In 2010, Mitt Romney and his wife had 4 women working as "household workers." Their names are listed in the 2010 tax returns, but this year:
Romney Outsourced Payroll, Shielding Household Labor Costs
So why did Romney do this? Possibly in part because the 2010 information led to questions, specifically why were these 4 women paid so little, what did they do?
the couple paid only $20,603 in taxable wages for household help in 2010.
So who are these women?
Meet Kelli Harrison. Former Tufts University volleyball player and Middle Eastern studies major. She's the one who evidently used covert CIA procedures to sneak Ryan around before the VP announcement. She's Ann and Mitt's "personal assistant." She considers herself on permanent call, and always has her cellphone on. She came up with the title of Romney's book, "No Apology," helped work on it, and assisted the woman who ran his campaign in 2008. She travels with the Romneys and researches the people Mitt will talk to and gives him previews on their biographies beforehand. And she was paid about $8,000 in 2010. I'm not sure how she gets by beyond that. Maybe it's like Scientologists or other wealthy people and she gets perks instead of paychecks. I'm not sure. That stuff must be somehow legal or it wouldn't be so common. But beyond work, she's also very close to Ann and Mitt and says she is considered part of the family.
““I like to think of myself just as constantly on call,” Harrison says. “I always have my phone on.”
I’ve known her to be always discreet. I’d trust her with anything, as would Mitt and Ann. She is also incredibly thorough and smart as a whip. And she has a complete understanding of all of Mitt’s activities, so she was able to handle his movements without arousing any suspicion.”
Valerie Cravens Anae ($4,890), Susan Moore ($2,238), and Rosania Costa ($4,808) are harder to pin down. And maybe that's also part of why the Romneys changed the way they file these taxes - it's possible these women didn't want the public attention.
One of these women may have made an appearance doing laundry in the background of the Romneys' family video. Another may be in a picture on Facebook and may have gone to Brigham Young. But apparently not enough is known about them to write a meaningful story. Some of these women seem to do housework, while others play the part of CIA agents and help write books, yet they were all listed as "household employees" in 2010 and received very little in monetary compensation.
These women seem to be an integral part of Ann and Mitt's daily routine, like additional appendages to their own family and daily lives. It would be useful to better understand how Ann and Mitt compensate these women who work so closely with them on a day to day basis and who are so trusted - especially now that Mitt has hidden the general details of this behind an outsourcing payroll agency in his latest filings. Kelli Harrison says she's like one of the family. That's nice, but only $8,000 bucks for all that hard work? I hope Ann and Mitt are compensating Kelli with some pretty nice perks.