Fact Check: Story about Mitt Romney and missing child is true
Times-Union readers want to know:
Is it true that Mitt Romney closed down his firm, Bain Capital, and flew 30 workers to New York to look for the missing daughter of one of his colleagues?
The fact-finding groups PolitiFact.com, Snopes.com and Truthorfiction.com all rate this as true, and media reports of the day confirm much of the details of the viral email.
Although the message has been filling mailboxes, brought to light again now because of Romney's candidacy, the story has been circulating since he campaigned for the presidency in 2007. It came up then because of a television ad that showed the colleague, Robert Gay, crediting Romney with helping reunite him with his daughter, according to PolitiFact.com, a Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-finding project of the Tampa Bay Times.
What eventually came out, as reported in various news media, was that Melissa Gay, the 14-year-old daughter of Gay, the managing director of Bain Capital, sneaked out of her Connecticut home on July 6, 1996, and took the train to New York.
The reports quoted police and sources at Bain as saying that Melissa Gay met up with two men she knew, went with them to a rave party, took several doses of Ecstasy and was last seen at a party in the Bronx.
When she didn't come home, her parents called police.
The New York Times reported:
"As the days went by and her parents, Robert and Lynette Gay, grew more and more frantic, they finally told Mr. Gay's partners at the private equity-investment firm Bain Capital. A few hours later, executives of the Boston-based firm were on the shuttle to New York for a huge volunteer effort, harnessing corporate manpower throughout the city and immersing professional baby boomers in a youth party culture many knew nothing about. ...
"Bain Capital's partners closed down the firm and drew on friendships and connections to find volunteers for the search. R.R. Donnelly, the firm's printer, printed more than 300,000 fliers bearing Ms. Gay's picture and last known whereabouts. Duane Reade, a drugstore chain in which Bain Capital is an investor, had clerks at 52 stores insert fliers in shopping bags. ..."
Romney was one of the founders and partners of Bain Capital.
Various media outlets reported that the 14-year-old was found on July 11 after police traced a call by a teenage boy from New Jersey — he had taken in the girl unbeknowst to his parents — who called authorities asking about a reward.
Lt. David Peterson of the Montville (N.J.) Township Police told PolitiFact in 2008 that police reports did not mention Romney personally.
But the Boston Globe reported that Robert Gay had kept the ordeal to himself, confiding only in Romney. And it was Romney, the Globe stated, who told the other 11 managing directors and they decided that a missing girl came before their firm.
In an article in 2002, the Globe quoted Robert Gay as crediting Romney with organizing the search for his daughter.
"It was the most amazing thing, and I'll never forget this to the day I die," Gay told the Globe. "What he did was literally close down an entire business. He basically galvanized an entire industry that just doesn't do this, and got them all on the streets for 48 hours."
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-29/story/fact-check-story-about-mitt-romney-and-missing-child-true#ixzz29rOGClgW
Is it true that Mitt Romney closed down his firm, Bain Capital, and flew 30 workers to New York to look for the missing daughter of one of his colleagues?
The fact-finding groups PolitiFact.com, Snopes.com and Truthorfiction.com all rate this as true, and media reports of the day confirm much of the details of the viral email.
Although the message has been filling mailboxes, brought to light again now because of Romney's candidacy, the story has been circulating since he campaigned for the presidency in 2007. It came up then because of a television ad that showed the colleague, Robert Gay, crediting Romney with helping reunite him with his daughter, according to PolitiFact.com, a Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-finding project of the Tampa Bay Times.
What eventually came out, as reported in various news media, was that Melissa Gay, the 14-year-old daughter of Gay, the managing director of Bain Capital, sneaked out of her Connecticut home on July 6, 1996, and took the train to New York.
The reports quoted police and sources at Bain as saying that Melissa Gay met up with two men she knew, went with them to a rave party, took several doses of Ecstasy and was last seen at a party in the Bronx.
When she didn't come home, her parents called police.
The New York Times reported:
"As the days went by and her parents, Robert and Lynette Gay, grew more and more frantic, they finally told Mr. Gay's partners at the private equity-investment firm Bain Capital. A few hours later, executives of the Boston-based firm were on the shuttle to New York for a huge volunteer effort, harnessing corporate manpower throughout the city and immersing professional baby boomers in a youth party culture many knew nothing about. ...
"Bain Capital's partners closed down the firm and drew on friendships and connections to find volunteers for the search. R.R. Donnelly, the firm's printer, printed more than 300,000 fliers bearing Ms. Gay's picture and last known whereabouts. Duane Reade, a drugstore chain in which Bain Capital is an investor, had clerks at 52 stores insert fliers in shopping bags. ..."
Romney was one of the founders and partners of Bain Capital.
Various media outlets reported that the 14-year-old was found on July 11 after police traced a call by a teenage boy from New Jersey — he had taken in the girl unbeknowst to his parents — who called authorities asking about a reward.
Lt. David Peterson of the Montville (N.J.) Township Police told PolitiFact in 2008 that police reports did not mention Romney personally.
But the Boston Globe reported that Robert Gay had kept the ordeal to himself, confiding only in Romney. And it was Romney, the Globe stated, who told the other 11 managing directors and they decided that a missing girl came before their firm.
In an article in 2002, the Globe quoted Robert Gay as crediting Romney with organizing the search for his daughter.
"It was the most amazing thing, and I'll never forget this to the day I die," Gay told the Globe. "What he did was literally close down an entire business. He basically galvanized an entire industry that just doesn't do this, and got them all on the streets for 48 hours."
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-04-29/story/fact-check-story-about-mitt-romney-and-missing-child-true#ixzz29rOGClgW
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