Mitt Romney Watch: Romney Denies Involvement with Mormon-Gate

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney shakes hands with supporters during the opening of his campaign headquarters in Sioux City, Iowa, November 13, 2007.

Mitt Romney today DENIED involvement with what is becoming known as Mormon-Gate.

“You’ve got to be kidding” was GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s incredulous response.

The question: Is he confident that no one associated with his campaign was involved in so-called push-polling?

“Obviously, the beneficiaries of push-polling that attacks me is not me. Somebody else has obviously pushed that forward. I have no idea who it was, but I hope the attorney general of New Hampshire finds out who it is, and we can get that resolved and we can know who was behind it, ” Romney told CNN.

Interesting, especially since paid staffers associated with Romney’s campaign seem to have “SPIKED” this story with the MSM.

In interviews with TPM Election Central, the two callers, Iowa residents Marshan Roth and Rose Kramer, both confirmed that they worked for the Romney campaign. Kramer told EC that the campaign pays her $1,000 a month to work as a coordinator for the Dubuque, Iowa, area. Roth confirmed that she gets $500 a month from the campaign to serve as an “area consultant” in Fairfield, Iowa.

Reporters were referred to Kramer and Roth by the Romney campaign. Both confirmed in interviews with TPM Election Central that after getting the calls they’d reached out to local Romney campaign officials. Soon after, they started getting calls from reporters.

Roth spoke out against the calls in an interview with the Salt Lake City Tribune. She pointed to the fact that the calls said positive things about McCain, and she herself bashed the Arizona senator, suggesting that he was behind the calls. But Roth wasn’t identified in the article as being on Romney’s payroll.

Kramer, for her part, also spoke out against the calls in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers. Kramer was only identified as a Romney “supporter,” and also was not identified as being on Romney’s payroll.

Romney spokesman Madden sent TPM Election Central a statement this morning confirming that the campaign had referred reporters to the two women, but he didn’t directly address the question of whether the campaign should have confirmed that they were on payroll.

“It’s obviously a statistical probability that supporters of the governor would receive these calls,” Madden said. “When media inquiries came in asking to talk to folks who received the calls and whether they available to describe them, we did provide those names to reporters who asked for individuals.”

And, Sam Stein discusses the involvement of Justin Hart, a blogger at MyManMitt.com with these paid Romney campaign staffers. Hart was flacking his story on High Hewitt’s radio show yesterday and over at race42008.com.

But it also cannot be ignored that, even after the scandal surfaced, the actors involved were often in Romney’s camp. Justin Hart, who serves on the Romney For President National Faith And Values Steering Committee and is a blogger at MyManMitt.com, was the only person contacted by a source in Western Wats for comment.

This Wednesday morning, Hart again weighed into the fray. Tracking down both Roth and Kramer, he was able to confirm that they received the calls, phoned their local Romney office, told their stories, and were then referred to the press. Whether or not Western Wats deliberately targeted the two Romney staffers, in anticipation that they would go public, is something likely to be determined by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office, if it chooses to investigate.

Soren Dayton has the latest on Justin Hart who has JUST announced his resignation from ANY affiliation with the Romney campaign.

Justin Hart has notified me that he has resigned from his position as a Vice Chair of the Romney campaign’s Faith and Values Steering Committee after I challenged himfor not disclosing that he was an official in the Romney campaign.

Justin had been, until today, the only person who Western Wats would speak with. This afternoon Liz Mair wrote about a discussion she had with Jeffery Welch, a senior Western Wats executive and Romney donor.

He appears to have resigned soon after contacting the Romney Iowa staffers who the Romney campaign has now admitted to misrepresenting to the press.

Justin Hart’s resignation sounds like Mitt threw him under the bus – much like what happened to Jay Garrity. Remember that Flap?

But, there are MORE questions today than answers.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office WILL investigate this matter AND they will call Roth and Kramer to tell a Grand Jury or investigators UNDER OATH what they knew, with whom they discussed this matter and when.

In the meantime, Mitt will DENY any involvement.

Flap does not think this will fly.

Mitt better hope someone from Western Wats leaks who ACTUALLY paid for the Mormon-Gate calls in the first place – Non-disclosure agreements (NDA) be damned before this story starts to spin out of control.

Unless it was the Romney campaign itself…

Update:

Over at Pollster.com Mark Blumenthal asks the RIGHT questions:

The questions worth asking, at this point, are who sponsored the calls and what did they say, exactly, about Romney’s Mormonism?

Blumenthal also offers some additional insight as to how the Romney campaign staffers might be included in the poll sample.

The story will not close and continue to spin until the sponsor of the poll calls comes or is dragged out into plain sight.

Stay tuned……

Update #2:

Justin Hart responds over at MyManMitt:

All I did was simply remove my name from the Faith and Values Steering Committee so that Soren, Dotan, Flap and others could not use it as a weapon against me.

But, Justin, why did you go on the Hugh Hewitt Show and not disclose your involvement with the campaign?

But, I understand sort of……
Heck, Hugh Hewitt continues to say he has not endorsed anyone in the GOP Presidential Primary.

Previous:

Mitt Romney Mormon-Gate Watch: Did Romney Staffers Drive the Flap?

Mitt Romney Mormon-Gate Watch: Did Romney Do It?

Mitt Romney Mormon-Gate Watch: Who Did it?

Push Polls Highlighting Mitt Romney as a Mormon Being Conducted in Iowa and New Hampshire – Part Two

Push Polls Highlighting Mitt Romney as a Mormon Being Conducted in Iowa and New Hampshire

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