Romney enters his La Jolla, Calif. beachouse in 2008 (Denis Poroy/AP)Mitt Romney is planning to expand his $12 million beachfront home, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported this weekend.
The newspaper reported Saturday that the Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor has filed an application to bulldoze his 3,009 sq. ft. house in La Jolla, Calif., and quadruple its size. Romney purchased the three-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom Spanish-style home in 2008 after dropping out of the presidential race. The property includes an oceanfront deck, lap pool, spa and lawn that extends to the white sand beach.
[View photos from 2008 of the home here via Politico.]
Democrats are trying to paint Romney as out of touch with working Americans. They have been attacking Romney this month for saying that "corporations are people" at the Iowa state fair.
Democrats have also criticized Romney for attempting to sympathize with unemployed workers in Florida in June by telling them, "I'm also unemployed."
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) last week began selling t-shirts that read "some of my best friends are corporations" beneath a drawing of Romney.
Romney released a video last week that attempted to clarify his remark.
"Businesses are comprised of people-- I'm talking about repair shops, and gas stations, and beauty salons, and restaurants. I'm talking about Apple computer, and Facebook, and Microsoft. I'm talking about businesses that employ people," Romney says in the video. "It's really astonishing to me that the Obama folks would try and argue that businesses aren't people. What do they think they are? Uh, little men from Mars? But, when they tax business, they tax people."
Romney's net worth is between $190 and $250 million, according to recently filed financial disclosure statements. Romney hails from a wealthy family but earned much of his personal fortune by founding and leading Bain Capital, a private equity firm based in Boston.