Mass. activists defend Romney conservative record

A small group of conservative activists in Massachusetts circulated a letter yesterday touting Mitt Romney's record on the "profamily agenda," the latest salvo in a churning debate over the former governor's conservative credentials and his place in the 2008 Republican primary.

The letter, which lauds Romney's battles against legalized same-sex marriage and the morning-after pill, was drafted a day after one of his likely conservative rivals for the GOP nomination, Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, trumpeted his own list of Massachusetts activists who plan to back him over Romney.

Romney's campaign says it is aware of the letter of support but not involved with it , though one activist said the group had been in contact with campaign staff.

"For four years, Governor Romney has been right there beside us, providing leadership on key issues -- whether it was politically expedient to do so or not," reads a draft of the letter, whose top signatory is Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute and a close Romney ally on social issues. "He has stood on principle, and we have benefited greatly from having him with us."

The letter, obtained by the Globe, is meant to be signed by several leading activists, but not everyone who was asked to sign is willing to do so, putting a potential wrinkle in the effort by Romney's defenders to project a united front.

Romney is trying to position himself as the conservative choice in 2008, despite his past support for abortion rights and gay rights, which has generated friction for him over the past several weeks. Romney contends he has "grown," and now describes himself as "firmly prolife" and says he no longer advocates that gays and lesbians serve openly in the military.

In an interview yesterday, Mineau said the letter is not an endorsement of Romney's presidential campaign, but an effort to set the record straight about his advocacy for conservative causes.

"A number of us that have worked with the administration the last four years on a number of key family and social issues, we feel that there's some bad press going on out there from some quarters to try to vilify his stand on social issues," said Mineau, who has led the fight against same-sex marriage.

One conservative group that has attacked Romney aggressively is MassResistance, a Waltham-based group that has generated political problems for him around the country by circulating a long document criticizing his record on social issues.

Asked how involved Romney had been in the letter campaign, Mineau said the group had "corroborated a few things" with campaign staff members, many of whom, he said, he worked with when they were in the governor's office. Mineau said the group planned to publicly release the letter in the near future.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said the campaign was aware of the letter, but had not been involved further.

"We're always interested in having people go out there who can testify personally about their support of the governor and his advocacy for those issues," Madden said.

One activist who agreed to sign the letter was Joseph Reilly, president of the group Massachusetts Citizens for Life, a group that opposes abortion.

"It just told the truth," Reilly said of the letter, describing Romney as "a man of honesty."

"I would describe the letter as a testimony of the help that Governor Romney has given to profamily values during his tenure," added Tom Shields, chairman of the Coalition for Marriage and Family.

But Don Feder, president of the Framingham-based group Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, said he won't sign the letter because he is not convinced that Romney's evolution from social moderate to conservative is genuine.

"He's come very late to certain positions, and I have some questions about his sincerity," Feder said.

Romney, however, picked up a key endorsement yesterday from Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, an influential conservative.

Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.