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."
I don’t think neither men are making money off a few franchies that offer this!
You do like to embellish your story!
What they don’t include in the story is this is only offered by a hand full of independant franchies.
“A man that misrepresents his world view will never make a “good president” Look at Bush.”
Thus the reason why I remain unconvinced.
PING!
From the article:
"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."
You do like to embellish your story!
Someone does and it's not me.
“What they don’t include in the story is this is only offered by a hand full of independant franchies.”
The reason it’s not included in the story, Restornu, is that it’s simply false.
It’s only a handful of Marriotts that don’t offer porn (at least two because they were threatened with obscenity charges by local prosecutors).
In fact, Marriott Corp. negotiated a system-wide contract for the porn with On Command.
Here’s how Marriott CEO and board chair J.W. Marriott, Jr., explained corporate policy in a June 6, 2000 letter:
“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 elminate the R- and non-rated offerings, the systems would not be economic.”
Please note that Bill Marriott does not falsely claim that R- and X-rated porn flicks, some of which anti-porn activists and prosecutors believe violate state and federal obscenity laws, are available only at a “handful” of Marriott hotels.
In my hometown, the big fancy Marriott downtown is the only hotel in town that offers X-rated movies:
“Patty Perry, Ashman Court director of sales and marketing, confirmed that X-rated movies are available through On Command.” Midland Daily News, Aug. 17, 2002 at:
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5079223&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6
I dont really care that Mariott has porn in their hotels. Its not even good porn. One night at one of my many stays at marriott, my box was blown open. I could scan the channels and see each movie as it was started and run, across about 100 channels. Porn after porn after porn. Very boring.
What really pisses me off about Romney is how he tied his dog to the top of his car for a trip across country. Someone that does that is incredibly stupid and insensitive. What a maroon.
I couldnt stand the guy as an ineffective governor. I cant say that if the choice was between he and Hillary that I would flip the other switch. But it would be close. I’ve said it a hundred times here...he is an empty suit and you should be very careful before you vote for him.
Now the dog thing proves what an idiot he is. Yeah, you can go to school and get a great education. It doesnt give you common sense and compassion for lesser beings (be they canine or human.)
no kidding. Besides, I can get alcohol, caffenated drinks, and even share a room with a woman other than my non-existent wife.
So I should hope one that works get paid that still is not making a profit from porn!
and that is a drop in the bucket as far as money goes for what you are trying to imply!
I cannot believe this thread. I’m not a Mitt fan, but this is ridiculous!!
The nanny state comes in all shapes and sizes.
They sell beer at baseball games, don’t they? Horrors! They have bars at Marriott hotels. Mitt Romney doesn’t drink, smoke or do illegal drugs but all of those things go on in Marriott hotels night after night after night. Anyone who views porn is an evil fool. It’s not Romney’s fault. People make bad choices. That’s all.
I am not a Romney fan (note the tag) but the incessant bashing gets tiresome and this article is a heck of a stretch.
Could you rephrase this for clarity?
Frigging Ridiculous!!!!
“but the incessant bashing gets tiresome and this article is a heck of a stretch”
You’re not a Romney fan but I sure do appreciate what you said. Thanks!
Boy what a bunch of ignoramus, I keep trying to figure out what you were talking about than I realized my Time Warner cable has Command pay-per-view service
TIME WARNER CABLE
All the major cable services has this service and yes for a hefty fee you can get smut!
This service is offered to anyone that has digital cable an is in any home across America that has digital cable service.
There is no way a young person could watch this stuff unless they ordered it for a costly fee. It is not inexpensive like $3.95 a movie, if you have digital cable service you have it on you own TV.
Are you justifying the selling of pornography?
We have Direct TV on which we watch the BYU Channel (highly recommend it, by the way). Subscribers to Direct TV can also pay to watch you-know-what which is an evil choice.
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