True, Romney has donated to a huge list of conservative causes recently.
Mr. Romney and a group of his supporters also contributed a total of about $10,000 to a nonprofit group affiliated with National Review. Over the past two years, he contributed $35,000 to the Federalist Society, an influential network of conservative lawyers. And in December 2005, he contributed $25,000 to the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative research organization.
The recipients of Mr. Romney’s donations said the money had no influence on them. But some of the groups, notably Citizens for Life and the Family Institute, have turned supportive of Mr. Romney after criticizing him in the past.
Coming on the eve of his presidential campaign, Mr. Romney’s contributions could create the appearance of a conflict of interest for groups often asked to evaluate him. All the groups said he had never contributed before, and his foundation’s public tax filings show no previous gifts to similar groups. Its 2006 contributions will become public with its tax filings later this year.
The support of such leading conservative organizations in Mr. Romney’s home state has become an important element of Mr. Romney’s primary campaign because he faces doubts from some conservatives over his past support for abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research, gun control and gay rights.
Mr. Romney has said he had a change of heart on all four issues by the time he left the governor’s office.
Conservative critics of Mr. Romney have already seized on a $15,000 donation to Massachusetts Citizens for Life — which was first reported in January on a little-noticed anti-Romney blog by Carol M. McKinley, an antiabortion activist in the state — to argue that he is trying to buy the group’s support, or at least silence its criticism. Mr. Romney’s wife, Ann, is also helping to raise money from others for the group.
Massachusetts Citizens for Life was critical of Mr. Romney, who was then a supporter of abortion rights, during most of his tenure as governor. But over the past few months, its officials have issued favorable statements about his record on abortion issues that have become an integral element of his appeal to social conservatives.
At a conference of conservative activists in Washington last week, Mr. Romney’s campaign passed out a statement from the group praising him as one of Massachusetts’ “strongest assets.”
The first of Mr. Romney’s recent wave of donations to conservative groups was $25,000 to the Heritage Foundation at the end of 2005. The foundation analysts worked with him on a health care plan and later praised it, as did some other conservative groups.
Mr. Romney followed a $25,000 contribution to the Federalist Society in 2005 with an additional $10,000 last year, the group’s officials said. Although the Federalist Society does not endorse candidates or policies, some of its top officials are highly influential voices among conservatives on the subject of judicial nominations. “
“Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said in an interview that his organization received a $10,000 check from Mr. Romney late last year with an appreciative note. The group previously criticized Mr. Romney as taking liberal stands during his first years as governor, but Mr. Mineau recently sought to enlist other Massachusetts social conservatives in signing an open letter supporting the governor. (Some balked because of his record, The Boston Globe reported.)
Mr. Romney has also acknowledged that he made a small contribution last August, in the form of a personal membership fee, to the National Rifle Association, a major force in the Republican primary. He had previously campaigned as an advocate of stricter gun control laws. In an interview, Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A.’s top executive, said the organization appreciated every membership but was staying out of the primary for now.”
“Mr. Romney followed a $25,000 contribution to the Federalist Society in 2005 with an additional $10,000 last year, the group’s officials said.”
There is a good group. I am glad Romney is helping them.
I am hopeful that the group will in turn help Romney come up with the Scalia-clone short-list when the time comes to nominate the successor the Justice Stevens. I am sure Romney’s USSC choices will be a solid.
He cites the death of his brother-in-law's teenage sister from an illegal abortion.
Instead of condemning the abortion, he and his mother bemoan the ILLEGALITY of it!
No amount of donated money will convince me that he's no longer aligned with his mother on this.