Deval Patrick: Mitt Romney Flipped Flopped On Gay Mariage But Obama Didn't

Current Massachusetts Goveneor Patrick Deval has claimed that Mitt Romney has flipped flopped on gay marriage while Barack Obama didn't flip flop but "evolved" on the issue of gay marriage:

Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick slammed Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper on Sunday while defending President Obama as leading through “convictions,” a reversal of the attacks launched by many Republicans against Obama.

“I think what we know is that Mitt Romney has occupied many positions on many issues, and he has, you know, back in 1994, when he was running for the United States Senate he said publicly that he would be better than Ted Kennedy on gay and lesbian issues. He takes a different position in front of a different audience today,” he said on ABC’s This Week.

Alternately, Patrick said that Obama “is running on and leading through a set of convictions.”

Patrick was referencing Obama’s admission that he supports gay marriage, a position that many critics have called a flip-flop on the issue, with Democrats defending it as an “evolution.” But Patrick’s statements make it clear that neither candidate is free from the accusation of flip-floppery.

Deval Patrick knows about flip flopping since he took Mitt Romney's $ 2 billion surplus that he left at the end of his term as governor and flipped it to a whopping $101, 908, 205, 432 debt (as I write this post) for the state of Massachusetts. Governor Patrick Deval has taken Mitt Romney's surplus and squandered it and is on track to be about 1.5 or 2 billion dollars in debt. What's even more amazing is that Governor Deval has been receiving $7 billion in federal stimulus funds for the las two years and Massachusetts which hasn't helped reduced the deficit.

In fact, his spending is so outrageous since he blew money on himself and his staff which made the citizens of the state very unhappy. Thanks to Deval Patrick's leadership, Massachusetts is in debt. And what's his solution to fix the problem? More spending. 

Govenor Duval has flipped the state back to the same level of debt before Mitt Romney became Governor of Massachusetts and he hasn't improved the state financially but regressed back to the same old problems. 

This is a very clear indication of poor financial leadership.

Reverend Rob Schenck Endorses Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is the candidate that voters who are concerned about values are looking for. Romney has received support from two separate letters of endorsement from activist who were on the front lines of fighting for traditional marriage in Massachusetts. Maggie Gallagher, founder of the National Organization for Marriage, has penned an excellent article defending Mitt Romney's record on gay marriage. Mitt also had a broad array of conservative activist to publish a letter on explaining that Mitt Romney was a politician who fought for traditional marriage and abortion. 

Now, a prominent pro-life and abortion activist named Reverend Rob Schenck, who is the president of the National Clergy Council, a nationwide network of conservative pastors from all Christian traditions, including Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox, and Protestant, has endorsed Mitt Romney:

Schenck, who has met all of the Republican candidates, said today about his endorsement, “I’ve talked face-to-face, at length, to Governor Romney about the issues of concern to Christian voters. When I asked Governor Romney pointedly about his personal view on abortion, he told me he believes every intentional abortion is an immoral end to a human life. He is clearly pro-life. He also unequivocally denounced same-sex marriage. When I asked, ‘Who is Jesus Christ to you?’ He said, ‘My personal Lord and Savior.’ There was nothing ambiguous about any of these things.”

Rev. Schenck said he believes Governor Romney is the best organized and the best financed to win a national election.

“Mitt Romney has the experience, the integrity, the intellect, and the leadership skills to go up against President Obama. No candidate will ever be perfect, but he must be as good as possible and he must be able to win. That’s why I support Mitt Romney.”

The evidence is clear. There is no stronger pro-life, pro-marriage candidate than Mitt Romney.  

Letter From Massachusetts Citzens Defend Mitt Romney's Record On Traditional Marriage

Mitt Romney's record on defending traditional marriage during his term as Governor of Massachusetts demonstrates that he is a staunch supporter of families and marriage. Last month, Maggie Gallagher, founder of the National Organization for Marriage, has penned an excellent article defending Mitt Romney's record on gay marriage. 

Now a group of citizens of Massachusetts publicly released a letter about a week ago defending Romney's record on traditional marriage. 

Read the whole letter below:

December 30, 2011

Dear conservative friends:

We hail from a broad spectrum of organizations dedicated to fighting for the pro-family agenda in Massachusetts.  As you know, Mitt Romney served as the governor of our state from January 2, 2003 to January 3, 2007. During that time, we worked closely with him and his excellent staff on that agenda.

 Some press accounts and bloggers have described Governor Romney in terms we neither have observed nor can we accept.  To the contrary, we, who have been fighting here for the values you also hold, are indebted to him and his responsive staff in demonstrating solid social conservative credentials by undertaking the following actions here in Massachusetts. The following is not an endorsement of Governor Romney but our account of the facts to set the record straight.

·       Staunchly defended traditional marriage.  Governor Romney immediately and strongly condemned the November 18, 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) decision that legalized “same-sex marriage” in our state.  More importantly, he followed up on that denunciation with action – action that saved our nation from a constitutional crisis over the definition of marriage.  He and his staff identified and enforced a little-known 1913 law that allowed them to order local clerks not to issue marriage licenses to out-of-state couples.  Absent this action, homosexual couples would surely have flooded into Massachusetts from other states to get “married” and then demanded that their home states recognize the “marriages,” putting the nation only one court decision away from nationalizing “same-sex marriage.”

o   We do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney had bogus Party A and Party B marriage licenses printed and ordered Justices of the Peace and Town Clerks to perform same-sex “marriages” when asked or be fired. As May 17, 2004 (the SJC’s declaratory judgment date) approached, the Governor’s Office of Legal Counsel issued provisional advisory instructions to the justices of the peace and prepared revised license applications. These executive actions did not result in the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples before May 17. The new policies were carried out only after and as a direct result of the judiciary’s final action in Goodridge on May 17. They did not generate same-sex marriages; that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

o   We do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The governor does not issue marriage licenses in Massachusetts. Only the town clerks can do that. But the governor can issue one-day justice of the peace authorizations to an individual who wants to perform a marriage ceremony but is not a licensed minister, town clerk or justice of the peace. The governor’s office issues thousands of those in a four year term with the only criteria being that the individual doing the ceremony is in good standing and the parties getting married have a valid marriage license.

·       Worked hard to overturn “same-sex marriage” in the Commonwealth with substantial results.  In 2004 he lobbied hard, before a very hostile legislature, for a constitutional amendment protecting marriage – an amendment later changed by the legislature to include civil unions, which the Governor and many marriage amendment supporters opposed.  Working with the Governor, we were successful in defeating this amendment.

·       Provided strong, active support for a record-setting citizen petition drive in 2005 to advance a clean constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The petition drive collected the largest number of signatures in Massachusetts history.

·       Rallied thousands of citizens around the state to focus public and media attention on the failure of legislators, through repeated delays, to perform their constitutional obligation and vote on the marriage amendment. In November of 2006, Gov. Romney held the largest State House rally in Massachusetts history with over 7000 supporters of traditional marriage.

·       Filed suit before the Supreme Judicial Court asking the court to clarify the legislators’ duty to vote and failing that, to place the amendment on the 2008 ballot. That lawsuit, perhaps more than any other single action, was by all accounts instrumental in bringing the ultimate pressure on the legislators to vote.  The SJC unanimously ruled that the Legislature must vote and the historic vote was taken on January 2, 2007 winning legislative support. This cleared a major hurdle in the three year effort to restore traditional marriage in the Commonwealth.

·       Fought for abstinence education.  In 2006, under Governor Romney’s leadership, Massachusetts’ public schools began to offer a classroom program on abstinence from the faith-based Boston group Healthy Futures to middle school students.  Promoting the program, Governor Romney stated, “I’ve never had anyone complain to me that their kids are not learning enough about sex in school. However, a number of people have asked me why it is that we do not speak more about abstinence as a safe and preventative health practice.”

·       Affirmed the culture of life.  Governor Romney vetoed bills to provide access to the so-called “morning-after pill,” which is an abortifacient, as well as a bill providing for expansive, embryo-destroying stem cell research.  He vetoed the latter bill in 2005 because he could not “in good conscience allow this bill to become law.”

o   We do not agree with the claims that Gov. Romney is responsible for tax payer funded abortion under the Massachusetts health care system. That blame lies solely on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court who ruled in 1981 that the Massachusetts Constitution required payment for abortions for Medicaid-eligible women. In 1997, the Court reaffirmed its position that a state-subsidized plan must offer “medically necessary abortions.”

·       Stood for religious freedom.  Governor Romney was stalwart in defense of the right of Catholic Charities of Boston to refuse to allow homosexual couples to adopt children in its care.  Catholic Charities was loudly accused of “discrimination,” but Governor Romney correctly pointed out that it is unjust to force a religious agency to violate the tenets of its faith in order to placate a special-interest group.

·       Filed “An Act Protecting Religious Freedom” in the Massachusetts legislature to save Catholic Charities of Boston and other religious groups from being forced to violate their moral principles or stop doing important charitable work.

All of this may explain why John J. Miller, the national political reporter of National Review, wrote that “a good case can be made that Romney has fought harder for social conservatives than any other governor in America, and it is difficult to imagine his doing so in a more daunting political environment.”

We are aware of the 1994 comments of Senate candidate Romney, which have been the subject of much recent discussion.  While they are, taken by themselves, obviously worrisome to social conservatives including ourselves, they do not dovetail with the actions of Governor Romney from 2003 until now – and those actions have positively and demonstrably impacted the social climate of Massachusetts.

Since well before 2003, we have been laboring in the trenches of Massachusetts, fighting for the family values you and we share.  It is difficult work indeed – not for the faint of heart.  In this challenging environment, Governor Romney has proven that he shares our values, as well as our determination to protect them.

For four years, Governor Romney was right there beside us, providing leadership on key issues – whether it was politically expedient to do so or not.  He has stood on principle, and we have benefited greatly from having him with us.

It is clear that Governor Romney has learned much since 1994 – to the benefit of our movement and our Commonwealth.  In fact, the entire nation has benefited from his socially conservative, pro-family actions in office.  As we explained earlier, his leadership on the marriage issue helped prevent our nation from being plunged into even worse legal turmoil following the court decision that forced “gay marriage” upon our Commonwealth.

For that our country ought to be thankful.  We certainly are.

Sincerely,

Rita Covelle

President, Morality in Media Massachusetts

Gerald D. D’Avolio

Former Executive Director, Massachusetts Catholic Conference

Raymond L. Flynn

Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See

Professor Mary Ann Glendon

Harvard Law School

Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See

Kristian Mineau

President, Massachusetts Family Institute

Dr. Roberto Miranda

COPAHNI Fellowship of Hispanic Pastors of New England

James F. Morgan

Chairman, Institute for Family Development

Joseph Reilly

Former Chairman of the Board, Massachusetts Citizens for Life

Thomas A. Shields

Chairman, Coalition for Marriage and Family

__________________________

Note:  The signatories are all acting as individual citizens, and not as representatives of their respective organizations.  Organizational affiliations appear for identification purposes only.

Mitt Romney Has Been Consistent In Upholding Traditional Marriage

Maggie Gallagher, founder of the National Organization for Marriage, has penned an excellent article defending Mitt Romney's record on gay marriage:

In the summer of 2003, when I learned the Massachusetts courts were likely to make gay marriage a reality, I quit my job and started up a think tank to work full time on the marriage issue. I traveled to Massachusetts multiple times to confer with local leaders, testify before the legislature, address grassroots gatherings, meet with policymakers.

Mitt Romney didn't just oppose court-ordered same-sex marriage with words, he fought hard, including behind the scenes.

When the people of Massachusetts mobilized the most massive signature-gathering operation in the state's history in support of a marriage amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, Romney supported the effort.

Under that state's constitution, 25 percent of the legislators must vote twice to approve a proposed amendment before it goes to a vote of the people.

The fact is, that against incredible shenanigans by many pro-gay marriage Democrats, while Romney was governor, the marriage amendment made progress. On Jan. 2, 2007, a few days before Romney left office, more than 25 percent of legislators DID approve the marriage amendment.

After he left office, the Democrats succeeded through a massive arm-twisting campaign to kill off the marriage amendment in the second vote.

If Romney had had another term as governor, the people of Massachusetts would have won the right to overrule their court and reverse gay marriage, as the people of California did.

And on the federal marriage amendment? In June of 2004, Romney testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of the federal marriage amendment, something Newt Gingrich never did. Ron Paul actively opposed a federal marriage amendment, even though it's the only way to prevent the Supreme Court from imposing gay marriage on all 50 states. Only Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann have a record of concrete deeds on marriage that exceeds Romney's.

Romney's new mailer in Iowa says he opposes same-sex marriage and supports a federal marriage amendment.

This is not a flip-flop; it's the truth. On gay marriage he's been a rock.

Maggie Gallagher claims that alot of shenanigans took place by pro-marriage democrats to make gay marriage happen in Massachusetts. What kind of stunts did the Democrats pull? Lets find out:

Here is a little back-story about how gay marriage was forced on the Mass. residents.

Most Americans know that Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriage. And they probably also know that Mitt Romney was governor when gay marriage was legalised. What I’m not sure many people know around the country is how this came to pass. This was not a bill that passed through the state house and senate, then on to Romney’s desk for a signature. This was a case of liberal, activist judges instituting their own personal policy preferences onto the citizens of Massachusetts, where they had no right to do so. They forced Mass. residents to accept something that polls show a vast majority of residents don’t want.

A citizen’s group gathered up more than enough signatures to have this issue go to the citizens for a vote in 2008 on this issue and have the constitution amended according to the vote. This meant that there had to be a constitutional convention,which there was, where a vote would have to be taken to put this issue on the ballet by Mass. law.

The constitutional convention, knowing Romney wasn’t running for re-election, illegally filibustered and the issue was never voted on in committee. Romney then filed a complaint with the state supreme court to have the committee reconvened and force a vote on the issue.

Unfortunately Romney was out of office before the final verdict came down. That is probably where he let Mass. residents down, if he did at all, by not running for re-election.

When gov. Patrick took office, the first thing he did was to kill the whole controversy by basically telling his law makers to ignore the law, and the wishes of the people, and not vote or send the issue to the voters.

The New York Times confirms this version of events:

With only a month before same-sex marriages are to become legal in Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney made a last-ditch effort on Thursday to keep them from taking place for at least two and a half years.

Mr. Romney said he would ask state lawmakers to pass emergency legislation allowing him to petition the state's Supreme Judicial Court to stay its ruling making gay marriage legal as of May 17. The governor wants the court to postpone same-sex marriages until a constitutional amendment banning them has a chance to be approved by voters. That would not be until November 2006, because the amendment must be passed again in the 2005-6 legislative session.

''This is the sole step that I believe can be taken, within the bounds of the law, to preserve the right of the citizens to decide whether we'll have same-sex marriage in the commonwealth,'' Mr. Romney said at a news conference.

Some people claim that Mitt Romney should have done more in fighting to protect traditional marriage after the Massachusetts Supreme Court made Gay Marriage legal in that state. However, Mitt Romney did all that he could do within his power to uphold traditional marriage:

Conservative leaders including Pat Buchanan and Mike Huckabee argue that Mitt Romney should have defied the order of the Massachusetts Supreme Court and refused to allow gay marriage ceremonies to take place in the state (Buchanan argues defiance: http://www.theamericancause.org/patmittromney.htm;  Huckabee says Romney could have stopped it without specifics: http://www.cnsnews.com/node/34561).  There is a problem with these views.  The people of Massachusetts elected Mitt Romney to carry out the law as interpreted by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.  Mitt Romney was not elected to take a position of conscience against the ordered society of Massachusetts, and his role as governor was to carry out the law as interpreted by the Court.

If Romney had defied the court in ways advocated by Pat Buchanan and Mike Huckabee (neither of whom is a licensed attorney in any state), Governor Romney could have been held in contempt, impeached and lost his license to practice law in the state.   The senior counsel for the American Center of Law and Justice shares my interpretation of Romney’s conflict:  http://evangelicalsformitt.org/2007/01/mitt-romney-chose-gay-marriage/.  Taking a position of conscience in defiance to a public administrative duty completely goes against the concept of civil society.  When a soldier refuses to serve in active duty on a position of conscience, he receives a dishonorable discharge.  Should we really expect an elected Governor to defy a court order of his own state? 

The people of Massachusetts have a legal right to overturn any ruling on individual rights in Massachusetts by the amendment process of the state constitution.  After the Court ordered civil unions to be recognized between same-sex couples, Governor Romney led an effort to amend the constitution to define a civil union to exist only between a man and a woman.    The state legislature refused bring the issue to a vote.  After Romney ran into this opposition, he didn’t sit back:  he filed suit (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/us/25marriage.html)  Romney sued the legislature as a citizen to bring the constitutional effort to a vote, but he could not succeed.  These efforts by Romney shows a man deeply troubled and offended at the concept of gay marriage. Suggesting he supported gay marriage is simply not true.

Sometimes, the best evidence doesn't come from supporters of Mitt Romney but his opponents. Below is a clip of Mitt Romeny speaking at a Pro-Traditional marraige rally:

Here's a video of Mitt Romney with Chris Matthews back in April 12, 2006 stating that he supports Pro-Traditonal marraige:

In the end, Mitt Romney has been consistent in fighting for traditional marriage. That is why he signed the a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) supporting marriage between a woman and man. As a result, Mitt Romney has been the strongest and consistent supporter of traditional marraige. That is clear from the facts and from those who served with Mitt Romney in Massachusetts.