Originally Posted by
Rick Donaldson
I think the above article gave me the words I've needed to describe what it was I don't like the most about Romney.
He's an "opportunist".
Mitt Romney’s Sanctuary Cities and Sanctuary Mansion
Posted by Erick Erickson (Diary)
Wednesday, September 28th at 3:27PM EST - 80 Comments
Back in 1992, Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, labeled Bill Clinton a “pander bear.”
We’ve come full circle I’m afraid and the issue goes directly to why so many conservatives who are willing to settle for Mitt Romney really do not want to settle more Mitt Romney.
Romney is bringing up Sanctuary Cities again. He is using it as an issue against Rick Perry with a new Pew report out that Texas has the highest number of illegal immigrants next to California.“As you know, I opposed sanctuary cities as the governor of my state,” Romney said. “And the idea that a city would determine that it’s not going to follow the U.S. law is unacceptable and immigration law is federal law.
“Immigration laws are the responsibility of the federal government. The fact that you’re seeing states come up with various programs to try and secure their border is simply an indication that the federal government has failed in doing its job. And I need some lawyers to tell me how to go about doing it, but I would end sanctuary cities, if it’s legally possible.”
First, I expect we’ll start hearing about Mitt Romney’s sanctuary mansion again. But beyond that, the record suggests that, like going after Texas’s job creation record compared to his own in Massachusetts, Romney will have to be careful.
As Factcheck noted way back in November of 2007,Romney might well get tough on sanctuary cities in the future, but he didn’t when he was governor.
During his tenure, at least four Massachusetts cities enacted or renewed legislation declaring themselves sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. Brookline and Cambridge reaffirmed their longtime status as sanctuary cities in so many words. Somerville and Orleans didn’t officially deem themselves ‘sanctuaries,’ but Somerville affirmed its ‘long-standing policies in support of all immigrants,’ while Orleans forbade city officials from turning in illegal immigrants without probable cause. We asked Romney’s campaign if he had acted against these cities, but they didn’t provide us with any examples. As far as we were able to determine in our own research, Romney made no attempts to penalize, censure, or cut funding to them.
But we don’t have to rely on a left-wing site portraying itself as the arbiter of truth.
Go back to August 22, 2007, and the Associated Press covered the Giuliani v. Romney fight.Romney has pledged to cut federal funds from cities that adopt what he calls sanctuary policies and ignore federal immigration laws. But as governor, Romney didn’t cut funding for four cities called sanctuary cities in Massachusetts.
The ads also say that as governor Romney ordered state police to enforce existing immigration laws. While true, Romney signed the law ordering state police to enforce the laws during his final weeks in office. Romney’s successor narrowed it to Department of Corrections officers. State police never began training.
Wed Nov 23, 2011 at 07:14 AM PST
Gov. Mitt Romney's 4 Sanctuary Cities for Undocumented Immigrants
As Governor, Mitt Romney used taxpayer money to fund four Sanctuary Cities for undocumented immigrants.
Ok, so no matter what you, or I, think the USA should do with undocumented immigrants -- Candidate Mitt Romney sure does chastise his fellow candidates regarding "their" position on the issue.
In fact, since running for President this time, Romney loves to accuse his fellow candidate's ideas on undocumented immigrants as:"a magnet to draw illegal immigrants"
~Romney 2011 gobs of times
Here's the rub though, as Governor, Mitt Romney used Taxpayer money to fund four Sanctuary Cities: Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville and Orleans, Massachusetts.
Factcheck.org in 2007 wrote this regarding Governor Mitt Romney's Sanctuary Cities:"During his tenure, at least four Massachusetts cities enacted or renewed Legislation declaring themselves Sanctuaries for illegal immigrants.
- Brookline, MA: reaffirmed their longtime status as Sanctuary Cities. - Cambridge, MA: reaffirmed their longtime status as Sanctuary Cities.
- Somerville, MA: affirmed its "long-standing policies in support of all immigrants,"
- Orleans, MA: forbade City Officials from turning in illegal immigrants without probable cause."
~ Factcheck.org
In 2007, when Factcheck.org researchers asked Mitt Romney's campaign about those Sanctuary Cities, Romney Campaign said:"We asked Romney's campaign if he had acted against these cities, but they [Romney Campaign] didn't provide us with any examples. As far as we were able to determine in our own research, Romney made no attempts to penalize, censure, or cut funding to them."
~Factcheck.org
Governor Mitt Romney Administration "Romney Administration's e-mails were all wiped from the government server" 11 days before Mitt left office.
NPR NPR reported:11 days before leaving office in 2007, "Romney aides also requested that emails be scrubbed from a state server."
Many have asked "why" Governor Romney 'wiped' all of his and his staff's emails off of the government server ... and in typical Romney form - he lies.
Fred Thys of WBUR in Boston reported:"State law actually does require that governors turn over paper documents to the archives. Romney says his administration turned over 700 boxes of documents. State law also requires that electronic documents be printed and turned over before they're deleted. According to two sources, aides to Romney told state officials they had printed their emails before deleting them. But questions remain about whether hard copies of all emails were turned over."
~Fred Thys of WBUR in Boston, November 2011
Naturally, Romney is lying when he falsely said:"under Massachusetts law, there is no provision asking either the governor's office or the legislature to provide any information for the archives."
~Romney (lie) November 2011
There might be a connection between Governor Romney's Sanctuary Cities and his emails that were scrubbed off of Massachusetts State Government Servers ...
According to Factcheck.org 2007 Candidate Romney said:"As President, I'll oppose amnesty, cut funding for sanctuary cities and secure our borders." ~Romney 2007 campaign
Maybe Romney did not want anyone to find his written support of the Taxpayer funding Romney's four Sanctuary Cities so he had his staff scrub all his emails from the State's server?
2007 Factcheck.org found the following quote of Romney's to be intellectually dishonest"I authorized the State Police to enforce immigration laws."
~Romney 2007 campaign
Factcheck.org research show:"[Romney] didn't do so [authorize State Police to enforce immigration laws] until he had less than a month left in his term. He was already considering running for president.
Romney ... didn't sign an agreement with the Federal Government - a necessary condition for that authority to be granted - until Dec. 13, 2006. Romney was scheduled to leave office Jan. 4, 2007."
~Factcheck.org 2007
hmm .... 11 days before Governor Romney leaves office, "Romney aides also requested that emails be scrubbed from a state server."
hmm .... Less than 1 month before Governor Romney leaves office, December 13, 2006, he signed an agreement with the Federal Government to allow State Police to enforce immigration laws ....
hmm .... Governor Mitt Romney used Taxpayer money to fund four Sanctuary Cities.
These tid-bits of information make me wonder if Romney's plot to suddenly sound "tough" on illegal immigration was discussed in those "scrubbed" emails? Did his staff email him ways to talk to tough on illegal immigration?
All politicians have a "truth problem" - but seriously, it is becoming clear that Mitt Romney does not know the difference between fact and fiction ... even when it comes to his own first name.
CNN Debate; November 22, 2011:"I'm Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name."
~Romney, CNN Debate, November 22, 2011 (lying about his own first name)
umm ... no, Romney, Mitt is not your first name. Your first name is Willard. Willard ... err ... Mitt, dude, you're a pathological liar - see a psychiatrist.
All this information begs the question, does 2011 Mitt Romney thinks Governor Romney's Sanctuary Cities were "a magnet to draw illegal immigrants?"
Romney staff spent nearly $100,000 to hide records
View Photo Gallery — After what was widely considered an unfocused and bloated campaign in 2008, the Republican former Massachusetts governor is returning to the presidential sweepstakes with a more tightly knit team that he hopes will keep him on point.
By Mark Hosenball,
Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret.
The move was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say.
874Comments
The effort to purge the records was made a few months before Romney launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He is again competing for the party’s nomination, this time to challenge President Obama.
When Romney left the governorship of Massachusetts, 11 of his aides bought the hard drives of their state-issued computers for themselves. Also before he left office, the governor’s staff had e-mails and other electronic communications wiped from state servers, state officials say.
Those actions erased much of the internal documentation of Romney’s tenure as governor, which ended in January 2007. Precisely what information was erased is unclear.
Opponents of Romney say the scrubbing of e-mails — and a claim by Romney that paper records of his governorship are not subject to public disclosure — hinder efforts to assess his performance.
As governor, Romney worked with a Democratic-led legislature to close a budget shortfall and signed a health-care overhaul that required nearly all residents to buy insurance.
The state’s health-care law became a model for Obama’s health-care program. As a presidential candidate, however, Romney has criticized Obama’s plan.
Massachusetts officials say they have no basis to believe that Romney’s staff violated state laws. They acknowledge, however, that the law has not been updated to deal with issues related to digital records.
Romney’s spokesmen emphasize that he followed the law and precedent.
But Theresa Dolan, former director of administration for the governor’s office, told Reuters that Romney’s efforts to control or wipe out the records were unprecedented.
Dolan said that in her 23 years as an aide to successive governors “no one had ever inquired about, or expressed the desire” to purchase their computer hard drives before Romney’s tenure.
The cleanup of records by Romney’s staff included spending $205,000 for a three-year lease on new computers for the governor’s office, according to official documents and state officials.
In signing the lease, Romney aides broke an earlier three-year lease that provided the same number of computers for about half the cost — $108,000, according to documents.
Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney’s campaign, referred questions on the issue to state officials.
The removal of digital records by Romney’s staff, first reported by the Boston Globe, has sparked a wave of requests for paper records from his governorship.
— Reuters
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