Romney aids gay-marriage supporter

The Romney administration yesterday threw its weight behind an openly gay candidate for the House who supports same-sex marriage, despite Governor Mitt Romney's attempts to block legalized gay marriage earlier this year.

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey attended a campaign event at which Richard L. Babson formally announced his candidacy for a House seat that represents the Back Bay. Babson is running against Democrat Martha Walz to replace Representative Paul C. Demakis, a Democrat who is retiring.

"We are so grateful Richard is willing to step up and become part of our reform team and help us to genuinely get the issues aired," Healey told more than 50 Babson supporters gathered at the Hampshire House last night.

"We don't expect that everyone who comes with us on the Republican team is going to agree with me or Mitt Romney on every issue, but we do know that they are not going to be voting like slaves to Speaker [Thomas M.] Finneran, and that is the most important thing."

Babson echoed Healey's call for change on Beacon Hill.

"I will use the skills and knowledge that I've acquired through my years of leadership in the private sector to contribute to positive and lasting change in our government," said Babson, an entrepreneur and economist who is the chairman of Babson-United Inc., a Wellesley-based investment advisory firm.

While Babson supports many of the changes proposed by Romney, such as an income-tax rollback, he disagrees with the governor on social issues such as same-sex marriage.

Babson insists that the conflict does not affect his campaign. "I've talked with the governor privately about it, and he has some difficulty with the 'm' word," Babson said. "My position is that there is a civil institution and a religious one, that there is a difference between marriage and holy matrimony.

"I don't always have to agree with everything a person espouses," he added.

The Republican Party has also given support to Babson's campaign, helping with research and grass-roots campaign support, said Alex Dunn, Romney's political director.

In addition, Babson has put $30,000 of his own money into the campaign.

"My opponent has a well-oiled machine," he said. "Gerrymandering has made it a Democratic district, and [the money is] what I needed to do to level the playing field."

Walz disputed that, saying, "Richard is a multimillionaire that is going to try to buy a seat in the House of Representatives without a record to run on.

"Like most Democrats, I'm going to have to do it the old-fashioned way and work hard," she said.