Mitt Romney’s problems over when precisely he left Bain Capital continue to pose a problem for him. He contradicted himself on two separate forms to two federal agencies, both of which carry a perjury statute. He told the SEC from 1999-2001 that he remained the CEO and sole shareholder of Bain Capital, and he told the FEC in a Financial Disclosure Form that he left Bain in 1999. I suppose there’s a way that both could be true, but it’s highly unlikely.

And now, there’s little reason to believe that the narrative the Romney campaign has pushed, that he left in 1999, is totally factual. Ryan Grim digs up testimony from Romney in 2002 showing that he participated in Bain-related activities after the departure date:

Mitt Romney’s repeated claim that he played no part in executive decision-making related to Bain after 1999 is false, according to Romney’s own testimony in June 2002, in which he admitted to sitting on the board of the Lifelike Co., a doll maker that was a Bain investment during the period.

Romney has consistently insisted that he was too busy organizing the 2002 Winter Olympics to take part in Bain business between 1999 and that event. But in the testimony, which was provided to The Huffington Post, Romney noted that he regularly traveled back to Massachusetts. “[T]here were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth,” he said.

Romney’s sworn testimony was given as part of a hearing to determine whether he had sufficient residency status in Massachusetts to run for governor.

Romney testified that he “remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the Life Like Corporation” at the time.

Yet in the Aug. 12, 2011, federal disclosure form filed as part of his presidential bid, he said, “Mr. Romney retired from Bain Capital on February 11, 1999 to head the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Since February 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way.”

That federal disclosure form is looking shakier and shakier now. In response, Romney’s campaign went into ostrich mode, declining to answer questions about the discrepancies. So there’s a lot of smoke here.

It’s interesting that Romney made this testimony to prove his Massachusetts residency. For a decade now, he has been saying whatever would please both his campaign narrative and the letter of the law, even when those two came into conflict. And it’s catching up to him.

The fact that Romney received $100,000 in compensation for those years when he “left” Bain, despite contentions that he had nothing to do with them, makes this more of a problem. Really this all goes back to his refusal to release taxes. As an ultra-rich individual, Romney doesn’t want the public to see all the legal but ethically dubious shenanigans that go into tax sheltering. In addition, he wants to be absolved of responsibility for as much of what happened at Bain, including outsourcing and whatever else. So that leads to secrecy, and telling different things to different audiences. You do enough of that in the spotlight of a national campaign and you’re going to get yourself into big trouble.