Romney Debt Unpaid For Generations, Author Says, Wants Mitt To Pay Up

Mitt Romney’s ancestor left a debt, author Judith Freeman says, and she wants the big-pocketed candidate to pay up what she believes she is owed for a many-decades old dispute over polygamy and the laws of the time surrounding the practice.

The Romney debt goes back to the 1880s, and involves Freeman’s great-grandfather William Flake, a polygamist, and Romney’s ancestor Miles Romney.

According to Freeman, the Romney debt stems from the Romney ancestor jumping bail and fleeing to Mexico, where Mitt’s dad was born. This weekend, Freeman explained how her great-grandpa had been jailed and stuck with Miles Romney’s debt for his bail bond when the elder Romney fled south of the border with his wives and kids:

“Miles P. Romney skipped out on his bail, fleeing across the border into Mexico with his three wives, Hannah, Annie, and Catharine, and their children … He left my great-grandfather [William] Flake holding the bag. Flake, on the other hand, was eventually sent to the Yuma Territorial Prison where he served out a six-month sentence for polygamy.”

Okay, so the alleged Romney debt must have at this point exceeded a statute of limitations, right? Nearing the 150-year mark is kind of pushing it, as the interest would likely be massive. But Freeman is willing to overlook the interest, and instead just take the Romney debt repayment at face value, adjusted for inflation, of course.

Of the Romney debt’s current total, Freeman suggests:

“I’ve done some calculation, and $1,000 from the 1880s would today be worth about $25,000, not counting interest … I want to assure Mitt that I’m more than happy to be the disperser of the funds and I guarantee that all the Flakes of the world will get their fair share the moment he does the right thing.”

Romney’s people have not acknowledged the supposed debt.