Thursday, December 20, 2007

Romney's 2004 Letter: Part III - Romney Ignored Our Voices and the Constitution


Citizens rally in West Springfield on a cold day in late February 2004, calling on our Legislature and Governor to block homosexual "marriage".



Part III: Gov. Mitt Romney Ignored Our Voices -- and the Constitution

Many well remember the feelings of panic and desperation that gripped pro-family citizens throughout the state in late 2003 and early 2004. We went to rally after rally in freezing January, February, and March weather in front of the Supreme Judicial Court, on the Boston Common, in front of the State House, while Romney sat in his cozy corner office and looked down on us. We called, e-mailed, and sent letters to our legislators and the Governor.


Citizens rally at State House calling on Legislature to propose a "clean" amendment with no civil unions. Their voices were ignored by Romney, who worked for civil unions from Nov. 2003 on. [MassResistance photo]

We were all wondering: Why doesn’t Gov. Romney say something? Do something? Why the silence from the Governor's Office? Why doesn’t he at least make statements supporting our rallies and demonstrations for removal of the judges, and for a strong marriage amendment? We were all continuing to hope against hope that Romney was working behind the scenes to halt the insanity.

We didn't know then that he had promised his homosexual Republican activist friends (while campaigning in 2002) that he would not oppose the expected Supreme Judicial Court ruling for homosexual "marriage." And we didn't fully understand that he was working in late 2003 and early 2004 with the unethical Senate President, Robert Travaglini, and Senate Minority Leader, Brian Lees, to write civil unions into the Massachusetts constitution (through their phony compromise "marriage" amendment) -- as a little insurance policy should anything keep the May "marriages" from going forward.


Senators Travaglini and Lees (seen in late 2003) worked with Romney to craft an unacceptable "marriage" amendment which would have enshrined civil unions in the Constitution. [MassResistance photo]

People were pleading with the Governor to say: "No, Judges, you cannot order either of the other two branches of government to do anything! You may not make law! Nothing will change on May 17. Current law allows for marriage only between one man and one woman, and that is the law I will continue to enforce." But there was only silence. All Romney said was that an amendment to the Constitution should be voted on. (How it should be worded, he never said publicly.) Then on that score, we all pleaded: The amendment must be pure, and not include establishment of “civil unions” alongside one man/one woman marriage! But he bragged in his April 2004 letter of the compromise amendment that included “civil unions”!

Article 8 Alliance [now MassResistance] Press Conference at State House in April 2004, calling for the Legislature and Governor to vote on a Bill of Address to remove the four Supreme Court judges, and revealing Chief Justice Marshall's ethical violations. [MassResistance photo]

Where was Romney in April 2004, when Article 8 Alliance presented shocking information on Chief Justice Margaret Marshall's violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct? Her appearances at fundraising events for groups supporting homosexual "marriage" were not allowed under the code, and she had publicly revealed her bias on the issue. Why didn't he comment on Rep. Emile Goguen's filing of the Bill of Address to remove the four Supreme Judicial Court judges who ruled that John Adams included "homosexual marriage" in his Massachusetts Constitution? What did he believe should happen when judges so flagrantly violate the constitutional separation of powers?

All the while, through February, March, and April 2004, Gov. Romney and his team were busy betraying us, while stringing us along with pretty words on “democracy” and “letting the people vote” on marriage (possibly, some day in the distant future...). Only those paying closest attention noticed the stories in the Boston Globe about Romney’s people working behind the scenes, secretly holding meetings with state officials, to be sure all the paperwork (and threats to state officials of fines or firing) were in place to ensure the homosexual “marriages” began on May 17. Not one word from Romney himself about these plans, only a few leaks from Town Clerks, Justices of the Peace, or an occasional cryptic comment from a spokesman.


Gov. Romney's Chief Legal Counsel Daniel Winslow ran training sessions for Town Clerks and Justices of the Peace, threatening fines or firing if they didn't uphold the "law". Winslow confirmed with MassResistance that our timeline is accurate.

On April 15, 2004 (the same day he wrote the letter to his constituents) Romney created another diversion to make it appear he was trying to halt the homosexual “marriages.” He filed an emergency bill in the Legislature to appeal to the same rogue Court which issued the homosexual “marriage” ruling, to seek a stay on the start date for the “marriages” -- thus acknowledging the Court’s power to enact and enforce “law”! Romney surely knew this bill would be shelved, in any case. (But it would come in useful when he ran for President, to bolster his claim that he did what he could to save marriage.)

Margaret Marshall (impersonator) shreds Constitution before the Supreme Judicial Court building in Boston. Unknown protester on left complains about the $150 million price tag on the renovation of Emperor Margaret's Imperial Judicial Palace. [MassResistance photo]

Lately, Mitt Romney has been shedding tears publicly. Well, many of us shed real tears as May 17 approached, and we knew that Romney was shafting us, our constitutional government, our society. We were in a state of disbelief, feeling helpless and abandoned. How could a Republican Governor be doing this to us?

May 17, 2004 came, and the pseudo-marriages began. Many of us felt the evil that took hold of the state that day. A large group from Article 8 Alliance/MassResistance rallied on Boston City Hall Plaza that day, praying, speaking of the Constitution, and even crying. (Massachusetts Family Institute told its supporters not to attend the rally ... because they had made a strategic alliance with Romney, we later understood.)

And what brief statement did Mitt Romney issue on that hideous day that he made possible? “All along, I have said an issue as fundamental to society as the definition of marriage should be decided by the people. Until then, I intend to follow the law and expect others to do the same.” What “law” was he speaking of? Not the law on the books then, or even now. Homosexual “marriage” is still not legal in Massachusetts!

No one in America was better placed than Gov. Romney in 2003-2006 to take a forceful stand for Constitutional separation of powers and against judicial activism, but he failed miserably. He could have issued an Executive Order to halt the "marriages" -- or simply ignored the ruling. He could have rallied national support to remove the judges, and bring such shame on the Legislature that they'd have to take up the cause. It was a profound failure of leadership and moral courage on Romney's part. As Professor Hadley Arkes said of Romney on “marriage” D-Day, May 17, 2004, he was the “missing Governor" and exemplified "Republican leaders [who have] lost their confidence on basic moral matters.” (That article was published in National Review before they went into denial about Romney's true record as Governor.)

After the "marriages" began, our group focused on the effort to remove the “homosexual marriage” judges. (The marriage amendment proposals were clearly being commandeered by the compromisers, and were not worth investing in.) But Romney never communicated with the 25 legislators who eventually sponsored the Bill of Address to remove the judges. His first public comment came in answer to a question at a June 2005 press conference:

"I'm not looking to recall the judges. I do however believe that justices should not legislate from the bench any more than legislators should adjudicate from the legislature. And I believe that there should be a separation of powers and responsibilities, and I believe that in this case that the Supreme Judicial Court engaged in legislating. I believe it was an improper decision on their part, and that's why I believe that ultimately the citizens should have the opportunity to make this choice, or their elected representatives."

Romney did admit the judges behaved contrary to the Constitution, yet he refused to support the effort to remove them (without giving a reason), and he failed to ignore their ruling. So much for his supposed opposition to activist judges that he is now touting all over America. He simply kicked the can down the road, told the citizens to chase after an elusive marriage amendment, and diverted most eyes from his failure to act as the Constitution required.


If only this had happened ... [MassResistance photo]

Romney made few public statements on marriage during his administration, but they always included a command to respect all citizens, no matter the choices they may make in their lives. So, we must respect the choice of sodomy, or the characteristic promiscuity in the homosexual community? And we must recognize the legitimacy of “families” with same-sex “parents”?

Mitt Romney’s dishonest maneuvering is breathtaking. He undermined the Massachusetts Constitution he swore to uphold, betrayed the institution of marriage, and did not communicate honestly with concerned citizens. He continued to ignore pleas from conservative leaders around the country, 44 of whom urged him to issue an Executive Order overturning his mistaken actions leading to the homosexual "marriages" before he left office (in December 2006). He had one last chance to set it right. But he was silent upon receiving that letter as well.

What else did Romney let loose in Massachusetts that's now adversely affecting our country? GLBT activists everywhere have been energized by what their movement got away with in Massachusetts -- with Romney's help. They are now moving beyond homosexual "marriage", on to "transgender rights." In Massachusetts, they're chanting the mantra, "Gay marriage is legal -- so we have to teach diversity" to our youngest children in the public schools. While Romney stated that Lexington parent David Parker is within his legal rights to demand notification when homosexuality and transgenderism topics are in his children's curriculum, he failed to order his Dept. of Education to enforce Massachusetts law in Parker's defense. Romney's failure on marriage has ripple effects we're only just beginning to see.


GLBT activists in Lexington, Nov. 2004, crashing Article 8 Alliance/MassResistance event on the first anniversary of the Goodridge ruling. Two school committee members and a UU fellow were not very welcoming. Mitt Romney handed over the public schools of Massachusetts to these people.

THANKS, MITT.
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