Mitt Romney
From Freepedia
Willard Mitt Romney is a Republican politician from Massachusetts by way of Michigan and Utah, who has been the Governor of Massachusetts since 2003.
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Biography
Born in Detroit, Michigan on March 12, 1947, a son of former Governor of Michigan George W. Romney, Mitt Romney graduated from the Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, then separated by gender with the Kingswood School, but now merged to become Cranbrook Kingswood School. He met his future wife, Ann (born in 1949), when she was at the Kingswood School.
Romney received his B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1971, then an MBA and JD from Harvard University in 1975.
Prior to being elected Governor, Romney was a cofounder and managing partner of Bain Capital, a Boston private equity firm; the 1994 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, winning 41% of the vote versus Senator Ted Kennedy in the closest election of Kennedy's long Senate career; and from 1999 to 2002 the CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee in charge of planning the 2002 Winter Olympics, taking charge after the bribery scandal. He also sat on the Board of office supply giant Staples, Inc..
Romney was elected Governor of Massachusetts in November 2002 as a Republican, and is among those speculated as being very interested in seeking the Republican nomination for President in 2008. Romney is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a Mormon). He and his wife Ann have been married 36 years, and have five sons (Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig) and eight grandchildren.
Romney speaks French fluently, and is passably acquainted with Swahili and several other Bantu languages.
Governor
Before the 2002 Republican primary for governor, the Republican incumbent, Jane Swift, was expected to run for governor. However, due to events under her tenure as acting governor she was seen by many Republicans as a liability who would be unable to win a general election against a Democrat. One poll taken at this time showed that Republicans favored Romney over Swift by a margin of more that 50 percentage points. With growing speculation that Romney would challenge Swift in what would be a bruising primary battle, Jane Swift decided not to seek her party's nomination.
During the general election Romney ran on a reform platform, as a major issue in the election was a serious state budget crisis. Supporters of Romney hailed his business record, especially his success with the 2002 Olympics, as that of one who would be able to bring in a new era of efficiency into Massachusetts politics. His detractors, on the other hand, cited his lack of government experience and claimed that he was ineligible to run for governor (See: Mitt Romney Residency Issue), as the state constitution requires 7 consecutive years of residency before a run and Romney had claimed residency in Utah as recently as 2000.
After much spirited debating Romney was elected Governor in November 2002 over Democrat Shannon O'Brien, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and Libertarian Carla Howell (50%, 45%, 4%, 1% respectively).
As Romney is still in the middle of his first term, his success as governor is still a subject of active debate. Proponents of the governor say that he has been effective in reducing government waste and moving towards a balanced budget, while opponents say that he has supported the interests of big business over his constituents and been more interested in traveling the country to promote his political ambitions (there is speculation that he will run for President of the United States in 2008) than in being governor. The governor is also frequently accused of ignoring predominantly-Democratic portions of the commonwealth when it comes to major transportation projects and approvals of funding. Romney also succeeded in pressuring William Bulger to resign as President of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) on September 1, 2003. Bulger came under pressure to resign when he invoked his fifth amendment privilege not to testify when he was subpoenaed by a Congressional committee to testify about his notorious brother, James J. Bulger. James (Whitey) Bulger is one of the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives. Many supporters of the UMass system opposed Romney's attack on Bulger because Bulger had been a highly effective advocate for UMass, and because they viewed it as partisan attack on Bulger, a formerly powerful Democrat.
Same-sex marriage
Romney was heavily involved in national and statewide attempts to block the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's November 2003 ruling which legalized same-sex marriage. He implored the General Court to pass an amendment banning gay marriage (the amendment passed the first round but failed in September, 2005, and thus will not be put on the ballot -- see below) and unsuccessfully went to court to try to have the marriages put on hold until the amendment's fate was decided. He did succeed in his enforcement of the "1913 law", which prohibits non-residents from marrying in Massachusetts if the marriage would be void in their home state; a decision many decried since the original purpose of the law was to block interracial marriages. The SJC is set to hear a case against the 1913 law in late October 2005.
Romney also testified in front of Congress, urging them to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment. In 2004, the Massachusetts House and Senate approved a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage but allow for Vermont-style civil unions. It was struck down in the 2005 session, by a vote of 157-39, and thus will not go to the voters. In June 2005, Romney endorsed the “Coalition for Marriage and Family,” a coalition of Catholics and conservative organizations, including local organizations like the Black Ministerial Alliance and Massachusetts Family Institute as well as religious national groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. The Coalition states that it was founded was a result of “Massachusetts’ activist court [that] redefined marriage without the citizens ever having their say.” Romney threw his support behind the Coalition’s citizen petition effort -- dubbed VoteOnMarriage.org -- that would encourage a vote against the existing ballot amendment and replace it with another streamlined question that bans gay marriage and makes no provisions for civil unions. [1] Romney claimed that the existing ballot question confused voters who oppose both gay marriage and civil unions.
Death penalty
In December 2004, Romney announced plans to file a death penalty bill in early 2005. [2] The bill, filed April 28, 2005, seeks to reinstate the death penalty in cases that include terrorism, the assassination of law enforcement officials and multiple killings. The legislation would require corroborating scientific evidence, multiple layers of review and a new "no doubt" standard of proof.
Romney's critics have made the usual arguments against the death penalty, and claimed as well that Romney's complex scheme for trying capital cases (involving direct appeals to the Supreme Judicial Court) is unworkable and a waste of prosecutorial resources. It is estimated that under Romney's plan, trying a capital case could cost upwards of US$3,000,000.
Abortion
During the 2002 governor's race, Romney stated he would honor a "moratorium" on abortion in which he would not attempt to change state abortion law. Although he told voters that he was personally opposed to abortion, he said he wanted to keep abortion "safe and legal in this country." In May, 2005, Romney claimed his stance on abortion had changed, saying that he considered himself a "pro-life governor" who wished "the laws of our nation could reflect that view." [3]
Although Romney has stated that he supports the use of unused embryos from fertility clinics for stem-cell research, he vetoed a Massachusetts bill to fund stem-cell research because the bill allowed the cloning of human embryos. The state legislature overrode Romney's veto, with many legislators feeling that stem-cell research will be important in the future to the state's biotech industry.[4].
Despite the controversy regarding Romney's positions, Romney has said he has kept his campaign promises. Romney then vetoed a emergency contraception bill in July 2005, claiming that emergency contraception could cause abortion of the fertilized embryo by preventing it from being implanted in the uterus. Romney's critics accuse him of grandstanding for the purpose of polishing up his pro-life credentials, for a possible run for the presidency in 2008.
Presidential ambitions
In what many viewed as efforts to kickstart his 2008 campaign for President of the United States, Romney campaigned for George W. Bush in New Hampshire and Michigan and had a prime speaking slot at the 2004 Republican National Convention. However, the speech, in spite of Republicans telling the press to "keep an eye on Romney", generated little interest, and New Hampshire and Michigan both went to John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential election. Romney's own popularity in Massachusetts slid due to a variety of reasons, including public unease over his frequent trips out of state, his campaigning for George W. Bush against John Kerry, an inability to get many of his proposals through the Democratic-controlled state legislature, and unrelenting attacks from his political foes, particularly state Attorney General Tom Reilly, a 2006 gubernatorial candidate, and state Senate President Robert Travaglini.
Also troubling for Romney were his failures in 2004 to assist Republicans in gaining seats in the state legislature. Republicans spent an estimated US$4,000,000 in the elections and outspent many Democrats by a 5- or 6-to-1 margin. Romney concentrated on suburban areas where he won in 2002, and personally campaigned for many of the candidates. Some also believed that the Massachusetts voters would have a backlash against the state's recent court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, as had happened with civil unions in Vermont four years earlier. But instead of Democrats losing their supermajority, they managed to gain 3 seats. Romney announced on December 23, 2004 that he would run for a second term.
News reports continue to suggest, however, that Romney has been laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign and many have speculated that Romney will run. On February 21, 2005 he spoke before South Carolina Republicans; the winner of the South Carolina primary has gone on to be the Republican nominee in every election since 1980 [5].
In June, 2005 a Times Argus article quoted Romney as saying it was a "fair characterization" to say that he's testing the presidental waters, but that he was currently planning to run for governor. A final decision, he said, would be made in the fall.
In a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation in September 2005 Romney stirred controversy when he suggested that Muslim Mosques should be wiretapped to check for possible terrorist activity and that foreign students from "terrorist-sponsored states" might merit special scrutiny and surveillance. [6]
A Boston Globe article by Frank Phillips [7] states that "Mr. Romney has leased office space near the top of the 60-floor John Hancock Tower, one of the most prestigious addresses in Boston, which aides say he will use in part to raise political funds as he mulls a run for president."
External links
- Official Website
- Politics1: P2008 - W. Mitt Romney
- Speech at the Republican National Convention, 2004 (RealPlayer required)
- Gov. Mitt Romney - 2008 Presidential Wire
- Blog for www.electromneyin2008.com
- Yahoo Group For Elect Romney In 2008
- in 2008, Will It Be Mormon in America? The Weekly Standard, 06/06/2005
- The Holy Cow! Candidate The Atlantic Monthly September 2005
| Preceded by: Jane Swift | Governor of Massachusetts 2003–present | Succeeded by: — |
Categories: 1947 births | Governors of Massachusetts | Latter Day Saints | Harvard Law School graduates | Harvard alumni
