Marshan Roth?!
Posted on 11/21/2007 7:07:01 AM PST by JRochelle
I thought that I was going to have a nice quiet Thanksgiving. Perhaps not.
Erick Erickson at Redstate (disclosure I too contribute to Redstate) has uncovered some more information on the Mitt Romney phone scandal. Leon Wolf, another Redstate contributor who today endorsed Mitt Romney, also pointed out that this happened previously (described then) when Leon was on the Brownback campaign.
The basic facts are that a Romney staffer, Marshan Roth contacted the Salt Lake Tribune, identified herself as "leaning towards Romney", and told her story:
Marshan Roth, of Fairfield, Iowa, got a call on Wednesday night. It started out like a regular poll, she says, but then asked positive questions about Sen. John McCain and delved into disparaging things about Romney. She was asked whether she knew that Mormons have ‘baptized thousands of dead people’ and that the Book of Mormon was more important than the Bible to Mormons. ‘It was sick. It really was. It made me just furious,’ says Roth, who is leaning toward backing Romney. ‘If you didn’t know enough about McCain, you’d think he was the white knight coming in on his charger saving the world and that Mitt Romney was tantamount to the devil
Erick points out that Roth receives $500/month from the Romney campaign.
Similarly, Rose Kramer, another Romney staffer who describes herself as "a supporter," told a McClatchy reporter her story:
Rose Kramer was at her Dubuque, Iowa, home, waiting for the TV show ‘House’ to start at 8 p.m. Tuesday when a pollster called and started asking her about John McCain. After a few polite questions, the caller started saying unflattering things about Mitt Romney. Kramer, a Romney supporter, got so angry that she missed the opening of her show. ‘I was still ranting at my husband,’ she said.
Rose isn’t just a supporter. She is a staffer, making $1,000/month. She is also a co-chair of Romney’s Iowa Faith & Values Steering Committee.
It doesn’t stop there. Rose told a different story to Real Clear Politics:
Rose Kramer, an Iowa voter who backs Romney, told Politics Nation the call, which she received around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, began with typical screening questions on whether she planned to caucus and if she had caucused before. After an initial ballot test — on which she says Romney’s name was listed last — the pollster offered five questions about John McCain, all of which she characterized as ‘glowing.’ Kramer said she asked the caller whether he was working for a campaign; he said no, his was an independent research group.
First, when Rose talked to McClatchy, it was Tuesday 8pm. With Real Clear Politics, it was 8:30 on Wednesday. She lied to one of the reporters.
Second, in both (all three?) cases, the Romney staffers highlighted the McCain questions. It seems to me that the Romney campaign was deliberately pushing the McCain angle.
Third, either the staffers didn’t disclose their relationship to the reporters or the reporters didn’t disclose it in their stories. My money is on the staffers, something that, as Leon pointed out before, Romney consultants in Iowa have done in the past.
This raises several questions:
First, is there any evidence that this poll contacted anyone in Iowa who was not a Romney staffer or supporter? If not, is there any evidence that the calls actually occurred? Could this be a story manufactured by the Romney campaign? After all, Western Wats only seems to talk through another Romney official, Justin Hart.
Second, were they directed by either Boston or Des Moines to deliver these messages? If so, were they told to hide their relationship with the Romney campaign?
Is Romney auditioning for FEMA Administrator?
UPDATE: Jonathan Martin had reported a non-Romney supporting phone call recipient.
“I don’t think so either. I think the most likely scenario is some call center employee independently adding to the poll script, out of some personal religious or political conviction.”
Not likely, polls are tightly scripted. If you get off track, you either run out of time or run down a bad line of questioning and get hung up on. Screeners get audited too. Pretty beeeg stretch.
“Romney needs to get to the bottom of this posthaste and get the whole story out there. Because, regardless of whether he authorized this or not, it was dirty politics on his behalf, and at the very least some paid supporters need to be fired.”
But remember, this is only one small squib of a poll. Now imagine 9 more years of this, because the issue won’t go away.
That is how its looking.
These callers are usually low-paid, casual employees. Given the passion of anti-Mormon sentiment in some religious circles, it’s not that much of a stretch to think there may be some telephone poll employees who feel a religious obligation to warn people of the evils of Mormonism, and are willing to risk losing the job in order to do that. It’s the sort of job that many people are only holding on a short term basis anyway (e.g. college students).
When will you answer your replies?
I know about the “unAmerican” statement; that was last week. So far, Romney has pointed the finger at McCain and had his campaign manager say it wasn’t himself nor his supporters. Now we find out that at the very least, his supporters notified the press about the calls with conflicting statements and without identifying themselves as Romney operatives.
We need to hear from Romney on this new development. At the very least, we need to know what kind of investigation he plans to do.
Let’s tally this up so far...
Fake Policemen
+Fake Badges
+Fake Thompson Website
+Fake Polling
+Fake Fundraising (writing himself loans)
+Fake Lifetime Hunting Record
+Fake Convictions
_______________________
= Fake Candidate
If it was as thin as you would like to portray it, it wouldn't have been necessary to tag it on at all.
Let's review, shall we? Soren Dayton wrapped up this piece with this, in part:
ANSWER: With the news that a non-Romney supporter reported receiving the call, YES.
This raises several questions: First, is there any evidence that this poll contacted anyone in Iowa who was not a Romney staffer or supporter?
Which there is...
If not,
ANSWER: With the news that a non-Romney supporter reported receiving the call, YES.
is there any evidence that the calls actually occurred?
Now, as for the lying about not being staffers of the campaign, that doesn't look good. But in order to further the Romney-bashing festival, Mitt-igating circumstances are being glossed over. Posters are alleging that the entire poll is fraudulent based solely on lies that had nothing to do with the reality of the poll's existence, which this piece brought into question. And there is an undercurrent among critics that the paid staffers' lies are just as despicable as the push-polling that inspired them, or even more so.
If it turns out there is evidence that the Romney camp conceived of this poll for the purpose of sliming innocent parties, I say bring it in the same way the truth about the staffers was revealed. But until that moment, the update relegates many of the assumptions voiced here to the "pretty thin thread" category.
I don’t think he did.
But his campaign has some crazies in it. They would most likely be the culprits.
I mean how can you ‘forget’ to tell the media that the people who they were talking to were in fact romney employees.
I’ve never seen a political campaign on the national level that didn’t have some ‘crazies’ involved.
That might make sense if the calls didn’t originate out of Orem Utah. The area code was 801.
Yep, a wedge issue, planned to give and emphasize the "Mitt the victim" identity as a preface his reluctant "speech on his faith". Clintonian as can be.
He will use the benign talking points from these polls which didn't EVEN come close to addressing the truly strange doctrines of the mormon church and then say he has "addressed the issue".
And the mormon church PR department will take it from there in their campaign to force the Christian community to acknowledge mormons as Christian.
Doubtless, the final disavowal will include some variation of that theme ... “Mitt cannot be personally responsible for any strange person that may accidentally get on a state staff somewhere.” The pattern is sleaze and the candidate is a sleazy politician who fashioned himself as a liberal to get elected in Mass., but who supposedly was never pro-choice when he was portraqying himself to voters as the pro-choice defender.
I like to wait and see what actually happens, before reacting.
I'll wait until I know the identity of this "non-Romney supporter," before I jump to any conclusions. It could very well be another "rogue" staffer, reputedly "not leaning to Romney," for all you or I know.
Neither of us know, but it's unlikely. One thing the Mitt staffers didn't lie about was "leaning toward" Romney. And I hope your reluctance to jump to conclusions is non-partisan.
I lack a partisan motivation just as surely as you do, L. N. Smithee.
IF it’s true, they certainly didn’t get the OK from Mitt. They did this on their own. They’ll be promptly fired.
“These callers are usually low-paid, casual employees. Given the passion of anti-Mormon sentiment in some religious circles, it’s not that much of a stretch to think there may be some telephone poll employees who feel a religious obligation to warn people of the evils of Mormonism, and are willing to risk losing the job in order to do that. It’s the sort of job that many people are only holding on a short term basis anyway (e.g. college students).”
Normally you’d be right, except:
1) Western Wats was started by a Mormon who is also a friend of Romney (though he sold the company in 2004)
2) Western Wats is in Orem Utah and has big offices there
3) Anyone at Western Wats who wasn’t aware of the company’s
Mormon roots would be nuts.
That’s why it’s difficult to believe:
1) an anti Romney campaign would use Western Wats
2) Western Wats accepted the poll in the first place
Marshan Roth?!
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