Thread: Romney touts trade, immigration views in Washington state

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Romney touts trade, immigration views in Washington state

By DAVID AMMONS
AP POLITICAL WRITER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/642 ... visit.html

SEATAC, Wash. -- White House hopeful Mitt Romney, a former Republican governor, played up his free-trade views and business roots during a campaign visit to trade-dependent Washington state and Idaho on Monday.

Romney also whacked at his GOP challengers, calling himself much stronger on fighting illegal immigration than Rudy Giuliani and tougher on taxes than the surging Mike Huckabee. He also complained about foes who use his Mormon faith as a wedge issue with voters.

Romney, who made millions as an investment executive before going into politics and running the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah, said his 25 years in business and his keen interest in international trade and intellectual property rights would make him the strongest champion for the economy.

Romney was in Idaho and Washington on Monday for what he called "some politicking and some fundraising." He expected to raise at least $250,000 in one day in the region. He has led his fellow Republican White House contenders in fundraising in Washington state, but has lagged in the polls. The region has a significant Mormon population.

Romney, making his second appearance in Democratic-leaning Washington, scheduled meetings at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond and an evening fundraiser in Medina. About 150 people were expected at the event, which carried a ticket price of $1,000 or $2,300 for a VIP photo reception.

The event was hosted by his state finance chairman, Wayne Perry, Edge Wireless millionaire, and his wife, Christine, and by his national finance chairman, David Nierenberg, an investment mogul, and his wife Patricia, from Camas. Romney announced a 28-member state finance committee headed by Perry and Nierenberg. Most of the members are from Vancouver or the high-tech corridor that includes Microsoft.

Romney has raised more than $500,000 here.

Romney leads in the polls in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, but trails in national polls and in Washington. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has surged recently and visited Washington last week, picking up endorsements from some leading evangelical pastors.

At a wide-ranging news conference at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Romney rolled out his business-and-trade platform. Better than most, he said, Washington voters know the significance of free-trade policies and finding markets for American goods and services.

"There is no state in American where individuals derive a larger portion of their income from foreign trade than here in Washington," with per-capita exports of over $8,000, primarily due to Boeing airplanes, software and agricultural and timber products.

The state's high-tech industry, which includes Microsoft, biomedical companies and Nintendo, is put at risk by pirates who steal the patents, designs and applications and duplicate them around the globe, he said.

Romney described himself as the peerless champion of free trade.

"Don't close down America; don't put up walls around America," he said, accusing the Democratic field of "protectionist-type policies."

Romney said he supports all pending free-trade agreements and would stitch together a global trading partnership of the U.S. and all nations it has bilateral trade agreements with.

On other subjects, Romney:

-Said he will be a strong foe of illegal immigration. He said he would take away federal funds from states that give higher education grants to children of illegal immigrants and driver's licenses to undocumented workers. Washington state has both programs; it wasn't clear if Romney knows this.

Romney took a jab at the national Republican frontrunner, former New York Mayor Giuliani, as soft on illegal immigration. He said Giuliani's decision to make New York a sanctuary city made the problem worse.

A spokesman for Giuliani, Jarrod Agen, said Romney is ignoring his own record. When Romney was governor of Massachusetts, the number of illegal immigrants skyrocketed, while he recommended state aid to "sanctuary cities" and to companies employing illegal immigrants, he said.

-Romney complained that some opponents - he mentioned no names - are using his Mormon faith to raise doubts about his candidacy. One example was a telephone poll, apparently conducted for backers of Sen. John McCain, that raised the Mormon connection. McCain repudiated the effort.

"Everybody in this country, particularly preparing for the celebration of Thanksgiving and the American heritage of religious tolerance, was offended by use of someone's religion as a political weapon," Romney said. "It was repugnant and I believe Americans will see it as such and I hope it stops."

Earlier, Romney spent the night in Boise and attended a fundraising breakfast Monday at a local country club, raising an estimated $100,000. Romney was introduced to the crowd by Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat now held by embattled Republican Larry Craig. Risch is also serving as Romney's state chairman.

Craig served as Romney's campaign liaison in the Senate before Romney severed those ties in the wake of media reports that Craig was arrested and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor stemming from an airport men's room sex sting operation.

In his fourth visit to Idaho this year, Romney focused his remarks on how his tax and spending plan differs from the Democrats.

Romney stops by to talk trade and immigration
Republican also rakes in some cash
By KRISTEN MILLARES YOUNG
P-I REPORTER

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/340 ... ney20.html

SEATAC-- Mitt Romney talked tough on trade and illegal immigration Monday during a brief presidential campaign stop in Washington, where the former Massachusetts governor leads the pack in Republican fundraising.

"Don't close down America; don't put up walls around America," Romney said, referring to some congressional Democrats' efforts to rein in free trade agreements unless and until they include provisions to protect the environment and workers. "People in Washington respect and understand that a lot of our jobs are associated with selling goods and services around the world."

If pushing that agenda fails within the World Trade Organization, Romney said he would create a "Reagan Zone of Economic Freedom" by cutting direct deals with other countries.

Romney said the U.S. should not support child labor or other customs "antithetical to our values," but said that the primary U.S. consideration should be whether or not Americans benefit from a trade agreement.

The free flow of goods should not be taken to mean the free flow of ideas, said Romney, who also visited Microsoft Corp. to talk about intellectual-property rights.

"When people take the value from our patents and designs and technology and frankly steal them and duplicate them around the world, that hurts America," Romney said.

Nor should it mean the free flow of labor, Romney said, coming down harshly on his opponent, national Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani, whom he accused of running New York as "a sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants. Romney said if he were elected, he would punish state and local governments who give illegal immigrants driver's licenses or tuition assistance by cutting their federal transportation and education funds.

Randy Conrads, founder of Classmates.com and chief executive of online timeshares marketplace RedWeek.com, was one of a slew of local tech heavyweights supporting Romney.

"I saw him as bringing principles I was looking for, and I wanted him to get out there and speak them," Conrads said. "I support his pro-life position."

Romney, who co-founded of Bain Capital, a major Boston-based private equity firm, was pro-choice during his 2002 gubernatorial campaigns but has since hardened his stance against abortion. Romney said Monday that he was opposed to gay marriage and that his shift on the abortion issue followed similar swings by former Presidents Reagan and Bush.

While many have tried to sink Romney's candidacy by focusing on his Mormon beliefs, Conrads said conservative values don't have to be religion-specific.

"I am a Christian, and a lot of people are concerned about how a Christian would view a Mormon," Conrads said. "I would go with the way Mitt Romney speaks, because I am looking for a president, not a preacher."

The real purpose of Romney's visit was likely the evening fundraiser at the Medina home of Wayne Perry, co-founder of Bend, Ore.-based Edge Wireless and past president of McCaw Cellular Communications, now AT&T.

About 150 people were expected; $1,000 would get you in the door, but guests who gave the $2,300 maximum could attend a VIP photo reception, Romney campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said.

Perry and David Nierenberg, president of Nierenberg Investment Management Co. and a non-voting member of the Washington State Investment Board, are co-chairmen of Romney's statewide finance steering committee of 28 Republican leaders.

A list of Romney's local campaign contributors could just as easily be a map of who's who in venture capital and wireless technology: For starters, he received donations from wireless pioneer John Stanton, the former McCaw Cellular chief operating officer who went on to be chief executive officer of T-Mobile USA, VoiceStream Wireless Corp. and Western Wireless Corp., and his wife, Theresa Gillespie, both of whom now work at Trilogy Equity Partners, a Seattle-area venture capital firm focused on wireless technology.

Also of Trilogy, and a Romney supporter, is Peter van Oppen, the former chairman and chief executive of ADIC.