Mitt Romney: Man of Faith, Liar!

Mitt Romney lied in last week’s presidential debate when he avoided answering the question about equal pay for women by saying when he was elected governor he had to go to women’s groups and ask for help finding qualified females to fill government roles. The Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP), which worked with the Romney administration to fill positions, has a completely different story.

MassGAP  is a bi-partisan coalition of women’s groups that formed in 2002 to increase the number of women appointed to senior-level state positions. Jesse Mermell, a former executive director of MassGAP said before the gubernatorial election their group went to both candidates and put pressure on them both to sign a pledge to hire qualified female candidates. If they didn’t sign the pledge, they wouldn’t be elected.

According to a statement issued by MassGAP “Prior to the 2002 election, women comprised approximately 30 percent of appointed senior-level positions in Massachusetts government. By 2004, 42 percent of the new appointments made by the Romney administration were women. Subsequently, however, from 2004-2006 the percentage of newly-appointed women in these senior appointed positions dropped to 25 percent.”

So maybe Mitt didn’t actively seek out female candidates! And maybe the number of women working for him dropped during his administration. Big Deal! Mitt Romney changed his stance on women’s rights so many times during his political career it’s easy to misunderstand his true beliefs. But one thing he hasn’t vacillated on has been his faith in the Mormon Church. So let’s look at his work before politics when he was Bishop and stake president of his Mormon Church. Actions speak louder than words.

The Mormon religion, like many religions, holds women as subservient to men in that they are not allowed to serve in official  positions. Every decision affecting them is made by men. The role of women is to get married and bear children. Men are ordained as priests when they are 12. Mr Romney became Bishop Romney in 1981.

In 1983 Bishop Mitt Romney went to the apartment of Peggie Hayes, who often babysat and did odd jobs for the Romneys. Hayes was divorced with one daughter and was pregnant with a son. Romney demanded she give her unborn son up for adoption. He said “This is what the church wants you to do, and if you don’t, then you could be excommunicated for failing to follow the leadership of the church.” Romney disqualified her as a decent mother because she was a single parent. By the way, Romney never asked her to give up her half African American female child.

Bishop Romney also visited Carrel Hilton Sheldon in her hospital room. Sheldon, a mother of 4 was pregnant with her fifth child. Early in her pregnancy a complication put her life in grave danger and the chance of the baby surviving was estimated to be 50%. She received approval from her Mormon Church leader to save her life and have an abortion. But Bishop Romney refused to believe her. He scolded her saying ”as your bishop, my concern is with the child”. He didn’t care about her life; she was just a receptacle.

As stake president, which is similar to a Catholic Archbishop, he told single mom Judith Dushku, “you’re not my kind of Mormon.” According to Dushku “if you were seated at a table with him and other Mormon men," she says, "you weren't likely to be included in the conversation. [Romney] thought that any woman that wasn't married to someone who can support them, who wasn't following church tradition in that respect, was just almost too unusual to consider in any collegial way."

Reuters reported on Thursday that Mormon feminists were not surprised at all by Romney’s “binders full of women” comment. Aimee Hickman, co-editor of Exponent ll said “(women) being seen as leaders or them being seen as breadwinners is still really missing from our rhetoric …Romney's response put that "on full display"”.

Sue Emmet, great-great granddaughter of Brigham Young, left the church because of the treatment of women. According to the Daily Beast Emmett said “she doesn’t think Romney has the ability to separate what leaders of the church want from what the country needs”. She explained the Mormon White Horse Prophecy, which says when the constitution is hanging on a thread; the Mormon Church will take over the country. Mormons like Glenn Beck believe Romney is the man on the white horse.

Emmet also explained why lying is acceptable in the Mormon religion. They refer to it as “Lying for the Lord”. She said “modern apostles actually taught that it is not always the best thing to tell the truth if it interferes with preaching gospel.” Hmmm, I’m not a religious scholar but I don’t recall Jesus telling folks to lie! Whatever!

This is Mitt Romney the man. He is a devout Mormon. And like the Republican religious right he believes the career path for all women should be marriage with children. He wouldn’t answer the question about equal pay for women because he doesn’t think women should have careers outside the home. Don’t bother asking him about the role of women; his faith tells him to lie.