[Vision2020] Could THIS be true?

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Daily Mail (London, England) at:

http://tinyurl.com/8od5dvn
 
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'Romney has a lot of bodies in his personal and business life… and all will soon be revealed': Threats made by first wife of ex-Staples CEO at center of Allred's 'October Surprise'

Tom Stemberg is a staunch Romney supporter and former business partner 
Romney reportedly testified about Stemberg's role as a father to his four sons from his two ex-wives
First wife Maureen Sullivan Stemberg has branded Romney as 'deplorable'
Celebrity attorney Gloria Alldred in court after application was filed to have court records unsealed and a gagging order on the parties involved lifted
Boston Globe newspaper reportedly received a tip-off that there was 'juicy information about Romney' in the sealed documents
The revelations are said to involve allegations about a child custody matter
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's character will be called into question if explosive details of his sworn testimony at the divorce hearing of former Staples CEO Tom Stemberg are released to the public, it has been claimed.

Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who has promised an 'October surprise', is in court in Canton, Massachusetts today with Stemberg's ex-wife to reportedly attempt to unseal the case records and lift a gagging order on all parties involved.

The Boston Globe newspaper filed the application after reportedly receiving a tip-off that there was 'juicy information about Romney' in the sealed documents. The revelations are said to involve allegations about a child custody matter.

At the hearing, Alldred presented Romney and Mr Stemberg's attorneys with copies of the presidential candidate's testimony. They asked for time to review the documents before they decide whether to argue against releasing them, according to a CBS reporter in court.


Battle: Lawyer Gloria Allred, right, and Maureen Stemberg arrive at a Canton, Massachusetts court to attempt to unseal the sworn testimony of Mitt Romney with regards Stemberg's divorce proceedings
But earlier today Romney's lawyer Robert Jones told Time magazine that his client had no issues with the testimony being made public.

'This is a decades-old divorce case in which Mitt Romney provided testimony as to the value of a company,' he said. 'He has no objection to letting the public see that testimony.'

The court appearance comes as a string of online messages have surfaced from a commenter claiming to be Maureen Stemberg, 61, in which she unleashes a scathing attack on Romney and promises all 'will very soon be revealed' - in a possible nod to Allred's campaign.

She also refers witheringly to his wife as 'Queen Ann' and lambasts both as out of touch.

In a series of unashamedly pro-Obama comments on the Huffington Post, a woman calling herself Maureen Stemberg writes: 'He had a lot of bodies hidden in his "personal and business life". Will very soon be revealed. When the door opens he and his team will be heading for the hills. Scary group.'

She claims she was married to 'his partner in crime, Mr Staples' - a close friend and advocate of Romney - and brands the presidential hopeful 'deplorable'.



Battle: Ex-Staples CEO Tom Stemberg, left, and Maureen Sullivan Stemberg, right, divorced in 1987
Mr Romney reportedly testified about Mr Stemberg's role as a father to his four sons from two ex-wives during court proceedings surrounding his 'messy' divorce from Maureen in 1987.

RadarOnline.com quoted a source as saying: 'Governor Mitt Romney gave sworn testimony about his observations of Tom's role as a father to his four sons.'

And Maureen Stemberg apparently remains extremely bitter about his part in her divorce, posting last month: 'I know the man and his wife. President Obama the only one to be our President!'

She also describes a time the Romney attended their house for a Christmas party and 'tried very hard to be real'.

'I truly do believe he has a fear and dislike for anyone who has less than 99,000,000 [dollars],' she wrote. 'He just can't relate and obviously Queen Ann is the same.'

A 2005 Boston Globe article reported that Maureen received nearly 500,000 shares of Staples stock in the divorce, but sold half before the company went public, missing out on a huge windfall.

And while another Globe article the following year described her as living an comfortable lifestyle, she demanded that her ex-husband pay her more money.


Mystery: While there are claims that the transcripts could be potentially damaging to Romney, his lawyer said the case is decades old and he is happy to make them public

Arrival: Allred was in court today in an attempt to unseal Romney's sworn testimony in a prior court case
She 'sits in her $5,200 a month, 14th-floor, concierge-at-the-door, elegantly furnished Back Bay apartment and tells you she’s broke,' it wrote. 'She can’t work. She can’t afford a car, her medications, her rent, even the family springer spaniel, J.J., who she just gave away.'

'I'm going to be out on the street,' she said. 'I've had a change of circumstances.'

She now works as an interior designer based in Charelstown, Massachusetts and has had a couple of reportedly on-off relationships since her divorce.

The online messages and interviews apparently reveal her enduring bitterness about her husband and their divorce - and Romney's part in it.

She even featured in a 2008 Lifetime documentary, The Maureen Sullivan Stemberg Story: A Portrait in Courage, in which she gave an 'in-depth account ... of the interweaving relationships and strange bedfellow that business has made in her life... which include Mitt Romney.'



Speaking out: Maureen Sullivan Stemberg branded Romney 'scary' and called him out of touch

Prolific: The slew of posts were made by an account named Maureen Stemberg on the Huffington Post
Polls show Romney and President Obama are neck-and-neck two weeks ahead of the election and Allred's claims may be perceived as the latest round in a tit-for-tat battle between supporters of the two candidates.

Mr Stemberg's sons are in their mid-teens and early twenties. His divorce attorney, Joel Kozel is also expected to attend today's hearing. It is not known whether Mr Romney will attend.

Another source quoted on the RadarOnline said: 'Ms. Allred's client feels that the public needs to know about Governor Mitt Romney's role in this very important case. 

'Governor Romney is running for President of the United States and this goes to a very important character issue.'

Mr Stemberg, 63, has four sons from his two ex-wives, Maureen Sullivan Stemberg and Dola Hamilton Stemberg.


Rage: A message by Maureen Stemberg on HuffPo identifies her as a former 'Mrs Staples'

Comment: She writes that the couple 'just can't relate' to people who have little money
COURTING CONTROVERSY: THE WORK OF GLORIA ALLRED

Gloria Allred has a long history of trotting out female clients who claim to have revealing and damaging stories about high-profile men.

The California attorney's clients have included the family of Nicole Brown Simpson in the O.J. Simpson trial and former Spice Girl Mel B for her paternity case against Eddie Murphy.

She has represented two of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses, Rachel Uchitel and Joslyn James, and worked for Ginger Lee, who claimed Anthony Wiener had encouraged her to lie during his sexting scandal.

More recently, she represented Sharon Bialek, who claimed Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain had groped her, and the girlfriend of the former girlfriend of Rudy Eugene, known as the 'Miami Cannibal'.

But the Globe reported on his 'paternal shortcomings' in 2006, recounting a story about how, when Stemberg lived with his second wife and their young children, he cut out his then 12-year-old son, Mac, with his wife Maureen.

It explains that he wrote to the boy: '"It will not be possible for you to be part of our family in the foreseeable future", because of the child’s supposed misbehavior during their divorce, he wrote, blaming the child for taking sides between parents and creating unbearable hassles, such as monthly court appearances.'

Stemberg's links to the Presidential candidate are well documented. Mr Romney's hedge fund, Bain Capital, was an early investor in Staples.

Mr Romney was a director of the firm for over a decade and some 90,000 of the 100,000 private sector jobs he has boasted of creating are through stationary retailer. 

During a speech given at the Republican National Convention last summer Stemberg praised the Massachusetts Governor saying: 'He never looked at Staples as merely a financial investment. 

'He saw the engine of prosperity it could become. Today Staples employs nearly 90,000 people.

'It has over 2,000 stores, over 50 distribution centers, and it is part of a competitive industry that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses get started on their own.'


Close friend: Tom Stemberg, who founded the company in 1986, is a staunch reporter of Romney

Speculation: Reports of the hearing broke as speculation swirls over what Allred's rumored 'October surprise' -- a last-ditch effort to damage Republican nominee Mitt Romney ahead of the election -- could entail.
And during an interview with PBS' Frontline earlier this year Stemberg described his first meeting with Mr Romney.

He said: 'When you first walked in and saw Mitt, he looked like a guy who ought to be president of the United States.

'This guy, he looked perfect; he dressed perfect; he spoke perfectly. He asked the most poignant questions in a very, very nice way and didn't make you feel defensive and really drew the best or worst out of you. He was just really, really good.'

Stemberg described Mr Romney as being 'no shrinking violet' and said he hadn't been concerned when his friend entering politics running for governor of Massachusetts.

'Nobody pushes Mitt Romney around. Having said that, if there's one person whom he will almost always defer to, it's Ann Romney.' he added.


Withering: In another message, Maureen Stemberg attacks Ann Romney
Conservative blogger Matt Drudge fuelled talk last week that Ms Allred was up to something when he tweeted: 'Here she comes. Hearing Gloria Allred out there again, about to make a move. After all, it's her time of the campaign. Team O at the ready!!'

Several news organizations had speculated that the case could involve Mormon women whom Romney advised on family matters while he was bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Allred has a long history of trotting out female clients who claim to have revealing and damaging stories about high-profile men. 

One of Allred's most famous clients includes a woman who accused former Tea Party presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual assault.

Another famous client includes a woman who claimed California GOP candidate Meg Whitman knowingly employed her as an illegal immigrant housekeeper.


Famous takedowns: One of Allred's most famous clients includes a woman who accused former Tea Party presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual assault.
Some conservative bloggers appear concerned about what Allred might expose.

The New York conservative blog, The Red Side of Life, demanded Romney supporters 'stop her now,' adding 'we're doing too well to risk 'an Allred.'

'Gloria Allred Prepares Anti-Mitt Strike You Can STOP Her Now! (action!) Don't underestimate Gloria Allred's ability to inflict damage,' the website reads.

HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WEALTHY WOMAN DIVORCED

By Dan Bates

The supposed October Surprise is the latest twist in Maureen Sullivan’s ‘war’ with her husband Tom Stemberg which has been raging for the past 25 years.

The pair divorced in 1987 but it was not until 2002 that things were finally resolved in court – but the resentment clearly still hangs heavy in the air today.

The messy split became the talk of Boston society which had never seen such a protracted and public battle between two of its own.

The sorry saga has been picked over repeatedly by the city's newspapers, but at one point made it onto the front page of the Wall St Journal, which wrote an article to mark its 10th anniversary.

Under her divorce agreement Sullivan was given nearly 500,000 shares in Staples, which her husband was running at the time, valued at $2.25 a share, according to a report in The Boston Herald. She sold off half her stock but two years later they soared to $19 a share when the company went public.

Sullivan, 61, duly sued her ex-husband for more money but her case was dismissed. She then sued the lawyer who advised her for the $3m in fees she racked up.

As the years rolled by neither Sullivan nor Stemberg, who said to be worth up to $300m, gave any ground.

The case went through four Massachusetts courts in which judges heard bitter child custody hearings over their son.

The Boston Herald has reported that in 1999 Sullivan briefly went bankrupt and despite suffering from cervical and thyroid cancers she claimed Stemberg cut off her health insurance. A court later forced him to reinstate it.

In another twist Stemberg, 63, and his second wife Dola also sued Sullivan for defamation in Suffolk Superior Court after she supposedly phoned one of his business rivals in a bid to sabotage a deal.

According to the Boston Globe, Sullivan was said to have called up Michael Feuer, the chief executive of OfficeMax, with which Stemberg’s Staples was doing a deal.

During a phone conversation Sullivan supposedly claimed that ‘she had started Staples’ and that she wanted to help him any way she could, an offer Feuer refused.

In other hearings at the same court Sullivan claimed to have been given death threats by Stemberg, though these were not proven.

The Boston Globe reported that she also alleged Dola Stemberg, 60, had abused her son - also not proven - and said that the Stembergs are ‘just not nice people.’

By 2006 Sullivan’s life appears to have stabilised and she was living in a $5,200 a month, 14th floor doorman apartment in the Back Bay area of Boston - but still claimed she was broke.

According from a Boston Herald article at the time she tearfully claimed that unless Stemberg gave her more money she would be ‘out on the street’.

She also reeled off a long list of medical complaints including seizures, therapy, pneumonia and possible lupus that were supposedly not being covered by her medical bills.

For his part Stemberg did not come out of the affair unblemished and during one hearing it emerged he had written an extraordinarily cruel letter to his son Mac, now 28, when he was aged just 12.

In it he said that he loved him but added that due to the divorce: ‘It will not be possible for you to be a part of our family for the foreseeable future.’

Stemberg’s split from his second wife was just as public and acrimonious.

Dola Stemberg filed for divorce in August 2003 after 15 years of marriage and two children and accused him of cheating on her with his former executive assistant and indulging in 'substance abuse', the Boston Herald has reported.

With memories of his public battle with Sullivan still in his mind, Stemberg tried but failed to keep the hearings private.

When the papers were released, the papers showed the couple shared a luxury $3.6m mansion in Boston, another house in the city and a interests in a range of blue-chip companies.

Dola Stemberg and Sullivan have been seen hugging each other in public in what appears to be a sign they have forgiven each other, even if they have different feelings towards their ex-husband.

Stemberg is now married to his third wife, Katherine Chapman, the founder of Toronto-based Olly Shoes.

Sullivan has reinvented herself as an interior designer based in Charelstown, Massachusetts and regularly posts angry comments on her Twitter page related to her time with her ex-husband.

According to the Boston Globe, Sullivan’s romances have included a bartender 19 years her junior called Justin Woolfolk, who she dated when he was 23 and she was 42.

The pair had an on-off romance which appears to have ended during a blazing row at a restaurant in Boston when one of his friends threw a glass at her.

Sullivan has also reportedly dated Danny Ponton, the owner of society hangout Club Colette in Palm Beach, Florida.

But for Stemberg himself, the he saying ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ must be ringing in his head louder than ever.


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Seeya at the polls, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students.  The college students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


 
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