Romney keeps low profile, but reiterates that voters should decide issue
Governor Mitt Romney remained out of public view yesterday as Massachusetts sanctioned the nation's first legal gay marriages over his frequently stated opposition.
Romney's office issued a terse, two-sentence statement in which the governor reiterated his position that voters, not the judiciary, should define marriage. He added that he would follow the law and "expects others to do so" in implementing the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriages.
His aides refused to make Romney available to answer reporters' question, saying he was working on other business. The aides said reporters would be barred from speaking with him at a public event on education that he held last night at a Framingham school. On his way to the event, he slipped out a side door of his office, avoiding waiting reporters seeking his comment.
"The governor spent a normal day in the office," said his press secretary, Shawn Feddeman, as same sex couples were exchanging vows across the state. "He met with senior staff and others on a wide range of issues important to the state. He presided over a meeting of his full Cabinet, met with Republican legislative leaders, and plans to host an education forum in Framingham tonight."
His aides remained silent on what strategies he and his administration would pursue as the state Department of Public Health faced a flood of gay marriage license certificates -- including many for couples from out of state -- that city and town clerks must file with the agency.
The governor's decision to keep a low profile on the issue was in marked contrast to his role this winter and spring, when he was in a full-throttle push to ban gay marriages and to carry out legal and legislative maneuvers to block implementation of the SJC ruling.
His new strategy appears to have forced the cancellation late last week of his scheduled appearance on gay marriage before the US Senate judiciary committee. His aides said he had a scheduling conflict. Romney was one of two Republican witnesses listed to testify, according to an aide to a committee member. The other was Patrick Guerriero, the head of a Republican gay political group, the Log Cabin Club. The hearing has been rescheduled for next month and it is unclear whether Romney will testify.
Meanwhile, there is growing anger from social conservatives. One group launched a statewide radio campaign last week denouncing Romney for not supporting a bill, which has one legislative sponsor, to remove the SJC justices who formed the majority in November's 4-3 decision legalizing gay marriages.
The National Review, a conservative journal, yesterday published a scathing attack on Romney. The article, written by Hadley Arkes, a University of Massachusetts political science professor, criticizes him for not invoking the powers of his office to impound all gay marriage licenses until the Legislature set a policy on the issue. The article questions whether Romney and other GOP leaders have "lost their confidence in basic moral matters."
But Romney is being buffeted on both sides of the political spectrum. That includes many among the public who, according to one analyst, are influenced by the media's upbeat coverage of the gay marriage events in recent days.
Jeffrey M. Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University, said the stories have taken a tone suggesting the evolution of gay marriage is a victory for civil rights and a triumph of a minority group to win their battle for equality. That, he said, makes it politically unpalatable for Romney to take a leadership role in the current atmosphere.
"For him to swim against that stream is a fight he doesn't need," Berry said. "For the next few days he would just as soon people forget who is the governor of the state." It remains unclear whether Romney will use lawmakers' support of gay marriage in his upcoming battle to unseat Democrats in this fall's elections.A recent poll indicates Massachusetts voters' support for his position to ban gay marriage is slipping, and so is his overall standing. The governor's biggest electoral base is among independent, white-collar voters who applaud his push for political change and consider themselves fiscal conservatives who are moderate or liberal on social issues.
A University of Massachusetts survey of 400 voters found Romney's favorable rating dropped from 61 percent in early April to 56 percent in early May, while his unfavorable rating rose from 35 percent to 40 percent -- well beyond the poll's 5 percent margin of error. At the same time, support ebbed for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a change Romney supports.
"It looks like gay marriage advocates have gained ground in the last 30 days, and Romney's favorability has been directly affected," said UMass pollster Lou DiNatale.
