Romney today compared Gingrich to Obama at a rally in Spartanburg, South Carolina, saying the former House speaker's attacks on Romney's record at Bain matched Obama's hostility toward business.
"I was disappointed over the last couple of weeks seeing one of my opponents attacking free enterprise just like the president was," Romney said at Wofford College. "That's not the role of the Republican Party. That makes us sad."
Gingrich has his own private-equity experience. In 1999, upon leaving the House, Gingrich joined the advisory board of Forstmann, Little & Co., the New York-based buyout firm.
Levy said later in an e-mail to Bloomberg News that Gingrich's response to his comments have "taken hypocrisy to a new level."
Buyout firms are trying to avoid a political taint similar to what the oil and gas business encountered during former President George W. Bush's election campaign in 2000, when his Democratic opponent, Al Gore, highlighted Bush's relationship with the industry.
Under Attack
As Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Bain continue to come under attack, the private-equity industry plans to counter perceptions that firms profit at the expense of workers, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The Private Equity Growth Capital Council, the industry's lobbying group in Washington, will start a Web-based campaign at the end of the month with testimonials of people who say private equity has helped their businesses, the person said. Members of the council include Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group and KKR & Co.
In the Bloomberg TV interview, Levy, who founded the private-equity firm JLL in 1988, urged more managers in the industry to speak out against the criticism from Gingrich and Romney's other opponents.
"These people, I think, should step forward and speak to their achievements and say, by the way, not every deal goes well," he said.