God, they’re predictable

These very moral people:

Documents unsealed by a court in Massachusetts today show that Mitt Romney created a special share of stock to help a friend give his ex-wife less money during a nasty divorce, and then testified that she got a fair price, even though she made a fraction of what the shares were worth just a year later.

Romney testified that Tom Stemberg, the founder of Staples, had properly appraised the value of the company’s shares at $2.25 during the divorce. But a year later the share price closed at exactly 10 times that amount on the first day of its IPO.

As we noted yesterday, the divorce testimony was the “October Surprise” with the most potential to actually be surprising. It seems like it may not disappoint. While initial rumors that Romney lied about Staples’ value under oath appear overblown, the story is not particularly flattering at a time when both candidates are desperately trying to attract female voters.