Could Romney Be Behind the Anti-Mormon N.H. Phone Calls?

Something fishy is going on in New Hampshire and Iowa. Voters in the two early primary states have recently been getting phone calls raising questions about the Mormon faith and military deferments of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, R-MA. The implication is that a rival candidate - with emphasis on Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, whose Vietnam service in referenced positively in these calls - is behind the dirty tricks, seeking to influence the minds of potential voters.

But a far more conspiratorial take is gaining steam in the blogosphere. The theory is that Romney's campaign orchestrated the scheme, in hopes that the fallout would taint GOP rivals as character assassins.

On its face it seems preposterous. But commentators, online columnists, and political blogs are giving it increasing credence. And the idea is being talked about among insiders and higher-ups.

For starters, they note, the company behind the phone calls, Western Wats, is based in Orem, Utah, and its former executive, Ron Lindorf, is the founder of the BYU School of Business; meaning the anti-Mormon calls were, suspiciously, coming from a company with strong connections to the Mormon community. In addition, Western Wats' past client list includes several high-profile Romney supporters. The company has worked for Allan Bense, the Florida House Speaker who chairs Romney's Florida Statewide Steering Committee, and has made calls for Michigan State Representative Gary Newell, who serves on Romney's Michigan Leadership Team.

Then, they say, there is the money. A review of campaign finance data reveals that Hugh Black, a programmer at Western Wats has donated $500 to the Romney campaign, while Jeffrey Welch, a business manager, offered up $500 of his own. Amanda Earnshaw, a dialer (the job title is often emphasized by others) maxed out with $2,300. And Neil Hahl, who is currently on the board of American Capital Strategies, which acquired Western Wats in 2005, gave $4,600, half of which was returned.

Asked about these reports, Kevin Madden Romney's spokesperson responded: "Citizens have a right to donate, but we would reject outright any insinuation that these [calls] are tied to this campaign."

Even so, some sites have noted, there are direct personal relationships between Romney and Western Wats. Teena Lindrof, the sister-in-law to the founder and chairman of the company, is reportedly a friend and supporter of the former Massachusetts governor. And back in 2002, when Western Wats was seeking reimbursements from a customer service assessment agent, it was represented by Honigman, Miller, Schwartz and Cohn LLP, the firm of G. Scott Romney, Mitt's brother.

But while the evidence suggests a long-standing political, if not socioeconomic, connection between Romney and Western Wats, it has to come with some serious and noteworthy caveats.

An official with direct knowledge of the 2002 lawsuit told the Huffington Post that G. Scott Romney was not a party to the case and showed up on documents only because of his position at the firm. Moreover, Romney's campaign has been vehement in its criticism of the calls, calling them "un-American," and even asking for an investigation into the matter.

"There is no involvement from our campaign," reiterated Madden, "which is why we have asked the New Hampshire attorney general to investigate."

Finally, Western Wats has a history of conducting overtly biased political push polls. In February 1996, a former employer of the company claimed that he was asked to help "smear" then-GOP presidential hopeful Steve Forbes on behalf of his opponent Bob Dole.

Asked to comment on the matter, a spokesperson for Western Wats declined.

Comments

[Smirk]

If it's true, that's quite sneaky--and, perhaps, clever. They could cry foul and find out if his Mormonism really is a stumbling block for voters. After all, if some one who would not support him for that very reason thinks the person calling shares his or her prejudice, then the person called is more likely to admit it.

[jonmiles911]

Lindorf is "a founder" not "the founder" for the Center for Entrepreneurship at BYU's business school. He's a volunteer who gives speeches and donates money. Check your facts.

[charlietuna11]

RUDY SAID HE DIDN'T DO IT AND PROMISED NOT TO DO IT AGAIN.

[oddjob1993]

Matinee Mitt is a scumbag, how do I know ?
I live in The Commonwealth of MA. He screwed this state over big time while he was the pretend Govenor. Liar, Liar, Liar

[Mort]

Another clssic example of two things....

People will believe anything if it's whispered enough, no matter how few facts there are.

All you HufPo has to do is mention the words Mormon or Romney and it becomes a forum for intolerance. Real progressive, guys!

[Seath]

Romney has learned from Hillary - when in a pinch play the victim. What a campaign this will be with two victims. The american voters will be the real loosers. Why answer any questions at all, just point to vast right wing conspiracies - anti-mormon bias and lack of patriotism for everything that you are a little uncomfortable answering. Oh, yeah, you can always throw in 9-11 and support the troops for good measure. This is only going to get better folks.

[enoughalready]

I think this is way too obvious,folks. I do not believe Romney would do something like this. It doesn't make sense. McCain was push-poled by Bush/Rove in 2000 - I do not believe he would do something like this either. Now who stands to get ahead here? Does anyone think that Rudy would dig into the Rovian bag of tricks? I don't know! Something's amiss here!

The GOP just gets nastier and nastier! The truth will come out and whomever did this will pay bigtime!

[gcallaghan]

Only one man can concoct such a diabolical scheme. This can only mean Romney's camaign is being guided by....

Dr. Evil

bwa-ha-ha-ha

[ie]

Oldest trick in the book... Al Neuharth (Confessions of an S.O.B.) wrote about doing it to my father during a campaign for student body pres at the U of SD. It worked.

Guess that's why my father used to tell me that old age and treachery usually overcome youth and enthusiasm.

[JackNasty]

Remember when Karl Rove bugged his own office then called the press?

The Romney push poll calls came from Utah. Initiating an otherwise ineffective, nasty push poll to only a handful of people at this time makes no sense unless the push poll was intended to generate sympathy for Romney.

This appears to be a textbook Rovian dirty trick.

[HenryClay]

All we need to do is...ask the dialers to "show us your underwear"!

[scootire]

Right on. When I first heard of the phone calls I thought right away that this was concocted by his campaign manager. What better way to broach the "Mormon Issue" than to paint Romney as the victim. To live behind the 'Zion Curtain' as I do (i.e. Mormon Culture Central, Utah), one is quick to pick up on the parallels between this incident and the underlying cultures belief that being persecuted or ridiculed for one's religious belief is a sign of validation. The scary part being that they would believe in the rightness of their own chicanery.

[ednadumpling]

Western Wats made the calls they admit that -- if they continue to refuse to name their client at least in NH they will be in violation of the law.

I think Romney did it. But the company will take the hit for him.

[Tiny68300]

So you really think Romney is so stupid that he would do this using a company that has links to him? Come on, people, think!

The talk is on the same level as the CFR, Bildebergers, UN world domination conspiracy idiots.

If Romney did it, why in hell would he use a company with such obvious links? The man and his machine are NOT first timers. To attribute such idiocy to them is beyond comprehension.

Whoever is behind it, I hope the bright light of discovery soon burns bright in their dark political sewer.

[bronceye]

Do you remember the many "break-ins" at repub. offices in the '04 race? The news would be announced at 9:00 and By 9:01, repubs across the country were issuing identical statements of how low the dems were for doing such a thing. By 12:00, the dems were still saying, in unison, what happened? Who's prepared to make news of such a thing and who does it benefit should be questions to find an answer. As every thing political, follow the money. And someone has. Case closed. Mormons love to think that they are persecuted, and do everything they can to make it seem so. I hope that he gets the nod, just so people will get to know the mormon nation.