Lawsuit says firm pressured worker to donate to Romney
A California man said he was fired as an executive at a consulting firm in part because he resisted pressure from his boss to make contributions to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Richard Pimentel, formerly a managing director of Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group, said the company's chairman and chief executive, Gary E. Holdren, "repeatedly linked his requests for donations to Huron's business prospects," the newspaper reported, and produced e-mails to support his contention.
The 65-year-old Pimentel has filed an age-discrimination complaint against his former employer, which denies the allegation.
Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney, said yesterday the Romney campaign had no knowledge of the alleged activity. "It's unfortunate if anyone felt pressured to contribute, and we stand ready to refund their contributions if requested," he said.
Pimentel, however, was not among about 50 Huron employees who donated a total of $93,050 to the Romney campaign, according to the donor database kept by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, but he donated $250 in January to John McCain, who defeated Romney for the Republican nomination.
GLOBE STAFF
GOP video casts Democrats in 'supporting' roles
John McCain, trying to burnish his independent credentials, put up a new web video featuring Democrats - including presidential rival Barack Obama - saying nice things about him over the years.
"John McCain is a maverick. Just ask Democrats," it says on screen.
Obama is shown testifying in favor of about a bill championed by McCain on climate change. Others vouching for McCain include Senator John F. Kerry calling him a "courageous, patriotic American who stands up for what he believes," and Hillary Clinton praising McCain's experience while belittling Obama's.
The DNC responded with a web video showing the very same Democrats more recently questioning McCain's independence and saying he's tied to President Bush. It ends with Bush endorsing McCain at the White House.
"The real question is what happened to the John McCain we used to know and why he changed overnight into a George Bush nominee with a Karl Rove campaign," Kerry said in a statement.
FOON RHEE
Oil firms' donations go to both candidates
Barack Obama is running TV ads asserting that John McCain is "in the pocket" of Big Oil, and the Democratic National Committee is pushing a tongue-in-cheek "Exxon-McCain '08" campaign.
But while Obama's campaign points to the flood of contributions from oil executives that flowed to McCain after he came out in favor of more offshore oil drilling, a watchdog group says that Obama has received more campaign cash from executives at some of those companies.
The Center for Responsive Politics reported yesterday that employees of Exxon, Chevron, and
But McCain has raised more from nearly every other top giver in the oil and gas industry, including Hess Corp. - $91,000 to Obama's $8,000. And, overall, McCain's campaign has received about three times more from the industry than Obama's.
FOON RHEE
McCain seeks grounding of plans to close hub
WILMINGTON, Ohio - Republican John McCain called yesterday for a federal antitrust investigation into plans by the DHL shipping company that could cost 10,000 jobs, as he and his campaign manager took blame from Democrats and labor groups for helping DHL complete a merger in 2003 that led to its current plans.
DHL plans to put its packages aboard the planes of a rival,
"I can't assure you that this train wreck isn't going to happen, but I will do everything in my power to see that we avert it," McCain told a group of elected officials and residents.
In 2003, Rick Davis, who took a leave of absence from his lobbying firm to manage McCain's campaign, lobbied Congress to accept a proposal by German-owned DHL to buy Airborne Express. That same year, McCain, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, fought a proposal to prohibit foreign-owned carriers from flying US military equipment or troops, which would have torpedoed the merger.
ASSOCIATED PRESS 