(Newser)
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Another Bain Capital controversy for Mitt Romney: He may have still been involved with the private-equity firm when it invested $75 million in Stericycle, a medical-waste disposal company that disposes of aborted fetuses, thus making it a target of anti-abortion activists. The Huffington Post first revealed the Romney-Stericycle connection, but Bain kept it from blowing up into a controversy by claiming that Romney left the firm in February 1999, before the deal was made. But SEC documents obtained by Mother Jones list Romney as "sole shareholder, Chairman, CEO, and President" of Bain and as a definite participant in the deal—a deal that made him and his partners millions; one document even includes his signature.
The documents are relevant not only because of the abortion controversy, but because of Romney's departure from Bain. He has used the official account of the timing of his exit to defend himself—not just with regard to the Stericycle deal, but also with regard to the recent article about Bain's connections to major job outsourcing. In that case, the Romney campaign noted that his February 1999 exit came at least a month before Bain acquired two of the companies that outsourced jobs. But these documents indicate Romney was still playing a role at the company until the end of that year. Mother Jones has a detailed look at the documents—as well as Stericycle's troubled safety record.
