Posted on 01/12/2007 9:57:05 AM PST by areafiftyone
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's political record is relatively brief - four years as Massachusetts governor and a failed campaign for the U.S. Senate. That's enough, however, for Brian Camenker, a conservative gadfly and longtime thorn in Romney's side, to write a 28-page report that portrays Romney as sympathetic to gay rights and sexual behavior that clashes with his burnished image as a defender of traditional values.
Camenker's report, which has been making the rounds of conservative blogs and Web sites, threatens to undermine Romney's carefully crafted image, portraying him as far more liberal on social issues, particularly gay rights.
Detailed in the report, which includes five pages of footnotes and sources, are several mostly obscure incidents during Romney's four-year tenure as governor: a news release by a state advisory commission on gay youth, a proclamation hailing a gay pride parade, and distribution of a safe sex pamphlet, among others.
Romney's record on such touchstone social issues as homosexuality is crucial as he pitches himself to conservative Republican voters as a bulwark against gay marriage in the only state that allows same-sex marriage.
"The biggest problem is that Romney is so clearly and blatantly faking this. He's a fraud," Camenker said.
Romney's spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom dismissed Camenker's report, saying Romney governed as a "mainstream conservative."
"Politics has always had a fringe element," Fehrnstrom said. "We can't be distracted by those who scream and shout their opinion with a total disregard for the facts."
In a radio interview Wednesday, Romney said he was "wrong on some issues back then," and added: "If you want to know where I stand, by the way, you don't just have to listen to my words, you can go to look at my record as governor."
Camenker agrees, but he offers a different take on that record. As an example, he points to a question on the Boy Scouts and gays that got minimal notice in a 1994 Senate debate between Romney and Democratic incumbent Edward M. Kennedy.
When asked about the Boy Scouts' ban on gays as scoutmasters, Romney - then a member of the group's executive board - initially defended the right of the Boy Scouts to set a tough policy. But he added: "I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation."
Last April, Camenker's group MassResistance pressured Romney to end a state advisory commission on gay youth after showing administration officials a news release on an annual parade featuring a cross-dressing master of ceremonies and embracing transgender teens.
The release included Romney's name but wasn't vetted by the administration.
Romney, who had signed a proclamation hailing the same parade in 2003, moved to kill the commission. The head of the commission said she received a call from Romney's chief of staff saying he had issued an executive order revoking the commission. Fehrnstrom later confirmed Romney considered the move but "thought that was too harsh."
Instead, Romney ordered the commission to focus on its original mission of suicide prevention among gay and lesbian teens. He eventually abolished it after state lawmakers created a similar commission out of his reach.
Camenker's report also takes Romney to task for not firing any state workers after a pamphlet called "The Little Black Book: Queer in the 21st Century" was distributed at a high school conference on gay and lesbian issues.
The pamphlet, produced by the nonprofit AIDS Action Committee and discovered by Camenker's group, goes into graphic detail about safer sex practices. The pamphlet acknowledged the help of the state Department of Public Health, which was under Romney's control.
School officials said the pamphlet was intended for adults and was mistakenly made available at the event.
"We're not saying he wrote it or anything like that, but you would like to think that there would be a little more to get to the bottom of it and find out who had a hand in publishing something as horrible as that," Camenker said.
At the time, Romney distanced himself from the incident, saying that the state did not directly fund the booklet, and denounced the distribution of "graphic pornographic material on the gay lifestyle" in schools.
Another section of the report criticizes Romney for naming as his Transportation Secretary Daniel Grabauskas, who is gay and had previously been registrar of motor vehicles.
"Grabauskas, for example ... instituted a policy of placing a sex-change checkoff box on drivers license renewal forms," the report reads.
Amy Breton, a spokeswoman for the registrar, said the box was added over the objections of gay rights advocates as a law enforcement tool to help police verify gender when making arrests.
For his part, Romney has defended statements he's made in the past in support of gay rights.
"I don't think there's any conflict between feeling that all people deserve respect and tolerance and that discrimination is wrong and a belief that marriage is between a man and a woman," he said recently.
Romney's defenders say his conservative bona fides are unshakable.
"He's been rock solid on the issue of marriage," said Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which pushed a proposed constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage.
But Camenker's report and other reports of pro-gay statements by Romney have struck a nerve with some conservatives.
"He does need to address better the comments he made in the past if he truly wants to court social conservatives," said Tom McClusky, spokesman for the conservative Family Research Council. "Too many people are going to be cynical and wonder if his actions are politically motivated."
HERE IS THE REPORT Mass Resistance
The primaries will determine all of this -- and it will do so via skill as a candidate, and that includes money.
The conservative hotlist of Hunter and Gingrich is what it is, and either would be excellent candidates for president IF they close the deal. That means if they raise the money and orchestrate a campaign organization and persuade enough voters to help them win. And it also means if YOU do what's necessary to get them the money they need and the campaign organization they need.
If your candidate does not get nominated it is not the GOP's fault. It is not some amorphous evil agenda's fault. It is YOUR fault. YOU didn't raise enough money for them. YOU didn't persuade enough voters to support them.
So if the GOP winds up with some other candidate nominated, don't blame that candidate or the GOP. Look in the mirror. That's who is to blame.
That only matter to people who have a brain to spot a phoney. Not everyone has this gift. It used to be called "Common Sense". But heck I am now an oldtimer.
Maybe you misunderstood. If Romney is the Republican nominee I will keep my mouth shut and support him. Until such time as he is, I will fight tooth and nail to keep him from said nomination. He is nothing more than a native-born Schwarzengger.
>>Maybe you misunderstood. If Romney is the Republican nominee I will keep my mouth shut and support him. Until such time as he is, I will fight tooth and nail to keep him from said nomination.
>>
That, sir, is exactly the right attitude -- with one minor suggestion. Don't fight so hard and dig so deep for dirt that you provide the enemy ammunition should he get the nomination. Accuse him of being too far leftward if you wish, and if he survives the nomination process and proves himself to be the best candidate (by so doing), then being accused of being too leftward will still leave him to the right of the enemy's nominee and preferable for all conservatives.
But no Republican should go after him in a sideways manner, making an issue of his religion or something about his kids or anything like that. Folks doing that are just helping the enemy.
I agree Pukin Dog. I have felt that way for some time.
Who had heard of Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton???? They got elected.
He's a conservative 17-year House legislator who's angling for a VP or Secretarty of Defense position. The guy's not going to win the GOP nomination.
Since you can never ever change a position in some people's mind:
Camenker Admits He Used To Be "A Social Liberal." "For much of my life I thought of myself as a social liberal. I voted for John Anderson for president and Michael Dukakis for governor." (Brian Camenker, "How A Good Jewish Boy Joined The 'Religious Right'," The Jewish Advocate, 12/25/96)
www.georgiansforromney.blogspot.com
Ever heard of Utah?
The problem is Romney is a fraud.
This guy led the effort in 2004 to make sure the Clinton Gun Ban did not sunset in MA. Granted, the MA legislature would have done this with or without him, but he made a point of leading the initiative.
Then he shows up at SHOT Show in Orlando this week looking for support from gun owners. I would love to see him explain his comments of 2004 while he's admiring these weapons in 2007.
Did we not learn our lesson with allen in 2006? Everyone dumped on him and attempted to eat him alive b/c of 2008 politics, and our opposition used it against him.
"Camenker's not a serious social conservative hear, and gained reknown only after the Goodridge fiasco. His views on Romney are rejected by the wide majority of Massachusetts social conservatives."
Wrong! He's been extremely active on social conservative issues for years. Google fistgate someday. I'm extremely disappointed in the social conservatives like Kris Mineau who were bought very cheaply by Romney.
He is just another Massachusetts yankee. After he insulted the Confederate flag, he alienated South Carolina voters. Watch his polls wither. Romney, Gulliani, Thompson, McCain't, all are being snubbed in Dixie. Ron Paul is leading a Constitutional REVOLution.
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