Does the Idaho GOP Agree with Gov. Mitt Romney?
By BryanFischer Posted in User Blogs — Comments (12) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
June 13, 2006
Mr. Kirk Sullivan
Chairman, Idaho Republican Party
Dear Mr. Sullivan,
I read with surprise that Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is scheduled to be a featured speaker at this year's Republican state convention.
Research the Idaho Values Alliance has done reveals that Mr. Romney holds views which are wildly out of alignment with the party's own platform and with public policies that are best for Idaho's families. We think Idaho citizens need to have this information.
According to his 2002 campaign website, although Romney opposes gay marriage, he believes in legal recognition of gay and lesbian relationships, saying "domestic partnership status should be recognized" in law. In an interview with Bay Windows, a Massachusetts LBGT publication, he said, "I will support and endorse efforts to provide...domestic partnership benefits to gay and lesbian couples."
In 2002, he refused to support a proposed "Protection of Marriage" amendment to the Massachusetts constitution, and appeared to be a bit embarrassed by the fact that members of his own family signed the amendment petition.
He evidently has changed his mind, and now supports such an amendment, which naturally raises questions about credibility and consistency as well as what prompted this radical shift in political positioning.
He also pledged that as Governor, he "would protect the current pro-choice status quo in Massachusetts. No law would change. The choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal one. Women should be free to choose based on their own beliefs, not the government's."
In a debate with Sen. Ted Kennedy, Romney stated that "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal." Of Roe v. Wade, he said that "we should sustain and support it."
When he was accused of being "pro-life" in the 2002 gubernatorial race, Planned Parenthood and NARAL, the leading pro-abortion organizations in the nation, launched a vigorous defense of his pro-choice bona fides.
In a July 14, 2005 press release, they reminded the public that when he was asked by Planned Parenthood in 2002 if he supported "the substance of the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade," Romney answered "yes." When he was asked if supported "state funding of abortion services through Medicaid for low-income women," he answered "yes." When he was asked if he supported "efforts to increase access to emergency contraception," he also answered "yes."
He ended his response to the questionnaire by stating, "I respect and will protect a women's right to choose...the truth is no candidate in the Governor's race in either party would deny women abortion rights."
Further, he has stated that he believes homosexuals should be allowed to serve as scoutmasters, which should be of particular concern to citizens in eastern Idaho.
In a statement he made during his senate campaign against Ted Kennedy, Romney said, "I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation." He said this despite being a member of the Boy Scout executive council at the time. His opposition to BSA policy drew a rebuke from an organization spokesman.
To add insult to injury, he refused to grant the Boy Scouts any public role in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, contrary to the customary practice of previous Olympic organizers.
His political outlook is so friendly to the gay agenda that he received the unanimous endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans in his bid for Senate in 1994, and pledged in that race to do more for the gay community than his opponent, Sen. Ted Kennedy. He received the Log Cabin endorsement again in 2002 in his bid for governor.
More recently, he proposed doubling the funding for the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth for fiscal year 2006, twice what he proposed for FY05. This commission represents little more than an effort to use taxpayer funding to promote the normalization of homosexual behavior among high school students.
He is a strong supporter of hate-crimes laws and gay rights laws, including Sen. Kennedy's notorious federal ENDA bill. Such laws simply become weapons to intimidate, threaten, silence, and punish those who believe in the historic Judeo-Christian view of sexuality.
It was a state-level ENDA-type law that forced Catholic Charities in Romney's state of Massachusetts out of the adoption business altogether because the charity wisely insisted on placing adoptive children only in households with both a mom and a dad.
He has appointed numerous left-leaning judges, including a 2005 district court appointment of a man who served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association.
According to a 2005 AP article, Romney "has leaned more left when filling judicial vacancies...including two gay lawyers who have supported expanding same-sex rights." Twenty-three of the 36 judges or magistrates Romney has appointed are either registered Democrats or unenrolled voters who have either donated to Democratic politicians or have voted in Democratic primaries.
Of further concern to Idahoans is his apparent weakness on the Second Amendment. Romney was an open supporter of the assault weapons ban contained in a congressional crime bill, and supports the Brady bill, another gun control measure. These positions are at odds with the views of nearly all Idaho legislators and our entire congressional delegation.
We believe it is necessary for you, as the leader of the state Republican Party, to clarify for Idaho citizens the stance of party leadership on these important matters. Is the leadership of the Idaho Republican Party in agreement with Gov. Romney's positions on abortion, the radical homosexual agenda, and gun control? Idahoans deserve a clear and direct answer to these questions.
To say nothing implies an endorsement of views that are out of Idaho's mainstream, inconsistent with the state and national Republican Party platforms, and contrary to what is best for Idaho's public policy.
Sincerely,
Bryan Fischer, Executive Director
bryan@idahovaluesalliance.com
Bonham, over the next two years, every time someone new raises concerns about Romney's disturbing pro-abortion, pro-homosexual agenda, pro-gun control record, am I going to get the credit?
Even when other presidential candidates, who have far more resources for research than I, start talking about it, will it all be because of that bad guy from Michigan?
Am I to blame for Romney's record, or is Romney?
After reading post after post, it's just easy to see that AFA and this letter is just about flame baiting.
It's clear now that AFA feels that Romney is a Gay lovin', Scout hatin', Flip floppin', Abortion Advocatin' liar that needs to be exposed by nothin' more than his record.
Move along, there's nothin' more to see here.
"Twenty-three of the 36 judges or magistrates Romney has appointed are either registered Democrats or unenrolled voters who have either donated to Democratic politicians or have voted in Democratic primaries."
So that means that Romney appointed 13 judges that are Republican or independents that did not donate to the Democrats.
Strange, I didn't think Romney could find more than 10 Republicans in Massachusetts. Impressive.
When the actual video with all the other juicy comments Romney made during his debate with Kennedy. I saw it on cspan during onf of their little specials some time back and he comes off as a flaming pandering RINO. I even remember back when Rush had his tv show that he put it up and ripped into Romney for it.
This kind of thing's going to happen. Romney is rising and the family-values attack hounds are latching on to promote themselves.
When McCain comes alive, they're going to point to his statement about whether his daughter could have an abortion.
When Allen announces, they're going to attack him for being first trimester pro-choice and his wavering on adding gays to hate crimes legislation.
Lord help us if Rudy announces, they'll be all over him.
And, ladies & gents, one of those four men will be your GOP nominee in 2008.
It's what they do, and it's terrible for the party. Any legitimate candidate short of Jesus Christ would be savaged by these guys.
You forgot McCain's vote against the Marriage Protection Amendment. That's at the top of the list.
If the republicans are stupid enough to run either of these four, they deserve the minority status they will achieve.
This was in the pre-tape days. He would come in on Sunday Morning, put on the 30-min sermon-of-the-day record, and then go across the street to the coffee shop for his morning coffee and doughnut.
One day he returned to find the record had a scratch on it. The record was repeating (in accordance with the non-profanity rules of this site), "Go to [blazes]...Go to [blazes]...Go to [blazes]...Go to [blazes]"
By all means remind people of Romney's record. We need to hear it. But being a broken record repeating the same snippet over and over again to the exclusion of all else edifies no one.
I was just as disappointed as Rush was when he talked about it on his TV show. I remember as if it were yesterday Rush saying, "Somebody got to him", because up to that time Mitt had been reliably conservative, and the polls had been good. Rush predicted that Mitt would now go down to defeat. Romney tanked in the polls and never recovered.
Romney made a huge mistake way back then. He does not make the same mistake twice.
List all of the reasons that you don't think that Mitt Romney is a conservative, or conservative enough. E-mail them to me, with your best reasons at the top. I'll organize all of the reasons that I think he is a conservative. I'll put all of my reasons at the top, and I'll post both sides on this website:
http://myclob.pbwiki.com/conservatives
We need the truth. Your opinion is heavily biased. My opinion is also biased. But we need both sides to have the truth...
If you promice not to graffitti this website, I can just give you the password, and you can edit it yourself...
http://www.localnews8.com/home/3100881.html
One of the most conservative Republican counties in Idaho hosts the state GOP convention this weekend. Republican Governor Mitt Romney from Massachusetts kicks the party into high gear.
Kicking off the party may have been easier said than done for the Governor because some conservatives felt the Romney may be a little to liberal for Idaho Falls
We spoke with the chairman of the Idaho Republican Party and he says it's great to see Governor Romney in Idaho Falls, and he only received one letter that said otherwise.
"There was one person that did some research that questioned his position on certain social issues. gvner. romney, i did some research and he is very much in agreement with the idaho party and we're glad to have him here, and glad that individual did not come through because it wasn't right," said Kirk Sullivan, Chairman of the idaho Republicans.
Governor Romney talked Friday about his feelings on how great it is to be an American.
He says what always keeps him positive and reassure confidence is knowing that America always rises to the occasion, pushing through any tough times we have.
He also mentioned how great it was to be a part of the Olympics.
At the end of his speach, the governor received a standing ovation, and a buck knife from the committee engraved with Idaho Republican Convention 2006.
Click on the link to see the video...
You see your letter is just as misleading as the Post by your friend AFAmichigan. I am already familiar with your letter since AFA linked to it in one of his past posts.
Having family members and friends in Idaho that are huge supporters of Romney and Republicans at the same time, I can report that they strongly support Romney and can see past your misconstrued facts. Unfortunately your lines are only sloppy-seconds-regurgitations of past posts by AFA. They are pretty much worn out since they leave out much of the larger picture.
I encourage everyone to visit such online sites as:
www.americansformitt.com
http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/
http://www.iowansforromney.blogspot.com/
http://www.illinoisans4mitt.blogspot.com
http://catholicsforromney.blogspot.com/
http://lawstudentsforromney.blogspot.com/
Here they can find the current news on Romney, his real stances on the issues, links to other state Romney sites and what they can do to help.
Also visit:
http://nationaljournal.com/racerankings/wh08/
where you can see who the National Journal has currently ranked the upcoming republican candidates. You will notice Romney is number 2 behind McCain.
If people reading this want to donate please go to
http://www.thecommonwealthpac.com/
As many know Romney has been able to work around the restrictive Campaign Laws by our friend John McCain to build a strong network of supporters.
Make sure to thank your friend and mine Gary Glenn, a.k.a. AFAmichigan for refering you to RedState.