Suggestions for sillier things welcome:
Glenn Kessler: Mitt Romney left the helm of Bain Capital in 1999…. [T]he language saying [in 2000, 2001, and 2002 that] Romney was “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president” was boilerplate… there is no standard definition of a “chief executive”… no requirement for anyone to have any responsibilities even if they have that title….
Romney’s sudden departure from Bain had left the partnership in flux… resolution was not reached until he ended his Olympic sojourn [in 2002] and decided to run for governor. At that point, he signed retirement papers that set his departure date as February 1999…
We consulted with securities law experts…. One… pointed out that the titles are basically meaningless, that someone can be listed as a chief executive and actually have no responsibilities whatsoever…
Give it up, Glenn.
It would be very unusual for somebody to have the titles of not just "CEO" but "President", "Chairman of the Board" and be "sole stockholder" and to have no responsibilities whatsoever. In fact, I defy Glenn Kessler to come up with any example of anybody anywhere--save for Mitt Romney--who has been characterized to the SEC as "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" and also claimed to have no responsibilities whatsoever and to have merely been a passive investor.
Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?
