That Same Old Line

“Political Neutrality” The LDS-Romney Connection: It may all be innocent, but it sure looks bad

By Amy Seigel, 10-25-06

It seems the national press has the LDS church scrambling to distance itself from the potential presidential candidacy of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. In a story that was first reported by the Boston Globe, and later reworked in a rash of Salt Lake Tribune articles, the church’s involvement in Romney’s candidacy is thoroughly scrutinized—something that may prove detrimental to both parties. At issue are the somewhat shadowy circumstances surrounding emails from BYU professors intended to generate support for the Massachusetts Governor’s potential bid for the presidency in 2008, and the federal law prohibiting both the church and BYU, as tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations, from advocating on behalf of a particular candidate or political party.

First came the Sept. 19th meeting, first reported by the Boston Globe, between Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, and Josh Romney, one of the governor's sons; Don Stirling, a paid consultant for Romney's political action committee, the Commonwealth PAC; and Kem Gardner, a prominent Salt Lake City developer and one of Romney's biggest donors. While LDS Church spokesman Michael Otterson described the meeting as purely “a handshake and a chat—literally a courtesy call,” there was enough political conversation to merit Holland voicing his approval for a particular LDS-affiliated method of drumming up support for Romney’s campaign: using the alumni organization of Brigham Young University’s business school, the BYU Management Society, to build a network for Romney. Documents show that in the meeting, Holland, in fact, described the plan as a “perfectly reasonable” way of helping Romney.

This initial meeting was followed by a dinner, hosted by Stirling, Spencer Zwick, a top political aide to Romney, and the governor's brother, Scott Romney, where the specific means of networking was discussed further. Among those invited were Steve Albrecht, associate dean of the BYU business school, the Marriott School of Management.

Shortly thereafter, on October 9th, Albrecht and Ned Hill, the business school dean, sent an e-mail to 50 Management Society members and 100 members of the school's National Advisory Council asking for their support Romney’s prospective presidential campaign. This email, which was signed by Hill and Albrecht with their official BYU titles, began “Dear Marriott School Friend. We are writing to you as a friend to see if you have any interest in helping Governor Romney by volunteering to serve as a Community or Neighborhood Chair. Governor Romney's chances for success are significantly enhanced and energized by people, such as you, who are willing to help him at the grass-roots level throughout the United States.”

Alan Gluth, president of the El Paso, Texas, chapter of the BYU Marriott School of Management alumni association, was the first to call attention to the potentially illegal nature of the message. In documents obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, Gluth makes it clear that while he is personally a “strong supporter of Mitt Romney and would love to see him run for President in 2008,” the email “appears to violate the political activity rules,” and “does trouble [him] somewhat from an exempt organization legal standpoint.” While Gluth believes that the email was sent “innocently,” he wanted to bring it to the attention of University officials before it fell into the wrong hands. “I would hate for some political action group to obtain the e-mail and throw this matter into a public forum, which, in turn, could cast the university in a bad light in certain political circles,” said Gluth.

Albrecht and Hill have since taken full responsibility for their actions in sending the email. In an interview this week, Albrecht said that “It wasn't something BYU did, it wasn't something I probably should have done, and it was bad judgment.” A spokeswomen for BYU also made it clear to the press that the professors did not have university approval in sending the email, and the university’s general counsel has since told Albrecht to halt his activities—no other action has been taken.

While BYU’s reaction to the controversy was relatively reserved, the LDS Church has been very quick to distance itself from the whole debacle. In an interview with the Globe, Stirling initially said that the church had “absolutely no connection whatsoever” with the so-called MVP, or Mutual Values and Priorities, program to promote Romney’s presidential campaign. However, when Stirling was pressed about the church leaders’ involvement with the program and the specifics discussed during that Sept. 19 meeting, Stirling acknowledged discussing the initiative, but was eager to dismiss its significance.

Regardless of this incident, however, it seems unlikely that Romney will have an easy time separating his political candidacy from his religion. As a means of setting some minds to rest, many Romney supporters are calling for the Governor to follow J.F.K’s footsteps. Kennedy, who faced this same question concerning his loyalty to Catholicism during the 1960 election, addressed it in a famous speech to Protestant ministers in Houston in which he remarked that “I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president who happens also to be a Catholic . . . I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me.”

Many Mormons who support Romney’s campaign are concerned about a “Manchurian Candidate” backlash if the Governor does not take a more active role in convincing his constituency that he is not the puppet of some Salt Lake City scheme to put a Mormon into office. Thus far, however, Romney doesn’t seem to be terribly concerned with appearances in this regard. And while Stirling insists that the MVP effort is designed to target more than just Mormons, when asked if Romney's team had met with the leadership of any other denomination about the MVP program, Stirling said he didn't know of any.

While it’s not really the place of the “fair and unbiased” press to weigh in on such issues, I think it’s important that someone set the record straight: the LDS church doesn’t support Mitt Romney like the Christian Right doesn’t support George W. Bush. Dollars and bumper stickers aren’t the only way to endorse a political candidate.

What the IRS requires, in terms of political neutrality, is that tax exempt entities not back specific candidates—it’s perfectly okay for them to speak out on legislative issues and highly politicized topics such as abortion and gay marriage—but they cannot get involved in political campaigning. Now, I’m not saying that the Church has definitely violated its tax exempt status in officially, or secretly, providing Governor Romney with any direct support, but I am saying that the old line about maintaining “political neutrality” is pure nonsense, and anyone with any sense should be well aware of this fact. I think most of us have a pretty good idea of how many of the beliefs held by the Mormon Church filter out into the political realm—and I’d like to meet the person who can convince me that their position in this regard is truly “neutral.”

What this means for Romney’s campaign, only time will tell. The conservative Christian vote is one that Romney will have to be concerned with if he truly intends to with the GOP nomination, and it’s no secret that plenty of conservative Christians see Mormonism as non-Christian. With his MVP program keeping him close to his Mormon support base, Romney will have to tread carefully to avoid alienating the voters of the numerous other denominations he will have to win over in his bid for the presidency.

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