July 27, 2012

Perjury             

The controversy over Romney’s false statements on federal forms has become quite toxic over whether his knowingly false

statements to the SEC constituted perjury, which would surely be a

crime, very likely a felony.  Those of us who have applied for federal grants are familiar with the warning that false claims

intended to mislead federal officials could constitute that crime,

and all are familiar with a similar warning on the annual income tax form.  It seems apparent that there were such misstatements by

Romney on several SEC forms, and the question of whether they

were deliberate is one that might well be decided by a jury. So Mr. Romney’s huffing and puffing amount to the claim that anyone as

rich and important as he is must be above that law, despite the fact

that a naïve appraisal of his behavior could well arouse suspicion of a deliberate deception. In that case, his claim to be above

suspicion rings with a similarity to the claim that banking

improprieties must be ignored because the banks are too big to fail. So Romney’s claim to be above the law on perjury is like the

bankers’ claim on the right to clearly illegally mistreat their

customers. The claim that being rich and important gives Romney the right to lie under oath plainly disqualifies him from any office of trust in our Democracy