candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination have publicly criticized Mitt Romney after a recent article in the Boston Globe reported on his involvement in a Medicare scandal.
Warren Tolman and Steve Grossman began condemning Romney’s involvement with the Damon Corporation after a press conference Friday. Damon Corporation, of which Romney was a member of the board of directors between 1990 and 1993, pled guilty in 1996 to defrauding Medicare of over $25 million between 1989 and 1993.
“As a board director at Damon, Mitt Romney had the obligation to protect the interests of shareholders,” said Grossman, president of MassEnvelope Plus, in a press release. “He chose to do what was best for himself and his partners.”
Tolman, a former state senator, noted Romney’s silence regarding the actions he and fellow directors took to fix the corruption at Damon.
“I think Mitt Romney needs to start telling the people of Massachusetts what he knew, when he knew it, and what specifically he and the board did to stop it,” Tolman said in the same press release.
Grossman and Tolman’s criticism is the latest form of attack in the campaign that has been marked by personal attacks from all sides.
“They’re showing that they support O’Brien and that they don’t support Romney as a businessman,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a mass communications professor at the Boston University College of Communication.
Though Grossman and Tolman fought O’Brien for the party nomination, their joint support gives O’Brien a powerful endorsement.
“I pledged during the primary to support the Democratic candidate, whoever it was,” Tolman said yesterday.
Romney has claimed he took immediate action to correct the excessive billing and that he did everything “legally required,” according to an O’Brien campaign press release. Official court documents from the 1996 criminal case against Damon say the corruption continued unabated until Damon was sold to Corning Labs in 1993.
Romney profited $473,000 from that sale, according to the Thursday Boston Globe article that triggered the former candidates’ comments.
“It’s a good double team for the Democratic Party,” said Berkovitz. He noted that Grossman and Tolman, who represent the business and political sectors respectively, make a diverse, relevant face for the Democratic party’s message.
“It makes absolute sense that Tolman and Grossman would want to do anything possible to damage the candidacy of Romney,” Berkovitz said.
While there is no current evidence that Romney has lied about his role in the scandal, “in terms of business ethics, there are questions raised,” Berkovitz said, referring to the impact this scandal will have on voters.
