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.
And the mormon church PR department will take it from there in their campaign to force the Christian community to acknowledge mormons as Christian.
What Christian Community? The Catholics? LOL You are so predictable.
What I had suggested was that no such poll WAS accepted by Western Wats. They could well have been doing a perfectly ordinary poll for Romney and an individual employee went off on their own crusade. And anti-Mormon passion is very strong in Utah, since anti-Mormons there are confronted with a Mormon-dominated society at every turn.
As noted in my previous post, passionate anti-Mormon sentiment has a strong following in Utah, for obvious reasons.
Why would I answer my own replies? The voices tell me not to.
Update:
Blogger in contact with Western Wats resigns from Romney campaign
November 21, 2007 – 2:52 pm
Justin Hart has notified me that he has resigned from his position as a Vice Chair of the Romney campaign’s Faith and Values Steering Committee after I challenged himfor not disclosing that he was an official in the Romney campaign.
Justin had been, until today, the only person who Western Wats would speak with. This afternoon Liz Mair wrote about a discussion she had with Jeffery Welch, a senior Western Wats executive and Romney donor.
He appears to have resigned soon after contacting the Romney Iowa staffers who the Romney campaign has now admitted to misrepresenting to the press.
He resigned after being caught engaging in a coverup? Am I understanding this?
Ping to my update in my previous post.
I guess the Romney camp has admitted to giving the press the info to contact the women, and they “forgot” to mention that they were paid staffers.
BTW, I believe that Justin Hart used to post here at FR as rightsideredux. He was zotted at some point.
Thanks!
Sounds like Willard's "Faith and Values Steering Committee" is going to need a new rack-and-pinion unit.
Good grief.
Check FReepmail ASAP
Poor Justin had to turn in his (phony) badge....not for the misrepresentation, but for getting caught.
I just checked out his posting history.
LOL.
So many posts from mymanmitt.com. No wonder he got the boot.
Hey, I remember him!
He blew a fuse when we pointed out how ghey “mymanmitt” sounds.
This is how Justin defends the women who didn’t disclose their working for the Romney campaign.
The were too old!
“Why didn’t they reveal their status with the campaign?” I asked Marshan that last night. Her reply: “What? Why? What do you mean? Why do they want to know that?” Folks, these are non-political septuagenarians. They just were answering a phone call and telling their story to someone in the press. My guess is they went to Ames and they help out at the local office stuffing letters.”
First lets blame the old ladies, then if that doesn’t work we’ll try something else.
I guess they have now admitted that they should have told reporters about the link.
Has the Romney camp now tossed two little old ladies under the bus?
By “they” I mean the Romney campaign has now admitted they didn’t tell the press.
Why yes, yes it has.
Sleazy.
They can say hello to Larry Craig.
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