NYT frontpages connection between Romney's fundraising and Mormon Church

[DeepModem Mom]

"Romney Leads G.O.P. in Money, Tapping Wall St. and Mormons"

I've not heard this powerful source of fundraising for Romney, and its part in his surprising dollar amount given his single-digit showing in the polls, mentioned in television commentary, or elsewhere in the print press, although a Boston Globe report is referenced in the article.

From the NYT article, which has a different headline online:

NYT: Romney Reaps $20 Million to Top G.O.P. Rivals
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: April 3, 2007

....Although Mr. Romney’s membership in the Mormon Church has often been discussed as a potential political liability, he has taken deliberate steps to turn his affiliation with the church into a fund-raising asset. He has tapped wealthy Mormons including the Marriott family, founders of the hotel chain, and Jon M. Huntsman Sr., who made a fortune in plastics packaging.

Last year, for example, Mr. Huntsman and his sons gave more than $100,000 to political action committees set up to lay the groundwork for Mr. Romney’s campaign. A handful of other Mormons have contributed especially heavily as well. They made the contributions through a chain of federal and state committees Mr. Romney set up that allowed donors to contribute more than the $5,000 limit on gifts to federal PACs.. Residents of Utah, the center of the Mormon Church, contributed about 15 percent of the total contributions, more per capita than any other state.

Last fall, three officials of the Romney campaign met privately with a senior leader of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City about reaching out to the six million Mormons around the country. The Boston Globe reported that Romney campaign officials also contacted officers of the church’s Brigham Young University, where Mr. Romney attended college. Two administrators of the university’s business school later sent an e-mail message to 150 supporters and alumni soliciting donations for the campaign, the newspaper reported.

Tax laws bar churches and other tax-exempt charitable groups from partisan politics. The church and the Romney campaign both issued statements attesting to church’s neutrality as an institution and denying any effort to enlist it in the Romney campaign. A spokesman for the Mormon Church said that the meeting was a “courtesy visit,” and that Brigham Young had said the two deans acted inappropriately....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/us/politics/03money.html?ref=todayspaper

[IChing]

1. The Mormon Church is very rich as compared to their congregation

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Mormon Church is the most prosperous of American religions and is preparing to focus that considerable wealth on an unprecedented campaign of international expansion, according to a cover story in Time magazine on newsstands this week.

Time correspondents claimed "unusual cooperation" from the hierarchy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in researching the article, which gives what may be the most accurate financial snapshot of the church to date: a minimum of $30 billion in assets and annual gross income of $6 billion -- more than Utah's state budget this year.

According to the article entitled "Mormons Inc.: The Secret of America's Most Prosperous Religion," the church last year brought in $5.2 billion in tithings alone from its roughly 10 million members, who are asked to give 10 percent of their income.

If the Mormon Church were a corporation, that yearly revenue would place it midway through the Fortune 500, a little below Union Carbide and the Paine Webber Group, but bigger than Nike and the Gap.

"And as long as corporate rankings are being bandied about, the church would make any list of the most admired: for straight dealing, company spirit, contributions to charity (even the non-Mormon kind) and a fiscal probity among its powerful leaders that would satisfy any shareholder group, if there were one,'' the magazine said.

http://www.lds-mormon.com/wealth.shtml

[yellowcanine]

2. "Two administrators of the university’s business school later sent an e-mail message to

150 supporters and alumni soliciting donations for the campaign, the newspaper reported."

If they used their university email accounts to do it that is potentially a problem.

I don't have a problem with Romney hitting up individual Mormans for donations. But he better not be using Morman Church address lists or having the Church or BYU solicit donations for him.

[kirby]

4. They probabably used wmr44.com ;)

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Good one!

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Thanks for posting this link. I do think the public should be made aware...

and the press should be vigilant about a possible church/state separation issue with regard to Romney. The FEC hasn't been much use in this area.

[IChing]

10. This is old so the amount of monies will be twice I'd expect

Mormons have been kind and generous to me
When I moved to California for a teaching job, they helped me move my stuff in,
when I was struck with illness and disease, they called and checked in on me.
We have a rather larger proportion of Mormons here, but many are moving to Utah.

I just have a problem with the church and state issue. I truly believe in the first amendment.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

[tridim]

3. Mittens "Church IS State" Romney!

:eyes:

Are the Republics even capable of fielding a candidate who isn't beholden to some gigantic special interest? Sure doesn't seem like it.

[NNN0LHI]

7. Suppose that headline had read: Romney Leads G.O.P. in Money, Tapping Wall St. and Jews?

I don't think bringing someones religion into this is such a good idea. At least it doesn't set well with me.

Don

[DemBones DemBones]

11. It's bad if ANY religion is getting too involved in politics

especially if they're soliciting money for a candidate. If the Catholic bishops asked Catholics to contribute to campaigns, I'd object. I objected to those who tried to tell Catholics not to vote for a pro-choice candidate (even though I'm pro-life) and to other political policies the bishops have put forward.

[bryant69]

14. Is there any evidence that Mormon Bishops or leaders

Have asked for their congregations to support Romney?

Bryant

[DeepModem Mom]

12. I think most of the press agrees with you. I just think there's a possible church/state issue...

with Romney's fundraising that needs to be watched -- as I wish Bush's alliance with fundamentalist churches had been.

[bryant69]

13. It is an issue

I mean I'd guess they (and we) would be more sensitive if it were the Jews, but it still would be a question worth asking.

I suspect that Romney will get a lot of support from the Mormon Community, but I don't think there's anything particularly suspicious in that. Mormons are already pretty conservative, and they would like to see one of their own do good.

If he were not so obviously pandering to the right and a republican besides I'd be tempted to support him; certainly if Reid ever runs for President (which doesn't seem likely) he will be a very attractive candidate for me for a number of reasons, not all of them connected to his actual position on the issues.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[NNN0LHI]

16. I like Reid too. Its his style that I admire

I have known people like him. Soft spoken. Smart as hell. And will not hesitate to stick a shiv (not literally) in someone who crosses them so fast they never know what hits them.

Don

[DemBones DemBones]

8. Did you see the thread about the Mormon "White Horse" Prophecy?

It's here somewhere but here's the link to the story: http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/whitehorseprophecy.htm


Back in 1999, the Salt Lake Tribune reported on Orrin Hatch's interview with a Mormon radio station after announcing his presidential candidacy in 1999. Hatch is a Mormon himself, if you didn't know. Here's the first part of the article:

"Sen. Orrin Hatch has denied his Republican presidential campaign is motivated by a longing to fulfill an obscure Mormon myth. But during an interview with a Mormon Church-owned radio station this week he borrowed the exact phrasing of the apocalyptic belief."

"According to the so-called "White Horse Prophecy," the U.S. Constitution will be hanging by a thread and a church elder from Zion will ride in on a metaphorical white horse and save it."

"Utah's senior senator . . . complained that Democrats' political correctness will be the ruin of the country. "They tolerate everything that's bad, and they're intolerant of everything that's good. Religious freedom is going to go down the drain, too," Hatch said. "I've never seen it worse than this, where the Constitution literally is hanging by a thread."

". . . Wright , also a Mormon said Hatch clearly was "talking to his folks" in the church audience and his use of the phrase was the buzz of the station afterward. "It just caught me by surprise. It was worded carefully," Wright said Wednesday. "I'm not sure he saw himself as the one who would fulfill the prophecy, but I thought it walked a fine line. It's such a well-recognized phrase."


There's no doubt the Constitution has been weakened and that we need someone to save the country but does Romney have apocalyptic ideas?

I don't know much about Mormon theology regarding "the End Times" but I know too many fundamentalists are talking about "the End Times" or Apocalypse being near. Of course, there are always some saying that, but it seems that many more are saying it now. That bothers me because it has the potential of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Jesus said there would be plagues and wars and other signs BUT he also said that no one could know the time, that we should always be ready for His return.

[SpiralHawk]

9. der Mittenfurher rides der Pale Horse

[Critters2]

15. When I first heard hw much money he'd raised, I knew most of it was

from Mormons. Which is perfectly fine, if the Church wasn't doing the soliciting. If it was, as in the case of the Brigham Young guys, well, that's a problem.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

17. This is front page news in the Washington Post today also:

This does not surprise me at all, I fully expected him to be one of the top fundraisers merely because of the Mormon base.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/03/AR2007040301737.html

Mormon Base a Mixed Blessing for Romney

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 4, 2007; A01

It is the rare presidential candidate who comes to Idaho to raise money, but there was Mitt Romney last month, packing more than 100 people, at up to $2,300 a head, into the Crystal Ballroom in Boise.

"Nearly every seat was filled. Just about everybody that's anybody was there," said Grant Ipsen, a former Idaho state legislator. "I don't think I'd ever attended another fundraiser for a federal candidate in Idaho."

There was no great mystery why Romney was in town. The former Massachusetts governor is a Mormon, as are about one-quarter of Idaho residents, including Ipsen and many others who turned out for the lunchtime event. The fundraiser was bracketed by two others in the Mountain West: one in Las Vegas and another outside Phoenix. At both of those events, Mormons made up at least half the crowd, organizers said. Altogether, the two-day swing brought in well over $1 million for Romney.

As he vies for a place in the top tier of contenders for the Republican nomination, Romney is reaping enormous benefits from being part of a growing religion that has traditionally emphasized civic engagement and mutual support. Mormons are fueling his strong fundraising operation, which this week reported raising $21 million, the most of any Republican candidate. And they are laying the foundation for a potent grass-roots network -- including a cadre of young church members experienced in door-to-door missions who say they are looking forward to hitting the streets for him.

...