Romney Offers Relief from Scandal Fatigue

Attempting to measure the character of a politician is a risky endeavor.  Without a doubt, thousands of people in Florida believed that former Congressman Mark Foley was a decent and honorable man. Who knew that he was initiating sexually aggressive conversations with teenagers in his free time? 

In my home state of Ohio, Bob Ney was a highly respected member of Congress. Little did we know that he was trading financial perks for votes to benefit the clients of shameful lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  In the coming months, it’s likely that many more elected officials will be implicated in the Abramoff scandal.

In recent years, the legislative branch has been the home of embarrassing scandals, but in the 90s, President Clinton heaped shame on the executive branch through the Lewinsky affair.  As if having sexual relations with an intern wasn’t bad enough, President Clinton initially lied about it under oath. Then he looked us in the eye to tell us that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman.”  Ugh.  Scandal followed the Clinton Administration even after his term ended, thanks largely to former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger literally stuffing classified documents down his pants. 

Thankfully, President Bush has kept the executive branch scandal-free since his first election in 2000.  Note to liberals: disagreeing with the President on national security matters does not constitute a “scandal” no matter how hard you try to convince the American people otherwise. 

Ongoing scandals involving elected officials have naturally discouraged the electorate.  The American people desire to elect good people to leadership positions.  When those people turn out to be crooks, liars, and sexual deviants, we feel betrayed.  And rightly so. 

Character and integrity matter.  We want to elect people whose private lives match their public persona.  No public official understands this better than Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.  In a September 2005 interview with The Atlantic, Romney said the following about the importance of character and integrity:

“I believe people who are in a position of visibility and leadership affect the character of young people and individuals who look to them as leaders.  And in some respects just as important as their policies and positions is their character and their substance.  What for me makes people like Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt and John Adams and George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan such extraordinary leaders is that they had integrity through and through.  What they were on the inside and what they said on the outside was harmonious.  There are a lot of people like that.  I think that if people try to live a very different personal life not consistent with the role they’ve assumed as a governor or senator or president, we lose something as a nation.”

It’s refreshing to hear an elected leader clearly articulate the importance of character.  Of course it’s one thing to say it and another to actually live it.  Governor Romney has done nothing to bring shame to his office since his election in 2002.  He has honored the high ethical standards that voters demand in their leaders.  And in four years, there hasn’t been a hint of scandal around the governor’s office.  Another note to liberals:  again, the fact that you disagree with Romney’s policy proposals does not constitute a scandal. 

What causes so many of our elected officials to push ethics aside?  It’s an all-consuming desire to gain power, fame, and fortune.  Rather than working to serve the people, the work to serve themselves at the expense of the people. For Governor Romney, the opportunity to serve others was what drew him to government.  As a wildly successful businessman, Romney could have ignored the call to public service.  But, as he explained in his book Turnaround, the opportunity to serve has given him more satisfaction than he ever could have expected:

“There is not one day when I have regretted making a full commitment to public service.  The battles, the triumphs, the personal associations are more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.  I could have made a good deal more money over the last five years had I stayed at my investment job…Instead, I have come to know many more people and to help many more people I do not know.  It’s a currency of a different denomination: it can’t be taxed, stolen, or depleted.  The more I have of it, the richer I feel.” (page 384)

Speaking of money, it should be noted that Romney has served as governor without taking a salary to encourage the spirit of volunteerism and out of his desire to give something back. 

When the 2002 Winter Olympics needed someone to come in and clean up corruption, scandal, and waste that had occurred in the planning stages, they called on Mitt Romney.  He answered the call, turned around the mess, and put on the most successful Winter Games in our history at a time when our country needed a boost (the games occurred just months after 9/11). 

And when he decided to run for governor of Massachusetts, there is no doubt that he had the right priorities in mind:

“Very simply, I was running to help people.  Massachusetts had been burdened for too long by waste, abuse, inefficiency, and patronage.  Government needed to be more about public service and less about self-service.” (Turnaround” page 381)

National Review magazine recently noted that Romney might be just what voters are looking for in 2008:

“With some conservatives worried about serious Republican electoral trouble because of a growing number of bribery, money laundering, illegal lobbying, and obstruction of justice scandals embroiling many key figures in the GOP, Romney's D.C.-free whistle-clean image, coupled with his proven ability to transcend a corrupt mess, may prove a tempting antidote.”

I don’t know Mitt Romney personally.  I can’t give a first-hand story of what a good guy he is.  But by all accounts, Mitt Romney is a good man.  He’s an honorable public servant who is in this field for all the right reasons.  Isn’t that refreshing? 

Character. Integrity.  Ethical leadership.  Just a few more reasons to support Mitt Romney in 2008. 

Interested in learning more about where Mitt stands on the issues?  Click here.

Contact us at nathan@americansformitt.com