Romney out front; Bush aides in touch
As Governor Mitt Romney navigates the volatile issue of gay marriage, his staff is in "regular contact" with the staffs of the Bush White House and the national Republican Party, a top Romney aide said yesterday.
Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor's director of communications, downplayed the significance of the talks between Washington and the governor's office, but he described it as contact on "about a semidaily basis."
Fehrnstrom said the national Republicans, whom he would not name, were in contact with Romney's chief of staff, Beth Myers, and her deputy, Peter G. Flaherty to keep tabs on the debate and other developments, the outcome of which will have implications for the presidential campaign.
Fehrnstrom said no one from the Bush White House or the Republican National Committee has talked directly to Romney.
In recent days, the governor has become more aggressively and personally involved in the emotionally charged issue, taking a high-profile role and intimating that he would seek legal avenues to block issuance of gay marriage licenses. Local and national political observers had speculated that Romney was coordinating his activities with the White House, the Bush campaign, and the Republican National Committee. Nationally, the GOP, sensing an opening to attack Democratic front-runner Senator John F. Kerry, has also become more vocal in opposition, with its operatives indicating that the gay marriage debate can be used to paint Massachusetts as out of step with the rest of the country.
Fehrnstrom insisted that Romney's decision to inject himself into the debate, although he has no formal role in a constitutional convention, has nothing to do with presidential politics and everything to do with Romney's feeling that he should be involved in such a momentous debate. Last night, Romney continued to play a role in the negotiations, sending word through GOP lawmakers that he opposed any form of civil unions for gay couples.
"I can't imagine the governor sitting on the sidelines while one of the most important debates in recent history is taking place," Fehrnstrom said.
Romney has consistently opposed gay marriage and has said in the past that he also opposes civil unions, although Fehrnstrom indicated yesterday that the governor would not close the door on some system that provided the protections and benefits Romney has supported in the past. The governor has never fully spelled out what those rights would be, but he has mentioned hospital visitations, survivor benefits, and joint health care.
The first signs of Romney's heightened profile in the controversy surrounding gay marriage came with a column he wrote that appeared last week in the Wall Street Journal. The column, which advised other states how to deal with the hot-button issue, appeared a day after the Supreme Judicial Court reaffirmed its Nov. 18 ruling clearing the way for gay marriage in Massachusetts.
Since then, he has kept up the beat, almost on a daily basis.
With the SJC ruling legalizing gay marriage set to take effect on May 17, Romney has indicated he will try to block the issuance of marriage licenses, but has never offered details on how he would circumvent the ruling. Romney and other gay marriage opponents could seek a stay from the SJC or a federal court, pleading that legal chaos will result if same-sex marriages take place and voters ultimately reject the court ruling through a constitutional amendment.
Until the issue of gay marriage rose to the top of the agenda on Beacon Hill, Romney had a reputation as a hands-off governor who rarely became involved in direct negotiations with legislators. But this past week, he has pressured Republican legislators to rally behind House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran's proposal to ban gay marriage without authorizing civil unions. Romney's support for Finneran's amendment failed to win approval for the measure on Wednesday.
In his lobbying, the governor has seriously strained his relationship with his close ally, Senate minority leader Brian P. Lees of Longmeadow. Romney and his aides have raised the heat on Lees and his five colleagues in the Senate to follow the administration's stance on gay marriage. Lees has bridled at the pressure and has cut off communications with Romney, several GOP sources said yesterday.
State GOP chairman Darrell Crate was at the State House on Wednesday just as the debate was at its most intense. Crate met with Romney and then lobbied GOP lawmakers, asking them to line up behind Finneran's amendment.
One GOP legislator said Crate had invoked the interests of the White House in urging him to line up behind Finneran's proposal.
The GOP chairman declined to comment. "I feel like I would be violating confidences with legislators, whom I spoke to directly," he said.
Crate said no one from the national Republican Party or the White House had given him instructions. "There's no coordination with the folks in the White House," he said. "I don't speak for them."
