Middling Mitt Romney Not of His Fathers' Sterling Civic Michigan Mettle (Gaskell & George Romney)

Reflection and observations on some of the Romney family history.

Mitt, a Son So Un-alike His Father! It's Fathers Day and this famous son has lost his core and doesn't know where to find it.

Willard "Mitt" Romney (age 10) with his father George W. Romney in 1957. George Romney then CEO of AMC was also on a "Citizens Advisory Committee" attempting to fix Detroit Public Schools.  (LA Times 2006)

Gov. George Romney (former governor of Michigan 1963-1968) was man of genuine Pro-Active Politics and Great Civic Betterment

Mitt "Willard" Romney is his father's doppelganger, a son devoid of firmly held principle, poor of spirit, and inept at truth-telling/credibility. A doppelganger is a double of a person, typically representing an aspect of evil or misfortune, some twist not to the benefit of others.

The History
How Others Saw George Romney, Former Governor of Michigan, the man:

• George Romney took over American Motors Company (AMC) on the verge of bankruptcy and made it a strong competitor again.
• At the same time, he worked to pull the Detroit school system out of a financial mess. Believing in local control of education, Romney helped put across a $60 million bond issue, and a $30 million tax package, which enabled Detroit schools to keep pace with community needs.
• During World War II he headed the Automotive Council for War Production: the greatest industrial, cooperative wartime effort in history.
• In 1959 George Romney took the lead in organizing citizen support for a badly needed new state constitution.
• As Governor, George Romney applied sound management to state spending. He not only increased state services, he cleaned up the financial mess that had made Michigan the laughing stock of the nation.
• Governor Romney fought for laws to halt air and water pollution before they ever became national issues; he also helped pass legislation giving industries tax credits for investing in pollution control equipment. Michigan is now ahead in the fight to end the pollution blight.
• George Romney bought state aid to cities to the highest level in Michigan history. 
• He also helped create the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. "I am against discrimination of any kind" Romney has repeatedly said, "and my record proves it."
•  The National Governors' Conference has recognized Romney's leadership abilities by appointing him to study its most pressing problem: how to get Michigan's fair share of federal tax dollars. 
• George Romney also represents Republican Governors on the National Republican Coordinating Committee. George Romney and his wife Lenore... worked hard for their state for 28 years.
• Their (Father George and Mother Lenore's) commitment to putting an end to "ineffectual and selfish politics" was heartily applauded back then by voters.
• One practical effect of their dedication has been a resurgence of the Republican Party in Michigan.

Source: George Romney's Presidential Candidacy materials (1968)

  Family Tradition in Politics: Is Mitt Worthy? Gaskill Romney Election Flyer (1930's)
George Romney's Father (Mitt Romney's Grandfather)

Mitt's Grandfather: Gaskell Romney
Another huge irony in the paternal line of Mitt Romney goes back to his grandfather Gaskell Romney and his work in the Mexican "Mormon Colony" in the Chihuahua region of Mexico in just after the turn of the century. Has Mitt forgotten his families ties and work with the poor of those days, many whose relatives have immigrated or now seek legal immigration to the US?

Part of the Gaskell Romney story:

"Gaskell Romney moved to Mexico when his father (Miles Park Romney) helped to found the Mormon colony in Colonia Dublán, Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico in 1885. The Romney families lost their holdings in Chihuahua during the Mexican Revolution and in 1912 Romney moved back to the United States.[7] Eventually he was reimbursed by the Mexican government for some of his losses.[8] He married in 1895 to Anna Amelia Pratt. Romney was the father of five sons: Maurice, Douglas, Miles Pratt Romney, George W. Romney, Lawrence and Charles. Gaskell himself would be a candidate for County Commissioner 1931 as a Republican."

This from a hit piece (using AP content) on Mitt Romney by FOX News back in 2007:

"Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of (Mitt Romney) the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.

Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice."

(Break)

"Romney's father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, where Mormons fled in the 1800s to escape religious persecution and U.S. laws forbidding polygamy. He and his family did not return to the United States until 1912, more than two decades after the church issued 'The Manifesto' banning polygamy."

The origin of the radical right-wing use of questioning the birth of Barack Obama or the so-called "Birther Movement" still being used by many Republican candidates in the 2012 election cycle and that was brought up against John McCain as a presidential candidate in 2004, who was born at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936.  These tactics were used to fight the candidacy of George Romney, Mitt's father back in his 1968 run for POTUS.

This from the book by the opposition to George Romney's run for US President written by Gerald O. Plas entitled "The Romney Riddle" in 1967:

"The religious zeal with which Romney supports his opinions comes to him naturally. He is a devout Mormon as was his father and his father's father before him. His grandfather, Miles Park Romney, was a Mormon of the old school, and he took four wives to prove it. When Federal authorities sought to enforce the statutes against polygamy. Miles Romney fled to Mexico with his wives and family.

George Romney was born in Mexico some sixty years ago, son of Miles' son Gaskel and Anna Pratt Romney. Romney's foreign birth has raised a serious constitutional question with regard to the Governor's presidential aspirations.

The United States Constitution specifically bars the presidency to any but "natural born citizens." Debate centers on interpretation of the phrase "natural born citizens."

Many constitutional authorities maintain that our founding fathers meant that a man must be born in America (rather than be merely naturalized by birth) to be eligible for the presidency. Romney protagonists maintain that it doesn't matter where a man is born, if his parents are American citizens."

Interesting isn't it? The time tested use of the old GOP tactics they used against their own, applied to a sitting US President? It's win at all costs then as now, inside and out.

Pointing the Way to a Son Forever in His Shadow: George and Mitt Romney (age 17)
at the World's Fair in Queens, New York City in 1964 (Romney Campaign 2006)

Back to Father's Day
So, we ask on this important day, who is this the dim visage of a great father--the lost son of an esteemed George Romney, who is struggling to become the president of the United States-in the midst of its most challenging economic crisis of the 21st Century?

It was reported long ago, when Mitt first powered up his bid 2007 to run for president that "old friends of George Romney aren't thrilled with the politics of his son."

The New York Times reported:

'I think George Romney would despair of what Mitt has done in order to become the candidate of the conservative extreme right of the GOP party,' said Walter DeVries.

"DeVries, the elder (George) Romney's chief political strategist, called (Mitt) Romney Jr.'s campaign 'desperate' and 'ill conceived,' recalling that the " 'moderate-to-progressive' governor also did not share his son's tendency to change his position on issues in order to curry voters' favor." 

Also in this piece from the NY Times is the zinger haunting Mitt Romeny now. DeVries was quoted as stating:

"George Romney was among the last champions of the moderate-to-progressive wing of the Republican Party"...a straight talker who never hedged a position for political gain. In contrast, Mr. DeVries argued in an interview, "The only thinking Mitt (Romney) hasn't backed off is his Mormon faith," Mr. DeVries said. "He has changed his positions on just about everything. It was like he couldn't wait to race to the other side of the political spectrum."

One could wish Mitt were the "true quality" son of his father George and not the metaphorical pampered son of a Pandora-then the prospects for a better America beyond the November election would be many times more hopeful and promising for everyone should he win.

On the Reader:
Read the attack book on George Romney entitled "The Romney Riddle" on-line on this website or the eBook version .
More on the interesting history of Mitt's grandfather Gaskell Romney in the NPR story "Mexican Cousins Keep Romney's Family Tree Rooted" by John Burnett (January 2011)

Related Slates:
Mitt Romney: America’s Nascent Holy “god” & Possible President? (February 2012)
Welcome to Planet Willard: Michigan's Wayward Son Mitt Romney to Rule His Own World (January 2012)

More on Mitt Romney and George Romney, and the 2012 Election Cycle on the Gazette.


Original.