Posted on 01/10/2008 11:30:21 AM PST by Rick.Donaldson
Romney "Disses" Amateur Radio In Televised Town Meeting Posted on Wednesday 16 November 2005 @ 15:48:10
Governor Mitt Romney dismissed the role of Amateur Radio operators in emergency communications during a televised "town meeting" program last night on WCVB's "When Disaster Strikes: Segment Two." The program featured public safety and volunteer organization officials from across Massachusetts among its audience.
Host and moderator Natalie Jacobson asked an increasingly-agitated Governor Romney questions about communications interoperability, and communication without commercial power. Romney was next asked by Jacobson, "...so does it come down to ham radio?..."
The Governor replied in a disgusted tone, "No, we don't need to deal with ham radio operators..."
Embarrassed public safety officials later tried to put in a good word for Amateur Radio. National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Glenn Field was prepared to state the importance of Amateur Radio, when Salvation Army Colonel Fred Van Brunt was called upon. Van Brunt remarked about his organization's quest to improve its communications capabilities and how Amateur Radio has aided his organization. "The ham radio situation helps a great deal," he stated.
"I have already written and submitted a letter to the Governor's Office," wrote Eastern MA Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY. "I have also written an email to Natalie Jacobson."
ARRL Section Manager Mike Neilsen, W1MPN sent a section-wide email today to all Eastern MA ARRL members describing the incident along with actions he and his staff were taking to mitigate the situation.
"[Romney's] attitude about us sets an unfortunate tone within the state's executive branch," wrote Neilsen. "As a former military officer, I see this as a failure in leadership. My immediate concern is our working relationship within the [Massachusetts Emergency Management Team] environment." Neilsen intends to address the Governor's comments as "an urgent matter" at a meeting on November 17 with Don Carlton from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
"I was very disturbed about what the Governor stated on the program," wrote Ron Wood, W1PLW, the section's Public Information Coordinator. "It does show that more work is needed by all hams in the section. It's a great idea to write letters explaining the good we do." Wood is attempting to schedule a meeting with the Governor's office tomorrow so that EMA ARRL staffers might discuss the matter further.
Tom Kinahan, N1CPE wrote that Governor Romney's comment has made "a PR problem" for Kinahan in his role as MA State RACES Officer.
"I've got a roster of over 150 Amateur Radio operators that support local communities, and those of us that directly support the state government. There are at least double that in terms of people that are actually out there that I don't have formal paperwork on that support Amateur Radio emergency communications in some organized manner... The Governor has said that he 'certainly doesn't need to rely on ham radio' -- where does that leave the RACES program now?"
"I am ashamed tonight that I am a Republican!" remarked one ham radio viewer. "[Romney] speaks in derogatory tones about hams. He certainly shows an ignorance as to what we do and are capable of. I suggest a grass roots campaign of local hams calling the State House and The Governor's Office to protest."
The television program can be viewed at http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/5334306/detail.html.
Goodness sakes. Quick a silly reason not to support someone. I think Ham Radio people should be a bit more mature really.
Told ya I slept at a Holiday Inn....(chuckle)
Thanks for letting me post, even though I don’t own a ham radio....
It’s not about “sensitivity” “Stree_Lawyer”, it’s about people who don’t understand their job as an executive officer.
Typically, Amateur Radio operators are involved in every disaster response and every disaster drill on the state level. A Governor ought to be aware of that.
See LLS? That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about. Understanding the role Amateurs play in such things and doing something to make it better for them, rather than dissing them.
(I’m an Amateur Extra also — and for those of you that care, my call sign is N0NJY)
Am I the only one who wonders why he became agitated?
LLS
“Some signs of a hidden addenda by the proponent:”
I caught all that stuff.
Still - shocks me that an ex governor would be this dismissive of hams.
They truly do the yeomans work.
Romney has shown himself a COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOT if he thinks the personal ham radio operators are not very important for continued communcations in the event of a disaster.
They are the final line of communication when everything else goes down, and they take this role very seriously and in the event of an emergency are indeed on their horses so to speak to keep communcations going.
To anyone who understands the role of the HAM operator, Romney just had his Ducacus tank moment.
“This is a crock. I watched that segment. I am a Ham. But Romney was not dissing ham radio, he was simply discussing the changing capabilities of the State communication resources and the fact that the State can rely on their own systems for disaster communications.’
Citizens can’t rely on the state, though - which is why hams are so critical.
I think the Amateur Radio Community in Massachussets needs to do a better job of communicating their role and capabilities to the Governor in a non-adversarial way, but characterizing his comment as disrespectful isn't the best way to do it nor is a spontaneous e-mail barrage.If your goal is to increase the awareness of the Governor about the back-up capabilities of Amateur Radio in an emergency, then a reasoned and respectful approach by your section leadership officials should be your best approach. But if your goal is to annoy the Governor and have him really dismiss hams as bunch of kooks who overreact to a response to a left-field question, then by all means fire away with your e-mail barrage!
73
Gary Wilson, K2GW
SNJ SEC
If you have policy differences with Mitt, fine. Voting against him because he does not understand Amateur Radio is foolish, IMO.
In fact, Mitt's church is very active in using Amateur Radio for emergency communications and public service. If you want an advocate for Amateur Radio, educate him.
Go Hunter (are you still there?), Go Fred (hello?), Go Mitt (if the above can't be seen).
73, KT5YZ, ARES, RACES, SkyWarn (only two years, though, so I'm a relatively new Ham who joined after Katrina/Rita)
Mittens is he ‘brightest guy in the room’. Don’t you understand that, you little, pesky person you!
This candidate is obviously misinformed, lacks basic knowledge and doesn’t seem to have a clue here in regards to well established emergency communications.
“As a former military officer, I see this as a failure in leadership.”
Romney is clueless. Amateur radio is regularly used in municipal mass casualty exercises. what a dolt.
Voting for McCain destroys what remains of our sovreignty!
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