Letter from 44 conservative leaders across America challenged Romney on claim he ‘defended’ marriage and the constitution.

Urged Romney to act before leaving office. Hand-delivered on Dec. 20. Letter was ignored.

Full text of the letter and complete list of signers (Adobe acrobat format)

WALTHAM, MA, Jan. 12, 2007 -- MassResistance has released a letter sent to former Governor W. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in December just before he left office. The letter was signed by a diverse group of 44 pro-family and conservative leaders, including both national and influential state-level activists. It reveals a broader and more profound rejection of Romney’s pro-family claims than social conservatives have previously expressed, and directly challenges his assertion that he truly opposed homosexual “marriage.” The conservative leaders called on Romney to reverse his erroneous directives which began homosexual “marriages” through an executive order prior to his leaving office on Jan. 3. But Romney declined to act, though he had both authority and obligation to reverse the damage done to the institution of marriage and the rule of law.

Citing the state constitution and court rulings, the letter shows that Romney actually exceeded his legal authority -- and even the expectations of the Massachusetts court -- by ordering public officials to treat homosexual marriage as if it were law, though the marriage statute has never been changed in Massachusetts. Romney was not “executing the law,” but the opinion of four judges, and he therefore violated his oath to uphold the state Constitution – which explicitly denies judges any authority over marriage policy.

Of his own volition, Romney issued constitutionally fraudulent “homosexual marriage” licenses. With no authorizing legislation, he ordered marriage licenses to be changed from "husband" and "wife," to "Party A" and "Party B." Stunningly, he later admitted that without enabling legislation he couldn’t change the gender on birth certificates. Then Romney ordered officials to perform homosexual marriages (or resign if they were unwilling), violating the marriage statute (a crime under c. 207 §48), and the oath of office. Under the Massachusetts Constitution, only the Legislature may change the statutes.

Prominent signers include Paul Weyrich, Free Congress Foundation; Robert H. Knight, veteran Washington political activist and a draftsman of the federal Defense of Marriage Act; Linda Harvey, Mission America; Rev. Ted Pike, National Prayer Network; Randy Thomasson, Campaign for Children and Families; Peter LaBarbera, Americans for Truth; Dr. Chuck Baldwin, radio host and columnist; Paul Likoudis, The Wanderer; Phil Lawler, Catholic World News; David E. Smith, Illinois Family Institute; Michael Heath, Christian Civic League of Maine; Gary Glenn, American Family Association of Michigan; Joe Glover, Family Policy Network; and Bill Cotter, Operation Rescue Boston.

Behind the letter is exhaustive legal and constitutional research by attorney “Robert Paine” (www.RobertPaine.blogspot.com), who has arguably done more research into the legal issues behind the unconstitutional imposition of homosexual marriage in Massachusetts than any other legal scholar in the country. This is also documented in the MassResistance report on same-sex marriage.

“Mitt Romney is not the ‘Defender of Marriage and the Constitution' he is posing as,” said John Haskins of the Parents’ Rights Coalition (associated with MassResistance), signer and coordinator of the effort. “There is no question that awareness of Romney’s abuse of power, in not even waiting for the legislature to change the law, is growing among conservative leaders and in the pro-family grass roots nationally.”

Haskins said, “The letter is part of an ongoing, multi-point plan to remove the shroud of deception and disinformation in Romney’s claims about his actions and beliefs on social issues. All that remains is for responsible people to investigate his history and the legal and constitutional facts contained in the letter.”

Full text of the letter and complete list of signers (Adobe Acrobat format)