US Senate Candidate Mitt Romney

On Friday March 23, 2018 Mitt Romney held a town hall meeting for State Delegates. It was held at Skyridge High School in a classroom for 60 people but there were probably close to 80 in the room.

He was well-spoken and spoke for about 25 minutes, taking questions for about 20 minutes. Here’s what I got out of it:

1. He will be able to do more as a junior senator that others due to the fact that he has built up relationships with at least 40 sitting senators. He has campaigned with them, for them and even against them, but he knows them and there is mutual respect and admiration.
2. He does agree with most of President Trump’s first year policies.
   1. Tax Cut which we are now seeing in our paychecks
   2. Regulations
   3. Outreach of Federal Government and giving back of Bear’s Ears
3. He believes firmly in the Constitution
   1. He feels that MANY decisions should be given back to the States
      1. Education
      2. Health Care
      3. Transportation
      4. School Safety
   2. He does not feel we need any new Federal gun laws
      1. He does feel we need better background checks
   3. He feels that some Federal Judges try to expand the realm of the Constitution to create new law and that they should follow the Constitution
4. As he has visited many of the rural areas of Utah, he feels that we need to increase the economic vitality of those areas, as they are exporting children who don’t return after education and those areas are dying.
5. He feels that Opioid abuse is a very big problem
6. His view on the $1.3 Trillion spending package
   1. He said that the President signed it, but stated he would not sign something like that again
   2. If elected, Romney would create a caucus to block another spending package unless it met with the spending cap

** Side Note: Romeny explained that 2/3 of our budget is set aside for entitlements such as Medicaid and Social Security and interest we owe. As such, that part of the budget cannot be changed. HALF of the remaining budget is spent on our defense. One solution proposed is to let our 20-something and 30-something workers know that the retirement age may be raised so that they will have something to help them in their later years.

Questions Asked:

1. Do you believe in the caucus system? If so, why are you going the signature route as well?  He said that he hopes to win the caucus and brushed off the signature route part of the question. He said since he is in the thick of the race, he felt he shouldn’t answer.
2. People are concerned that you haven’t lived long enough in Utah and that you can’t represent Utah values. How do you address that? He said he has lived a total of 10 years in Utah. He went to college here, came back to Utah when he was in charge of the Olympics and he now lives here in a home he built in Holladay. He said his Utah roots are deep and that his ancestors helped settle Utah, his mother was born here and his father moved here when he was 5. He said that Utah values and concerns are in his blood.
3. Where are your donations coming from? Are they coming from out-of-state?  He said he has not done any fundraising events and that the money is coming in via online donations. He said the reports have not been filed yet so he honestly doesn’t know where it is coming from. He said that he would not be surprised if donations were coming in from people who supported him in the presidential race and that they wanted to see him in Washington D.C.
4. In 2012 you said Russia was our greatest political foe and you have backed off of that statement. Why? He assured the crowd that he had NOT backed off of that statement and still feels and knows that Putin is a bad guy who has had people murdered and that they want to destroy democracy. He said that we must talk to political leaders we don’t like, such as Putin and Kim Jong-un in order to keep peace in the world and it does not mean we support their ideologies.
5. What are your views on Globalism vs. Protectionism? Protectionism is bad for growth. Romney said that those that cheat on Free Trade Agreements must be punished. He stated that Canada, Mexico, and EU Nations, our allies, would not be subject to tariffs and that China needed to be punished for what they did to put our steel industry almost out of business by deflating their prices until we suffered and then raising their prices.
6. Do you believe in term limits? He agreed that term limits are a good thing and that with his age, he didn’t feel it would be an issue (he got laughs there). He said that part of the problem is that after people are done as an elected official, they stay in D.C. as lobbyists which causes issues.
7. Do you believe in a Perimeter for the United States? He believes in a border wall as a good start. He then moved the discussion into immigration. Romney stated that most immigrants start as a student or tourist and they decide they want to stay. He said that there should be a pathway to legal immigration – a merit-based system, based on skills, education, experience and money they have saved. This moved into DACA and he said he “bows to Trump’s decision”. He thinks they should be given amnesty but they then should get in line for the merit system – it shouldn’t be an automatic path to citizenship. Romney then mentioned that he thinks that STATES should have a VISA system that they can issue based on worker needs. An example is that California would have a need for thousands for limited-use Visas for farm workers, but those Visas would not be valid for travel within the United States and not recognized in Utah, for example. He also said there needs to be a verification system for workers that if an applicant’s social security number came up bad, that’s it.

This was a very enlightening experience for me. It did not convince me to vote for Mitt at this time, as there are still 11 other candidates to vet. I have no doubt he would be a good Senator for Utah, but is he the best for Utah at this time? I will let you know after talking to the others.