Bloomberg’s Julianna Goldman reports that G.E.’s CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is not “rooting for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in this year’s election.” Immelt is head of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, as well as an informal economic adviser to the president.
“The story is nonsense,” GEO spokesman Andrew Williams told Goldman in response to a question about a report saying that Immelt would support Romney. “Jeff has said many times that the president is a good partner to work with on the jobs council. Jeff has also said that the president is a good listener and has been highly engaged with the council and its work. He still believes that today.”
The spokesman went on to tell Goldman that Immelt “is not going to endorse anybody in this election.”
That news is perhaps welcome in the Romney camp. After all, Immelt has become a somewhat polarizing figure, considering the Obama administration’s failure to create jobs. The unemployment rate is currently 8.3 percent.
Moreover, Immelt came under fire last year after the New York Times found that “[G.E.] reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.” The troublesome detail: “Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.”
Immelt is a Republican and, as Bloomberg notes, gave the maximum contribution ($2,300) to Romney in the 2008 presidential campaign.
