EXCLUSIVE: Brownback Campaign Rips Romney on Boy Scouts Position
July 23, 2007
The Brody File is the first to receive a press release that will go out later today from the Brownback campaign.
It is a frontal assault on Mitt Romney.
Basically, the Brownback campaign is blasting Romney for his past comments about the Boy Scouts. You can read the press release below.
The title is as follows:
Romney Hostile to Boy Scout Leadership and Principles: Supports Gay Scout Leaders, was Cold to Scout Participation in Olympics.
Here's the entire press release:
In his 1994 Senate race in Massachusetts and later as CEO of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee, Mitt Romney opposed Boy Scout officials who wished to prevent gay men from becoming troop leaders and was hostile to Scout participation in the 2002 Olympics.
In a 1994 debate with Ted Kennedy, Mitt Romney offered his support for gay scout leaders:
"I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation."
The comments from Romney, who holds a law degree, came six years before the June 2000 Supreme Court ruling that allowed the Boy Scouts to bar troop leaders based on sexual orientation. The ruling cited the constitutional rights of freedom of association and speech.
Later in 2000, facing pressure from gay rights activists, Romney was cold toward overtures from Scout leaders who wished to participate in Olympic activities.
"At a recent training event for Scout leaders, Marty Latimer, chief Scout executive for the council, revealed that the Scouts are no longer welcome. 'We don't understand what's wrong. They just don't want us and won't talk to us,' said Latimer. He told NewsMax.com that Mitt Romney, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, has not returned phone calls from a number of Scout officials who have tried to obtain clarification."
Romney's openness to gay scout leaders conflicts with the Scout Oath, which requires Scouts to be "morally straight."
"What part of morally straight doesn't Mitt Romney understand?" said Larry Cirigiano, a Catholic activist in Massahusetts. "Boy Scout 'leaders' are supposed to be role models. Open homosexuals should not be leading young Boy Scouts anywhere."
Senator Brownback has always supported the right of the Boy Scouts of America to determine the best leaders for young scouts.
The Brownback campaign then directs people to a YouTube clip of a 1994 U.S. Senate debate where Romney talks about this. You can watch the YouTube clip here.
Let me say a few things.
First of all, this Boy Scout story has been talked about at the grassroots level before but this is the first time that a rival campaign has brought it up and made it an issue. It makes sense that the Brownback campaign would do this.
The operatives within the campaign do not like Romney.
They feel he is disingenuous on nearly every issue. Brownback needs to do well in the upcoming Iowa Straw Poll to begin to break out of the second tier. You can bet that the campaign will be spreading this Boy Scout information to the conservative Iowa voters where family values are important.
We will try and get a response from the Romney campaign today. In the past, The Brody File inquired about the Governor's position on this issue but never got a response.
Is this a big deal to you? The Brownback campaign thinks it's important but what say you?
Comments?
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