Winning our Future, the Newt Gingrich-allied super PAC, is set to release another anti-Mitt Romney short documentary, this time focused on Bain Capital's involvement with a company guilty of Medicare fraud.
The video will be much shorter than the group's previous effort -- a nearly 30-minute long video titled "King of Bain," which focused broadly on Romney's private equity days. This one will be seven to eight minutes in length, according to Winning our Future's executive, former Gingrich press secretary Rick Tyler.
And it will "focus strictly on Damon Corporation," Tyler added.
Damon Corp. was a Massachusetts-based medical testing company that pleaded guilty to defrauding the government to the tune of $25 million. Bain purchased controlling interest in the company in 1989 and Romney personally sat on the board of directors. By the time Damon Corp. paid a $119 million fine (in 1993), Bain had sold the company to Corning Inc.
Tyler would not reveal his methods for shooting the film. But he did say that there were designs to turn it into 30-second or minute-long commercials to air either in Florida or other primary states. On Thursday afternoon, Winning our Future released a trailer for the film (see above), a rapid-fire clip reminiscent of a feature-film trailer.
In a statement to the The Huffington Post's Jon Ward, Romney spokesperson Gail Gitcho noted that the last Winning our Future documentary ended up being a flop, buried by accusations that it misquoted its subjects and misled on its material.
"Well, we know that the last Gingrich group film went down as a spectacular failure," Gitcho said. "If they want to keep attacking free enterprise, that's fine. We will have that debate."
That said, Damon Corp. presents a more acute political problem for Romney than his private equity career at large. Already, the union AFSCME is up with ads in Florida going after the former Massachusetts governor for his service on the company's board. The spot fails to note that a federal investigation into the matter never implicated Romney. But the fact that Romney did make $473,000 during his time with Damon Corp. underscores the charge that he profited on top of a Medicare-fraud mess.
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