By Lisa Lerer - Jan 7, 2012 3:46 AM GMT+0700
Enlarge image 
Republican presidential presidential candidate, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, speaks to employees during a campaign stop at Goss International on Jan. 5, 2012 in Durham, New Hampshire. Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential contender Jon Huntsman Jr. talks with Bloomberg's Al Hunt about New Hampshire's Jan. 10 primary, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's policies and issues facing the U.S. Bloomberg's Julie Davis and Lisa Lerer discuss the Republican presidential race. Julianna Goldman comments on the U.S. economy, President Barack Obama's re-election strategy and Republican candidates. Commentators Margaret Carlson and Kate O'Beirne discuss prospects for Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney in New Hampshire and South Carolina. (Source: Bloomberg)
Republican presidential contender Jon Huntsman Jr. charged that Mitt Romney would be a “status quo president” with respect to Wall Street and Washington influence peddling.
Romney, who’s leading in opinion polls, should release his tax returns because “transparency” and “trust” are central issues in the campaign, Huntsman said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and multimillionaire former private equity manager, has so far refused to release his returns.
Huntsman has yet to release his own tax returns. Campaign spokesman Tim Miller said the candidate would disclose his returns if he won the party’s nomination.
Huntsman, a former Utah governor and multi-millionaire businessman, has proposed limiting the size of the country’s largest banks to avoid any future taxpayer liabilities.
If the U.S. banks “get infected with the flu that’s making the rounds in Europe, they have to be bailed out, because if they fail, we all go down,” Huntsman warned, saying that’s “right for the taxpayers.”
He suggested that some of his Republican rivals, particularly Romney, who has received the most campaign contributions from the financial community, would be captives of Wall Street if elected.
Wall Street ‘Captive’
“It becomes very difficult when you’ve taken tens of millions of dollars from the banking community, from Wall Street, and for many, many years, to have a discussion that fundamentally alters their course,” he said. “It can only be done, I would argue, by someone who isn’t a captive, a subsidiary of Wall Street.”
Huntsman, whose family owns a petro-chemical conglomerate, rejected Romney’s claim that his experience as chief executive officer of the private equity firm Bain Capital LLC was an important credential to be president and create jobs. As he campaigns across the country, Romney has made his business experience a central argument for his candidacy.
Instead, Huntsman said voters should look at his four-year record as governor of Massachusetts.
“If you’ve got dead last, practically, in terms of job creation, that’s going to stand out a lot more prominently in people’s minds, I believe, than anything you did in the private sector,” he said.
Unemployment Numbers
During Romney’s term, unemployment in Massachusetts averaged 5.1 percent, compared with a national average of 5.3 percent, and 45,800 jobs were added. Utah’s jobless rate (USURTOT) during Huntsman’s governorship averaged 3.8 percent, compared with a national average of 5.5 percent for that period, and 91,800 jobs were created.
Huntsman, who served as U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama until last year, also said that Romney’s frequent reversals on issues such as immigration and how to deal with China make him ill-suited “to generate the kind of trust that is so needed among the electorate.”
Huntsman came back to the trust question, a major theme of his campaign, in criticizing Romney for not releasing his tax returns.
“If the citizens and the voters of New Hampshire and beyond are going to trust us and our message and how we’re going to lead this country, transparency needs to be part of that,” Huntsman said.
Financial Disclosure
On federal financial disclosure forms, Huntsman reported owning assets valued between $16 million and $71 million, including between $5 million and $25 million in his family’s holding company, which owns stock in Huntsman Corp., a Salt Lake City-based chemical maker. Romney reported between $190 million and $250 million in assets, which his campaign said were in a blind trust. He did report owning between $50,000 and $100,000 apiece in Boeing Co., Visa Inc., and Bank of America Corp.
One of the other candidates, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, in an appearance earlier this week compared gay marriage to polygamy, asking voters “what about three men?”
Huntsman described that kind of rhetoric as divisive, saying the conversation ought to be based on “fairness and dignity.”
Huntsman, who’s based his entire campaign on a strong showing in New Hampshire, continues to run well behind Romney.
Romney had the support of 40 percent of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, according to a Suffolk University/7 News tracking poll taken Jan. 4-5. U.S. Representative Ron Paul was backed by 17 percent, compared with 11 percent for Santorum, 9 percent for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and 8 percent for Huntsman.
Huntsman suggested that he could do better.
“We’re going to exceed market expectations,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Lerer in Washington, at llerer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment