(2007-12-05) — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday fired his lawn-care contractor over suspicions of continuing violations of immigration laws, and accused former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani of violating federal child labor laws 26 years ago when he hired Jimmy Stevens, then age 11, to mow his front yard.
Responding to pressure from a growing grassroots movement to create a “lawn-care litmus test” for all GOP presidential hopefuls, Mr. Romney severed his relationship with Community Lawn Service, after abandoning an earlier plan to capture the illegal aliens in his shed, and have them deported.
“This is not a response to Rudy’s accusation that I have a sanctuary mansion,” said Mr. Romney. “I have actually been working closely with immigration officials in a sting operation to draw illegal aliens to my property so the feds could observe their movements.”
Meanwhile, the Romney campaign said Mr. Giuliani has a bigger skeleton in his closet due to testimony from the now 37-year-old Mr. Stevens that he was a minor when employed to mow the Giuliani lawn in 1981.
“I realize now that I was exploited,” said Mr. Stevens, who currently works in public relations for an unnamed Republican presidential candidate. “I had no safety gear, no ear plugs or goggles or nothing. There was this sharp, whirling metal blade within inches of my ankles. The device ran on a flammable liquid and it used to shoot rocks and sticks at alarming speeds. In hindsight, I must have been terrified.”
Mr. Stevens said the Giulianis would allow him to labor in the hot sun for “the better part of the morning, and then pay me a paltry two bucks an hour, plus all the lemonade I could drink.”
The Giuliani campaign declined to respond to the Romney charges beyond a terse news release which quoted Mr. Giuliani as saying, “Frankly, I’m offended at Mitt’s accusation. Jimmy Stevens looked a lot older than 11, and presented himself as a mature, competent contractor. You can’t go around asking people their ages.”
43 responses so far ↓
1 JamesonLewis3rd // Dec 5, 2007 at 7:30 am
God Bless America
2 JamesonLewis3rd // Dec 5, 2007 at 7:41 am
Politics is weird, isn’t it? I mean, really, isn’t the relevant issue obvious? Neither one of these guys mows their own lawn.
Here’s my “litmus test” :
Is there a pair of green (once white) tennis shoes in their closet!?!
3 boberinyetagain // Dec 5, 2007 at 8:11 am
Very amusing as always Mr Ott!
Or is this one true? I never know for sure
4 onlineanalyst // Dec 5, 2007 at 8:19 am
“…grassroots movement…”?
Ha,ha, ha, ha, ha! Good one, Scott.
BTW Did you know that you were a featured headline at captainsquartersblog the other day?
5 Ms RightWing, Ink // Dec 5, 2007 at 8:34 am
How about shoveling snow, Yikes we are white today. Any minors want to shovel and make a little money.
I thought not
6 Libby Gone // Dec 5, 2007 at 8:46 am
That horrible degrading experience must have forever scarred Mr. Stevens. I would hedge my bets he is probably unemployed, on welfare, and addicted to prescription medication to cope with the utter humiliation of being caught “Working While American”.
Can even his vote for The Hillary save this poor wretch?
7 Libby Gone // Dec 5, 2007 at 8:48 am
I’ll do it, Ms. RW! I could use the money. We got it here to in Mitch Chee Gon. Pretty Morning.
8 Ms RightWing, Ink // Dec 5, 2007 at 9:09 am
Libby, I would love to hire you but you “ain’t” no minor.
9 conserve-a-tips // Dec 5, 2007 at 9:13 am
Ha Ha Ha. “In hindsight I must have been terrified.” That is the epitome of the liberal statement of the month!!!
Great job, Scott.
LibbyGone: Hedge your bets??? No pun intended?
10 Maggie // Dec 5, 2007 at 9:41 am
c-a-t re#9,
Honestly,when you wrote “no pun intended”, was your tongue in your cheek?
:>)
11 Maggie // Dec 5, 2007 at 9:46 am
My understanding of this situation is that the’ lad ’scaper was on grass.
12 boberinyetagain // Dec 5, 2007 at 9:55 am
“It’s my own invention, a combination of Kentuck Bluegrass and sensimillian, you can play 18 holes on it during the day and then smoke it at night. It’s a little harsh”
13 Just Ranting // Dec 5, 2007 at 10:34 am
This landscaper caper sounds like mulch ado about nothing.
14 da Bunny // Dec 5, 2007 at 11:35 am
More proof of the evil ways and the vast wealth of Rethuglikkkans in their taking advantage of the “undocumented” and the “minors” of our society. I guess poor Jimmy Stevens was just having to do work that rich Republican-Americans won’t do…
15 Maggie // Dec 5, 2007 at 11:47 am
boberin re#12……………funny!
Hi daBunny! Are you on the mend?
Merry Christmas.
16 da Bunny // Dec 5, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Hi, Maggie! Yes, doing much better, although “Mr. Bunny” is now under the weather. Merry Christmas to you, as well! A card is en route…
17 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I also was about to fall off of my chair when I read that Mr Stevens said,”In hindsight, I must have been terrified.”
18 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 12:57 pm
No snow left here in western Wyoming today, we had about 6 inches of it on Saturday, I am very unhappy that my new house is not situated so that I can use my Honda four wheeler w/ snow plow to clear it off. Well, I could, but it isn’t worth the effort of installing the plow.
19 Libby Gone // Dec 5, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Boberin,
More Caddyshack references? LOL!
20 gafisher // Dec 5, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Mower bad news. Can’t Rudy and Mitt just get a lawn?
21 news and observer // Dec 5, 2007 at 1:30 pm
[…] Romney: Rudy Hired Illegal Minor to Mow Lawn […]
22 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Sounds as though the problems all began when they got a lawn !
23 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I wonder if these candidates are of the “grow a lawn to get a lawn” mentality?
24 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 2:46 pm
I guess that in hindsight I too am terrified of my experiences in that underaged lawn care worker controversy, when I was 13 I was forced into using a large riding mower. I was but a poor youth that didn’t realize how I was being used to enrich……humm, dad bought the gas and oil, took care of the maintenance, and I kept the funds from the services rendered. Well, I’m sure I was being exploited nonetheless, it is an outrage and I demand a Congressional investigation. I want to know if such activity continues to this very day !!
25 conserve-a-tips // Dec 5, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Gafisher: I am groaning her. Aghhhh.
Boberin: I’ve smoked hams and bacon sides before, and I’ve even smoked pork loins and turkeys, but I’ve never smoked grass.
Personally, I just think that the two candidates are trying to establish their own turfs. I wish that Fred Thompson would just come out and use this to mow ‘em down.
26 Darthmeister // Dec 5, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Really now, I think all of this is such a minor issue.
Q: What do you get if you cross a Jehovah’s Witness and a Unitarian?
A: Someone who goes around knocking on doors for no apparent reason.
27 danimal // Dec 5, 2007 at 4:30 pm
A recent press release from the Romney campaign declares that when elected, President Romney would replace the Border Patrol, TSA, ICE and the entire Department of Homeland Security with the Boston Globe Reporters who sat in the bushes of his home for months “investigating” and “interviewing” swarthy looking landscapers.
“It’s evident that they are willing to do what it takes to defend our borders against criminal migrants. And with the Globe serving in this capacity, there will be no one left to print accusations of racial profiling in their stinking fish-wrap”.
28 Darthmeister // Dec 5, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Hmmmm, can’t wait for the pool boys to become an issue.
29 Darthmeister // Dec 5, 2007 at 6:22 pm
danimal,
WaPo and NYT reporters can provide the back-up. And if this keeps up, in the coming months I’m sure we’ll begin hearing about the growing shortage of newsprint for lining the bottoms of birdcages.
30 Maggie // Dec 5, 2007 at 6:31 pm
gafisher re#20………hilarious…….one of your best.
31 mig // Dec 5, 2007 at 6:50 pm
gafisher#20, oh my goodness, are you a stand up guy?
32 mig // Dec 5, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I wanna pool boy. It might look suspicious since there’s no pool, but I would like one anyway. Can I?
33 camojack // Dec 5, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Depending upon the particular activity, all minors are illegal…like the aforementioned smoking, for example.
34 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I think some of the miners here in Whyoming might just be illegal, more likely though some the oil field workers are illegal. They come in to Walmart on paydays to cash their paychecks and send money back to Mexico.Some cannot communicate via the common language.
35 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 7:38 pm
And now push has come to shove…
36 mindknumbed kid // Dec 5, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Terrible day in Omaha. Pray for the victim’s families there. Senseless.
37 Scott Ott // Dec 6, 2007 at 11:48 am
Let’s see if this is working again.
38 Scott Ott // Dec 6, 2007 at 11:56 am
[Editor’s Note: Well, yes it is working now that we have disabled one of our many anti-spam devices. While troubleshooting this issue, the vast IT staff at ScrappleFace has gained compassion for the many who have commented but not seen the comment post immediately. This phenomenon is apparently caused by a device that caches (stores a copy of) the page on our webserver so that the site runs faster when a lot of readers are on it at once…which is quite often. It’s a two-edged sword. We’re confident that future generations of geeks and bloggers will laugh at the droll misfortunes of our primitive era. Thank you for your patience. Now, please resume the crucial work of witty repartee that you have thus far so nobly advanced.]
39 JamesonLewis3rd // Dec 6, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Thank you.
40 woodnwheel // Dec 6, 2007 at 12:37 pm
“…said Mr. Stevens, who currently works in public relations for an unnamed Republican presidential candidate.”
Hilarious!
41 JamesonLewis3rd // Dec 6, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I didn’t expect much, to be honest, but, in my opinion, Romney’s speech said absolutely nothing and blatantly avoided the real issues surrounding Mormonism.
The only way I would ever vote for Romney or any other Mormon is to avoid voting Democrat.
42 Ms RightWing, Ink // Dec 6, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Thank you Scott for informing us of things my mind cannot fathom. I been tweaking my computer all morning because when the remarks said I was banned from Scrapple, the follow up was to download all of this Google stuff, which I did.
I changed virus protectors and everything. sigh. Last Sunday I downloaded PC Doctor’s registry cleaner and nothing has been right since, so I thought my Scrappleface boot was due to that.
Now, back to life as I know it.
43 everthink // Dec 6, 2007 at 3:07 pm
“The only way I would ever vote for Romney or any other Mormon is to avoid voting Democrat.”
I could vote for a Republican; but, I’d be happy to see you choose any nut in the current Republican bowl to replace the worst president in American history.
Whichever of these you choose, be assured Democrat have a squadrons of “Swiftboats” standing ready.
Don’t think for a minute the next election will not be a referendum on your last disastrous choice.
Hillary would not be my first choice; but even she can’t do a worse job of preventing an attack on American soil than Republicans have done; nor can she violate fundamental American Rights to a greater degree than Republicans have done. She can’t do a worse job in understanding the NIE, and will not waste American lives and treasure attacking a country which poses no threat to our security. She cannot lie more, cheat more or, big thighs or not, act more like a dictator than president than Dumbyah already has done.
I believe any Democrat will make short work of ending Osama bin Landin’s threat to America, and restore our prestige in the world.
You here love to quote great Democrat leaders; but you opposed their election, and hate them while they are in office.
Instead, you elect demigods without the honesty, or mental capacity to carry out their constitutional duties. Why not quote “Tricky Dick”, or Dan Quale, Dick Cheney, or “Dumbyah” why don’t you?
ET
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