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from the daily dolt<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re not really into conspiracy theories here, so let us just say this upfront: we are not presenting the following article as any kind of conspiracy theory. We will say, though, that the people who own voting machines in some important swing states have a pretty remarkable bias toward Mitt Romney and, you know,\u00a0someone should probably keep an eye on this, no?<\/em><\/p>\n Okay, so here\u2019s what we know:\u00a0<\/p>\n Hart InterCivic is a national provider of election voting systems that are used in swing-states\u00a0Ohio<\/span><\/a> and\u00a0Colorado<\/span><\/a>, as well as in\u00a0states we don\u2019t really care about so much because we already know how they\u2019ll turn out (e.g., Texas, Oklahoma, and Hawaii). Private equity firm\u00a0H.I.G. Capital, LLC\u00a0bought out <\/span><\/a>a \u201csignificant\u201d portion of Hart in July of 2011, and now the\u00a0majority of Hart\u2019s board\u00a0directors <\/span><\/a>are employees of H.I.G.\u00a0(It\u2019s not entirely clear how much of the\u00a0voting machine company H.I.G. owns, but\u00a0the financial advisors responsible for the transaction state that \u201c<\/span>Hart Intercivic was acquired by HIG Capital<\/span><\/a>.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n H.I.G. was founded by\u00a0Tony Tamer, a former Bain employee<\/span><\/a> and\u00a0bundler for Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Of H.I.G.\u2019s 22 American directors, 21 donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s 2012 presidential campaign. One person made no political donations at all;\u00a0\u00a0one person donated to both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama; the remaining 20 directors donated exclusively to Mitt Romney in 2012. (See below for links to donations.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Of these 22 American directors,\u00a0seven of them (nearly one-third) are former Bain employees<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> Now, we should note (as a reader helpfully pointed out), this is Bain & Co., where Mitt Romney used to work way back when and then\u00a0left in order to start the affiliated Bain Capital. The connection is therefore a little more tenuous, but we still find H.I.G.\u2019s overwhelming allegiance and financial support of the Romney campaign surprising (not that it\u2019s surprising that a private equity company would lean Republican, but this level of support is pretty unusual).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Now, to be fair, besides the fact that H.I.G. employees make up the majority of Hart\u2019s board of directors, we don\u2019t know exactly how\u00a0much control H.I.G. is able to exert over the voting machine company\u2019s day-to-day operations.\u00a0Plus, it seems like it would be pretty difficult to mess with the software without anyone finding out about it. Moreover, just from a cost-benefit standpoint, it doesn\u2019t really make sense that these H.I.G. directors\u00a0would commit a felony and risk their super-lucrative careers just to get their Bain bro elected.<\/p>\n But that said, this still makes us a little\u2026 uncomfortable. For instance, what if irregularities or honest mistakes are suspected (and this is a real possibility: Hart InterCivic has previously had some pretty major\u00a0malfunctions <\/span><\/a>in its voting systems)? The documentation will then be in the hands of Hart\/H.I.G.<\/p>\n Tony Tamer \u2013 Bain alum; Romney bundler;\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Sami Mnaymneh \u2013\u00a0donated <\/span><\/a>to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign as well as Barack Obama\u2019s campaign<\/p>\n Douglas Berman \u2013 Bain alum; Romney\u00a0bundler;\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n John Bolduc \u2013 Bain alum; Romney bundler;\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Rick Rosen \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Brian Schwartz \u2013 bundler for the Romney campaign;\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Timothy Armstrong \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n John Black \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Dave Blechman \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Peter Cornetta \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Marc Kramer \u2013 No known donations to presidential campaigns<\/p>\n Chris Laitala \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Elliot Maluth \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n William Nolan \u2013 Bain alum; donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Michael Phillips \u2013 Bain alum;\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Matt Sanford \u2013 Bain alum;\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Lewis Schoenwetter \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Richard Stokes \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Neil Tuch \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Bret Wiener \u2013\u00a0donated exclusively to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign for 2012; donated initially to Mitt Romney and then to Barack Obama during the 2008 election<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Rob Wolfson \u2013\u00a0donated to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nH.I.G., in turn, has ties to Bain & Co. and Mitt Romney directly:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Two of H.I.G.\u2019s managing directors, Douglas F. Berman and Brian D. Schwartz, were present at the $50,000 per plate fundraiser\u00a0where Mitt Romney made his notorious\u00a0\u201d47%\u201d comments<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
H.I.G. employees currently make up the majority of the Hart InterCivic\u2019s five-member board of directors. Two of these three directors of the voting machine company,\u00a0Neil Tuch<\/span><\/a> and\u00a0Jeff Bohl<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> have donated directly to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
H.I.G. is the\u00a011th largest donor <\/span><\/a>to Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign. H.I.G. employees have\u00a0given $338,000 to the Romney campaign, outpacing\u00a0even Bain Capital itself, which gave\u00a0 $268,000.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
(Sidenote: Are we the only ones to notice that\u00a0every single one of H.I.G.\u2019s 22 American directors <\/span><\/a>is white and male? Not related to the Mitt Romney issue, but sheesh.)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nLinks to H.I.G.\u2019s American directors:<\/strong><\/h3>\n