Reid: Romney not qualified to serve in cabinet
The Senate majority leader says Romney has been too secretive about his tax records and finances.
By EMILY DERUY
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is not qualified to serve in a cabinet position, let alone to sit in the Oval Office.
In a radio interview with Fernando Espuelas on the Univision America Network, Reid criticized Republicans for being obstructionist and slammed Romney for a lack of transparency.
“We’ve had people who have sought cabinet positions who have been denied these positions because they had someone working for them — somebody who had bad papers. Mitt Romney, if he tried to be confirmed as a member of the cabinet would never make it,” he said.
Reid also accused the Republican candidate of failing to provide his income tax returns. Romney has released one year’s worth of tax returns, so far declining to provide earlier returns. His father, George Romney, disclosed 12 years of tax returns in a failed 1968 run for the White House, a fact Democrats have repeatedly pointed to as evidence of hypocrisy. The Obama campaign has portrayed Romney’s reluctance as a sign that Romney is hiding things.
Recent allegations that he has not been honest about the time frame of his tenure helming the investment firm Bain Capital have not helped the candidate.
“He’s afraid to [release them],” Reid said. “Why? Because he has parked most of his money — I shouldn’t say most, he’s got a lot — he’s parked money overseas. He basically hasn’t paid taxes because he has tax havens, tax shelters.”
The Obama campaign released a new video this week that features a ticking clock and tells viewers that Romney “is defying calls to release more than a year’s worth of tax returns.”
The Senate majority leader also criticized Romney for supporting the controversial Arizona immigration law, which was partially struck down by the Supreme Court.
“He said that a model for this country is the Arizona law. So he wants you and everybody listening to this program to show him their papers. But he’s not willing to show us his papers,” he said.
Reid says the country needs comprehensive immigration reform, and blames the lack of any on the Republicans, saying, “I can’t get it done. I need some help from the Republicans.”
He also praised the president for using his executive power to allow some undocumented youth to remain in the country.
“We looked at the DREAM Act because we couldn’t get comprehensive immigration reform done. And we tried and tried, again I voted on that — we’ve required votes on that twice,” Reid said. “Democrats go for it, Republicans don’t. So thank goodness the president did what he could do under the powers that he has.”
(Photo: screenshot/YouTube)
