Did I uncover a real scandal or not? Mitt Romney, Blaine Capital, KB Toys

[Ian David]

OK, follow this with me and tell me if there's a problem here.

KB Toys goes into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Bain Capital Group acquires KB Toys.

Bain Capital Group belongs to Republican Gov. Mitt Romney (and spare me B.S.
about "deferred profits" and "blind trusts.")

KB Toys donates $3,950 to The Republican State Committee of Massachusetts, plus
another $500 to Republican Mathew W Kinnaman.

Maybe it's just my imagination, but I have a hard time thinking there's not
several things wrong with that.

----

From: Matt Hirschland <[e-mail] >

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your inquiry and alerting us to a question about the accuracy of information we provide as a public service in our issue briefs. We update these periodically (typcially every other year) with the support of a grant made to BSR - we are 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Your letter has precipitated an inquiry to KB to find out the nature of their policy as we strive to assure accurate information. According to KB, they are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, have been acquired by Bain Capital and unable to verify their policies at this time due to these changes.

We are confident that at the time of original publication, the information was accurate. Now, in light of the changes at KB, will be removing the reference to them in the brief until we can verify their policies with confidence.

Thank you for flagging this for us.

Matthew Hirschland, Ph.D.
Director, Research & Communications

Business for Social Responsibility
111 Sutter Street, 12th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104, USA


-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 7:03 AM
To: advisoryservices; marketing; [e-mail] ;
[e-mail] ;
[e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail] ; [e-mail] ; [e-mail]
Subject: KB Toys political contributions- BSR has wrong info


It has become very important to me that I avoid patronizing companies that
donate to Republicans or other anti-American causes.

I have found sites like BuyBlue.org and ChooseTheBlue.com to be very helpful in
this regard.

Based on the article below from Businesses for Social Responsibility, I had done
all my holiday shopping at Kaybee Toys, and have been using it as my exclusive
toy store for my three year old daughter and for gifts to friends and family.

Now, after researching on my own, I am disturbed to find that Michael Glazer and
James McGrady have been donating to Republicans.

Now, Mr. McGrady's donations were at least to a Republican that was opposed to
Ohio's anti-gay marriage amendment, which redeems him somewhat.

This is in addition to Kaybee's decision to sell the George Bush Aviator Doll:

Boycott KB Toys For Misleading the Public About Bush's Military Record
http://www.petitiononline.com/kbtoys/petition.html


In any case, unless this situation changes, I intend do buy all my toys from
COSTCO (99% Democrat), which has a surprisingly good selection.
http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=17

The following information on your site is no longer correct:

Protecting the Company from Escalating Demands for Contributions

Some business leaders have increasingly expressed concern about escalating
demands for political contributions. Consolidated Stores Corp, a U.S.-based
retail chain that operates KayBee Toys, decided to avoid this problem by not
giving at all. The company's general counsel explained, "We realized that if we
were going to get into making political contributions, it would be endless. We
decided we would be better off if we simply avoided it altogether... We don't
believe political contributions could have any bearing on our success."

More:
http://www.bsr.org/CSRResources/IssueBriefDetail.cfm?Do...



Kaybee Toy and Hobby
PRESIDENT
GLAZER, MICHAEL
http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/corpsearch/CorpSearchS...

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=...

GLAZER, MICHAEL
LENOX,MA 01240
KB TOYS/CEO
11/6/2003
$3,950
Republican State Cmte of Massachusetts




KB TOYS/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MCGRADY, JAMES A
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleres/reppri04.htm
http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=...

KB TOYS/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
MCGRADY, JAMES A
6/28/2002
$500
Kinnaman, Mathew W (Republican)


MCGRADY, JAMES A
DUBLIN,OH 43017
RETAIL VENTURES INC
6/20/2004
$1,000
Voinovich, George V (Republican)
http://voinovich.senate.gov/biography/index.htm#tag10
(On the other hand, Voinovich opposed Ohio State Issue 1 which would ban gay
marriage)
http://www.opcpac.com/About /

MCGRADY, JAMES A
DUBLIN,OH 43017
SCHOTTENSTEIN STORES CORP
3/15/2003
$1,000
Voinovich, George V


-----

See prior thread:

Kaybee Toys (Republican bastards)
Topic started by IanDB1 on Apr-22-05 09:46 AM (3 replies)
Last modified by IanDB1 on Apr-22-05 10:18 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


More on Bain Capital:

http://cltg.org/cltg/clt2004/04-09-23.htm

Johnston said GOP Gov. Mitt Romney is using his experience in the private sector as CEO and founder of venture capital firm Bain Capital to influence his former corporate colleagues into helping the GOP reform platform.

"This is tainted money," Johnston said. "We think it is very important for the public to understand who is funding this campaign."

State House News Service
Monday, September 20, 2004
Dem chief raps Romney on fundraising, governor cites their "whining"
http://cltg.org/cltg/clt2004/04-09-23.htm#Service



See related thread:

See related thread:

I think I may have gotten KB Toys (Republican) in trouble
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1744133&mesg_id=1744133

[AlCzervik]

1. Good work! Have you thought of calling the Globe maybe?

or a local station with this info?

[Ian David]

2. Well, I don't know enough to tell if I'm being stupid or not

I'd hate to make a fuss over nothing and look like a foolish "conspiracy blogger" or something.

So, I figured I'd run it by the smarter people here.

I've also passed it along to a few other possibly interested parties.

I think it's premature to start media-blasting just yet.

Besides, do you know what KB Toys could do to me...

[AlCzervik]

3. I'd send it in or call, i sent something to Joe Conason about

a year ago that i thought was nuts, turns out he didn't and pursued it.

[Ian David]

4. I sent it to some of my state Democrats and elsewhere.

We'll see if anything percolates up from this.

[Ian David]

5. Here's a little more

ww.bostonmagazine.com Archives
Who's Up, Who's Down
by Greg Lalas
Copyright May 2002.

Two years ago, if you weren't a millionaire, or a billionaire even, you were nobody. But money is only a number on a computer screen, and as easily as it's made, it's lost. Now, near the end of the recession and in the middle of a war, the focus in Massachusetts has shifted again — to old-school businesses and resurgent biotechs. Oh, and to Bob Kraft.

<snip>

Michael Glazer
52, president and CEO, KB Toys, Pittsfield
Kids will be kids, even when they're running a $2 billion company: Glazer likes to take out his stress on a race-car arcade game he keeps in his office. KB Toys has been racing along since a Bain Capital-backed management buyout in December 2000. Started in 1922 as the Kaufman Brothers candy company, KB now has more than 1,300 stores and 6 percent of the $30 billion U.S. toy market. Glazer is pushing KB into alternative spaces — namely, partnerships with Sears and the Safeway supermarket chain.

More:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/ArticleDisplay.php?id=97&print=yes




KB Toys Files Chapter 11 – Jan 15, 2003
As a result of increased market competition and slow holiday sales, one of the largest U.S. toy retailers filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection on January 14. KB Toys, Inc. manages over 1,300 stores in U.S., Guam, and Puerto Rico. These operations include mall stores, neighborhood stores, outlet and liquidation stores, and KB Toys Express, which sells closeout toys in malls during the holiday season. KB Toys also owns inventory and rights to the obsolete eToys and sells online via eToys.com and KBtoys.com. Last month KB halted payments to Hasbro Inc., makers of toys and video games. Owed $15.3 million, Hasbro is filing as KB's largest unsecured creditor. On papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware, the company listed $507 million in assets and $461 million in debts. Michael L. Glazer is the President and chief executive officer of KB Toys, which is partially owned by the private equity firm, Bain Capital.

More:
http://defaultrisk.com/news_crdistresses.htm



# Consolidated Stores selling its KB Toys division , AP via NYT, C4.
toys unit of Consolidated Stores , 12/09/00 NYT, B3. So does "the Mitten," Mitt Romney of Bain Capital, wants some toys to play with during/after his stint as chairman of the Olympic Committee in Salt Lake City or what?]

More:
http://www.timesizing.com/a&m0011s.htm



Bain's billions

Bain was the first consulting firm to establish a private equity group. Founded in 1994, the private equity practice focuses on due diligence with private equity and LBO firms. The strategy-based projects in the private equity are usually shorter and more intense than those handled by Bain's other groups, with cases lasting approximately four to six weeks, as opposed to four to six months for a typical Bain case.

Bain also maintains ties to the private equity markets via Bain Capital, a successful venture capital firm founded in 1984 by Bain partners, including current Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. The firm, which has $15 billion in assets under management and around 300 employees in New York, Boston, San Francisco, London and Munich, has been a major shareholder in companies that include mattress-maker Sealy, flower purveyor FTD.Com, office-products retailer Staples, KB Toys and Domino's Pizza. Bain Capital functions as a separate company and prospective employees should apply directly to that firm (www.baincapital.com). Read More...
http://www.vaultmatch.com/companies/company_main.jsp?product_id=320&ch_id=252&co_page=2&tabnum=2&v=1

[wicket]

6. Get in touch with a Globe reporter

I'm sure they'd be eager to check into this :) Great find!

[lala_rawraw]

7. You are good... (quickly grabs you to Raw mother ship)

:D

[Bleacher Creature]

8. A Bit Off-Topic, But I'm Curious . . .

How was it that the Salt Lake City Olympic scandal didn't hurt Romney when he won the governorship? I honestly don't know.

[Ian David]

9. If I remember correctly, he was brought in to clean it up after the scanda

[rockedthevoteinMA]

10. Yes he was, and that's how he fooled a lot of independent minded

dems (like ones I'm related to) into voting for him. They thought he was an independent repuke, and could fix the state's budget. :shrug: Look at what happened.

[Ian David]

11. Update: Letter from KB Toy

Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 14:55:37 -0400
From: [e-mail]
Subject: KB Toys

KB Toys does not contribute to any political campaigning.

With more than 600 stores nationwide, we receive numerous donation requests
on a daily basis from organizations near each of those locations.
Unfortunately, we cannot fulfill all the requests that we get, nor do we
feel that we can choose from those groups, since all of them are very
worthwhile.

For this reason we have made the decision to support several specific
national 501(c)(3) groups that support children?s initiatives. We feel
that these organizations can reach a broad base of children throughout the
country.

Mr. McGrady was a member of Consolidated Stores which was KB Toys parent
company 5 years ago and he was not the CEO of KB Toys as your email states.
Consolidated Stores sold KB Toys 5 years ago.

www.kbtoys.com web site was purchased over a year ago by a separate company
and is no longer affiliated with the mall based/ strip center KB Toys
stores.

Thank you for your time.

KB Toys