PRESS RELEASE from Romney
for President
January 30, 2012
FLORIDA SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES SIGN ON TO
LETTER PRAISING MITT ROMNEY’S RECORD
Boston, MA
– Leading social conservatives in Florida today signed on to a letter
previously released by nine leading social conservatives praising Mitt
Romney’s record as Governor. The full text of the letter is below:
An Open Letter Regarding Governor Mitt Romney
January 29, 2012
Dear Fellow Conservatives:
At
the end of last month, nine Massachusetts leaders representing a broad
coalition of conservative activists penned an open letter in support of
Mitt Romney and outlined his commitment to the values that we hold
dear. We felt that the letter that they wrote was very effective
in
helping many voters understand that Mitt Romney was a pro-life and a
pro-family governor and that his record serves as public validation of
his commitment to those same policies as President of the United States.
In
light of the fact that in the past few days Newt Gingrich has used
inflammatory language to mischaracterize Governor Romney’s record on
the issues of life and family, we decided to re-release that same
letter from those Massachusetts leaders under our own signature.
The
full content of the letter is included as follows, and we hope that you
will not be discouraged by the destructive campaign tactics of Mr.
Gingrich:
December 30, 2011
Dear Conservative Friends:
We
hail from a broad spectrum of organizations dedicated to fighting for
the pro-family agenda in Massachusetts. As you know, Mitt Romney
served as the governor of our state from January 2, 2003 to January 3,
2007. During that time, we worked closely with him and his excellent
staff on that agenda.
Some
press accounts and bloggers have described Governor Romney in terms we
neither have observed nor can we accept. To the contrary, we, who
have
been fighting here for the values you also hold, are indebted to him
and his responsive staff in demonstrating solid social conservative
credentials by undertaking the following actions here in Massachusetts.
The following is not an endorsement of Governor Romney but our account
of the facts to set the record straight.
Staunchly
defended traditional marriage. Governor Romney immediately and
strongly condemned the November 18, 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court (SJC) decision that legalized “same-sex marriage” in our
state.
More importantly, he followed up on that denunciation with action –
action that saved our nation from a constitutional crisis over the
definition of marriage. He and his staff identified and enforced
a
little-known 1913 law that allowed them to order local clerks not to
issue marriage licenses to out-of-state couples. Absent this
action,
homosexual couples would surely have flooded into Massachusetts from
other states to get “married” and then demanded that their home states
recognize the “marriages,” putting the nation only one court decision
away from nationalizing “same-sex marriage.”
We
do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney had bogus Party A and
Party B marriage licenses printed and ordered Justices of the Peace and
Town Clerks to perform same-sex “marriages” when asked or be fired. As
May 17, 2004 (the SJC’s declaratory judgment date) approached, the
Governor’s Office of Legal Counsel issued provisional advisory
instructions to the justices of the peace and prepared revised license
applications. These executive actions did not result in the issuance of
marriage licenses to same-sex couples before May 17. The new policies
were carried out only after and as a direct result of the judiciary’s
final action in Goodridge on May 17. They did not generate same-sex
marriages; that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
We
do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney issued marriage licenses
to same-sex couples. The governor does not issue marriage licenses in
Massachusetts. Only the town clerks can do that. But the governor can
issue one-day justice of the peace authorizations to an individual who
wants to perform a marriage ceremony but is not a licensed minister,
town clerk or justice of the peace. The governor’s office issues
thousands of those in a four year term with the only criteria being
that the individual doing the ceremony is in good standing and the
parties getting married have a valid marriage license.
Worked
hard to overturn “same-sex marriage” in the Commonwealth with
substantial results. In 2004 he lobbied hard, before a very
hostile
legislature, for a constitutional amendment protecting marriage – an
amendment later changed by the legislature to include civil unions,
which the Governor and many marriage amendment supporters
opposed.
Working with the Governor, we were successful in defeating this
amendment.
Provided
strong, active support for a record-setting citizen petition drive in
2005 to advance a clean constitutional amendment defining marriage as
the union of one man and one woman. The petition drive collected the
largest number of signatures in Massachusetts history.
Rallied
thousands of citizens around the state to focus public and media
attention on the failure of legislators, through repeated delays, to
perform their constitutional obligation and vote on the marriage
amendment. In November of 2006, Gov. Romney held the largest State
House rally in Massachusetts history with over 7000 supporters of
traditional marriage.
Filed
suit before the Supreme Judicial Court asking the court to clarify the
legislators’ duty to vote and failing that, to place the amendment on
the 2008 ballot. That lawsuit, perhaps more than any other single
action, was by all accounts instrumental in bringing the ultimate
pressure on the legislators to vote. The SJC unanimously ruled
that
the Legislature must vote and the historic vote was taken on January 2,
2007 winning legislative support. This cleared a major hurdle in the
three year effort to restore traditional marriage in the Commonwealth.
Fought
for abstinence education. In 2006, under Governor Romney’s
leadership,
Massachusetts’ public schools began to offer a classroom program on
abstinence from the faith-based Boston group Healthy Futures to middle
school students. Promoting the program, Governor Romney stated,
“I’ve
never had anyone complain to me that their kids are not learning enough
about sex in school. However, a number of people have asked me why it
is that we do not speak more about abstinence as a safe and
preventative health practice.”
Affirmed
the culture of life. Governor Romney vetoed bills to provide
access to
the so-called “morning-after pill,” which is an abortifacient, as well
as a bill providing for expansive, embryo-destroying stem cell
research. He vetoed the latter bill in 2005 because he could not
“in
good conscience allow this bill to become law.”
We
do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney is responsible for tax
payer funded abortion under the Massachusetts health care system. That
blame lies solely on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court who ruled
in 1981 that the Massachusetts Constitution required payment for
abortions for Medicaid-eligible women. In 1997, the Court reaffirmed
its position that a state-subsidized plan must offer “medically
necessary abortions.”
Stood
for religious freedom. Governor Romney was stalwart in defense of
the
right of Catholic Charities of Boston to refuse to allow homosexual
couples to adopt children in its care. Catholic Charities was
loudly
accused of “discrimination,” but Governor Romney correctly pointed out
that it is unjust to force a religious agency to violate the tenets of
its faith in order to placate a special-interest group.
Filed
“An Act Protecting Religious Freedom” in the Massachusetts legislature
to save Catholic Charities of Boston and other religious groups from
being forced to violate their moral principles or stop doing important
charitable work.
All
of this may explain why John J. Miller, the national political reporter
of National Review, wrote that “a good case can be made that Romney has
fought harder for social conservatives than any other governor in
America, and it is difficult to imagine his doing so in a more daunting
political environment.”
We
are aware of the 1994 comments of Senate candidate Romney, which have
been the subject of much recent discussion. While they are, taken
by
themselves, obviously worrisome to social conservatives including
ourselves, they do not dovetail with the actions of Governor Romney
from 2003 until now – and those actions have positively and
demonstrably impacted the social climate of Massachusetts.
Since
well before 2003, we have been laboring in the trenches of
Massachusetts, fighting for the family values you and we share.
It is
difficult work indeed – not for the faint of heart. In this
challenging environment, Governor Romney has proven that he shares our
values, as well as our determination to protect them.
For
four years, Governor Romney was right there beside us, providing
leadership on key issues – whether it was politically expedient to do
so or not. He has stood on principle, and we have benefited
greatly
from having him with us.
It
is clear that Governor Romney has learned much since 1994 – to the
benefit of our movement and our Commonwealth. In fact, the entire
nation has benefited from his socially conservative, pro-family actions
in office. As we explained earlier, his leadership on the
marriage
issue helped prevent our nation from being plunged into even worse
legal turmoil following the court decision that forced “gay marriage”
upon our Commonwealth.
For that our country ought to be
thankful. We certainly are.
Sincerely,
Rita Covelle
President, Morality in Media
Massachusetts
Gerald D. D’Avolio
Former Executive Director,
Massachusetts Catholic Conference
Raymond L. Flynn
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See
Professor Mary Ann Glendon
Harvard Law School
Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See
Kristian Mineau
President, Massachusetts Family
Institute
Dr. Roberto Miranda
COPAHNI Fellowship of Hispanic
Pastors of New England
James F. Morgan
Chairman, Institute for Family
Development
Joseph Reilly
Former Chairman of the Board,
Massachusetts Citizens for Life
Thomas A. Shields
Chairman, Coalition for Marriage and
Family
Note:
The signatories are all acting as individual citizens, and not as
representatives of their respective organizations. Organizational
affiliations appear for identification purposes only.
###
As
leaders and members of Mitt Romney’s Social Conservatives Coalition, we
are proud to support Governor Romney for President. We are
confident
of his pro-life and his pro-family commitment. Our nation is in
great
need of leadership on these issues, and we believe Mitt Romney to be
the right leader for our cause.
Truly Yours,
The Honorable Rachel Burgin
State Representative; Awarded the 2011 “Susan B. Anthony Young Leader
Award”; 2012 Sponsor of the Abortion Clinic Regulation Act
Marili Cancio
Member of the Christian Family Coalition Finance Committee
T
he Honorable Daniel Davis
State Representative; 2012 Sponsor of the “Fetal Pain” Bill
The Honorable Anitere Flores
State
Senator; 2007 Citizens for Science and Ethics Legislator of the Year
for her fight against the public funding of embryonic stem cell
research; 2009 Sponsor of the Ultra-sound Option Bill
Adam Goldman
Member of the Board of Directors for the James Madison Institute;
2009-2010 Vice-Chair of Florida Right to Life
John Giotis
Headmaster for the School of the Immaculata; Tampa Bay Director for the
2008 “Yes4Marriage” Campaign
Ryan Higgins
Business
Manager of Hope Children’s Home, a Tampa-based Christian orphanage;
Vice-Chair of the Hillsborough County Children’s Board
Nancy McGowan
Twice
commissioned Respect Life Coordinator for the Diocese of St. Augustine;
State Steering Committee of Social Conservatives for Rubio
Vicki Mullins
Appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to head up abstinence education in
Florida; Program Director for
My-Choices.Net
Pat Neal
Past
Chairman of the Board of the Christian Coalition of Florida; Chairman
of the Board of the Faith and Freedom Coalition of Florida
Leslie Steele
Served
as Deputy Communications Director for Governor Jeb Bush; lead
Communications Consultant for the 2008 “Yes4Marriage” Campaign
The Honorable Dave Weldon
Physician; Former Congressman; 2001 Sponsor of the Federal legislation
to ban human cloning
Note:
The signatories are all acting as individual citizens, and not as
representatives of their respective organizations. Organizational
affiliations appear for identification purposes only.
###