Posted on 07/02/2007 4:17:47 PM PDT by AFA-Michigan
Some anti-pornography groups are demanding answers as to how much presidential candidate Mitt Romney knew about the Marriott hotel chain's profits of pornography sales during his nearly ten years on the Board of Directors in the 1990's.
The hotel chain is one of many that offer pay per view sex videos for sale through in-room entertainment.
Though Marriott doesn't release their revenues when it comes to X-rated videos, industry analysts estimate it is in the tens of millions of dollars.
During his run for President, Romney has campaigned on a platform of "family values" recently telling a graduation class, "Pornography and violence poison our music and movies and television and video games."
Some of these conservative grassroots activists want to know whether he spoke up or tried to put a stop to Marriott's business dealings back then.
Phil Burress, founder of Citizens for Community Values, has been fighting hotel chains for decades on this issue. He tells The Brody File that every month a group of roughly 15 anti-pornography leaders meet in Washington to discuss the latest happenings.
Mitt Romney's Marriott connection has come up repeatedly. "Ever since he announced for president, it's been a topic of discussion."
Mitt Romney's campaign told CBN the following: "Governor Romney's role as board member was in an advisory capacity on financial matters related to the company and, obviously, he did not have a role in the day-to-day operations or decisions of individual franchise holders."
John Harmer, president of the anti-pornography group The Lighted Candle Society and the former Lieutenant Governor of California under Ronald Reagan isn't buying it. He wants to hear more.
"My attitude toward board members is that they are fully responsible. They knew exactly what they were receiving. I don't think any board member under any rationale could claim ignorance. You're either a board member or not. I can't imagine a board member going a full year and not receiving a revenue report from the company."
Previous news accounts researched by The Brody File show that Romney was paid more than $100,000 per year while on the board of Marriott.
When he left in 2002, J.W. Marriott, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott International, called him, "an active, hands-on Director… From his first days on our Board nine years ago, Mitt has been an extraordinarily effective director and visionary leader."
Mitt Romney has a very close relationship with the Marriott family.
Romney's father, George Romney was best friends with Marriott's original founder J. Willard Marriott. Mitt Romney's first name is Willard, in honor of the Marriott founder. The Marriott family gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mitt Romney's campaign when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1994.
So far during Romney's presidential run, they have given close to $80,000.
When asked about Romney's time on the board of directors, Marriott Spokesman Roger Conner told CBN, "We don't comment on board level matters."
Conner wouldn't speculate whether Romney had any knowledge about the fight to get rid of pornography in room entertainment or whether he did anything about it. He would only say, "This area would not have been a board area…"
Conner is quick to point out that voting on in room entertainment packages would not have been something the board would have voted on. Rather, he says, this is an operations matter.
Moreover, he says that many of Marriott hotels are either owned by others or franchised.
"We have to respect the business decisions and needs of owners. The guest has a choice to opt out of the adult entertainment options."
The Brody File made repeated calls to LodgeNet, one of the main providers for hotel in-room entertainment. We asked whether hotels have the option to opt out of the X-rated films if they would like.
They did not return our phone calls. On their website, it does say that they work "closely with its hotel partners to determine the best mix of titles to maximize viewing levels. Unlike most systems, On Command Video has the ability to tailor the programming at individual hotels to match the demographic profile of that particular property's guests.
Conservative pro-family groups have been putting pressure on hotel chains for years to change their ways.
In a letter to Bill Johnson of the American Decency Association, Marriott's Chairman of the Board wrote in June of 2000, "The in-room entertainment operators who provide our systems rely upon a certain volume of movie types in order to be economically viable. If we were to eliminate the R and non rated offerings, the systems would not be economic."
Industry analysts estimate that roughly 60% of hotel chains provide in room entertainment with the X-rated pornography movie option. Yet, some have decided to drop the adult videos.
In 1999, Omni Hotels announced that it would remove adult pay-per-view movies from its guest room televisions. It took a financial hit but Peter Strebel, Omni Hotels vice president of marketing, said in a press release at the time, "
"Money is not the issue in this matter. Not all business decisions should be fiscally driven. We believe that this is the right thing to do; the right thing for Omni Hotels, our associates and our customers."
Gary Glenn, a well known pro-family activist in Michigan recently sent an email to Justin Hart, one of Mitt Romney's Faith and Values Steering Committee members. Hart also works for the The Lighted Candle Society.
Glenn writes, "It is a matter of record that during the time Romney served as a 'hands on' member of its board of directors, the Marriott Corporation sold tens of millions of dollars worth of hardcore pornographic videos… as a candidate for president, Gov. Romney has a bully pulpit from which he could greatly assist your organization and others in applying sufficient public pressure to Marriott and other white-collar porn peddlers to 'dry up some of that funding'…we encourage you to urge the Romney campaign to initiate public discussion of the above concerns and questions in a proactive fashion, for which he may receive some credit for initiative and leadership on an issue that speaks both to his personal and political integrity and to his trustworthiness should he be elected as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States."
The Brody File contacted Justin Hart who said "In this important fight against pornography there are those people who are determined to make enemies and effect zero change and there are those who propose to use their influence to create serious lasting change - Romney is in this latter camp…pure societal turnaround can only happen when people of influence find the right moment in time to lead change…In my opinion, Romney's record shows that he could very well effect that change to happen. The fact that he included a serious anti-pornography group on his Faith and Values committee suggests this as well."
That's not satisfying to Phil Buress. He wants answers from Romney. "This man is very knowledgeable about the issues, but for him to not know anything about what Marriott is selling, I found that very interesting."
The Romney campaign won't go beyond their initial statement.
Instead they point out that Governor Romney is actively talking about pornography issues and today's culture wars.
In a speech Romney gave nearly three months ago, he said, "I have great faith in the American people. I have faith in our children, and in our grandchildren. But at the same time, I am deeply troubled by the culture that surrounds them today.I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on kid's computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the streets. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in movies and in video games…I believe that the most important work being done to strengthen America's future is the work that is being done within the 4 walls of the American home."
You have been spamming Free Republic with articles regarding this topic.
We pulled one of your threads, there were five, now there are four.
Oh now I thought all this hullabaloos was about the presidency! Hum
Mitt is high priest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, not that you seem to understand.
It matters not MHGinTN, if you know a thousand family members who left the Church you still don’t understand the function of the Lord’s Church nor the times we live in!
And the hypocrite sycophantic media could find out how that hotel cable packaging stuff works, they never did their homework in the pass why start now, they just hope the public is stupid and have enough pigeons all fired ups to carry on the myth!
They’re being patently absurd, it’s all they have.
This is so bogus. GO MITT !!!
Obviously, I don’t understand the rule, Admin.
How many stories on immigration and any number of other issues are posted daily by Freep?
So that I don’t violate whatever the policy is in the future, what’s the limit on # of posts per Freeper on a given issue?
I thought Freep’s purpose was two-fold: inform conservatives of the day’s news, and provide a forum for discussion.
The one you pulled was an article by Associated Press, by which the story just went worldwide. (You can literally read it right now on the Pravda website, but not here on Freep.) Is it OK if some other Freeper posts it, or is there a ban on the AP story in total?
The other posts I made earlier were from blogs or in-house media among Christian conservatives.
Is it not news, something that might be of useful info to Freepers watching and analyzing the prez race, to know that something being discussed on Freep today broke into the MSM? Might there be Freepers who didn’t see the earlier posts?
I’ve ignored posts from whiners complaining about my posting DIFFERENT stories or blog entries on the issue, since I assume there’s no Freep policy requiring every Freeper to read every post and comment on it.
Please advise.
Just one freepers opinion, but one thread on this issue would have been more than sufficient to allow plenty of discussion without obsessive focus on it.
Understand your observation.
Perhaps I misunderstood the purpose of the site re: advising Freepers of news rather than just bringing up topics to discuss.
In my opinion, the fact that this story just went worldwide by Associated Press is news in and of itself. Plus, it include new quotes and other substantive info not included in previous stories.
Ironic, even funny, that Freepers can read the AP story on the Pravda website in Russia right now, but not on Free Republic here in the good ole USA. Go figure.
You've been here a long time but have been a very low profile poster.
You've posted several articles trashing Romney over this issue. One was enough but we left up four of them.
Maybe it's best that you read and post at Pravda instead of Free Republic.
“You’ve been here a long time but have been a very low profile poster.”
Didn’t know there was a quota.
“You’ve posted several articles trashing Romney over this issue. One was enough but we left up four of them.”
I’m not keeping score, since my intent in posting is not to see how many posts I can make. Based on newsworthiness, suggest you put the AP story back up and take all the others down. Then there’d only be one, since the number seems to be relevant.
“Maybe it’s best that you read and post at Pravda instead of Free Republic.”
What? No sense of humor? But you’re the moderator. You’re free to block or censor all future posts of mine at your discretion. Right?
Are you a member or friend of MassResistance?
Seeing as how I’m in Michigan, would be difficult to be a “member” of Mass(achusetts) Resistance.
But certainly a fan of their work in defense of family values, their principled stand against the homosexual agenda, and their meticulously documented expo-zay on Romney’s pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, pro-gun control record.
Not so because you guys fly under different banner!
Huh? You are freaking me out.
You do the math.
That is either a lie or the writer doesn't understand the meaning of 100 percent correlation. If it were, then everyone who ever watched pornography would have molested a child. It would be a perfect predictor, and it is not.
Liberty, what law enforcement officials say — for example, the Ottawa County Sheriff in the Holland Sentinel (here in Michigan) and most recently, a prosecutor with the U.S. Dept of Justice in a mtg of pro-family activists in D.C. — is that in every case of child sexual abuse they prosecute, the offender was in possession of either adult or child porn.
Every case = 100 percent.
Now I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt that you simply overlooked the reverse correlation, with enough generosity not to call you a liar just because you did.
There’s no math involved, Smithee.
But do you never learn your lesson? I’ve lost track of how many times in a row you’ve posted false assumptions and false accusations regarding this issue, only to have them exposed as such and then obliterated by the facts in every case.
Here’s your latest: “In my kneejerk opinion, AFA-M is acting in a professional capacity beating the drum for this story. ...but he refused to answer when asked whom he is supporting.”
Let me feed you a little more line so the hook sets as deeply as possible.
Are you now making the accusation that I’m being paid by some candidate other than Mitt? Don’t leave anything to interpretation, Smithee. Come on, be specific, and let it all hang out.
Why don’t you two get a room ... this thread isn’t about either of you and now it isn’t about Mitt either. Let this one fade away, dudes.
My apology, MHG, and others.
You’re correct.
The Mitt distractors are becoming worse than liberals. They will give up our rights and constitution, if they can somehow sink Mitt!
Thanks for posting your info!
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