Mr. Romney never engaged in such vitrol.

I would caution you to refrain from making such statements.

"Eric Gordon" wrote in
:

WHAT A JACKASS. OOOPPPSSSSS SORRY, HE'S A REPUBLICAN. SORRY, NO
OFFENSE TO THE JACKASSES OF THE WORLD. HE'S AN INSULT TO HUMANITY,
BUT NOT TOTALLY UNEXPECTED FROM A REPUBLICAN
"laborkei" wrote in message
. ..
Attention all Amateur Operators.
Please Read, and send your comments to the ARRL and Romney Website.


Wednesday 16 November 2005 @ 15:48:10 | Eastern Massachusetts ARRL
Romney 'Disses' Amateur Radio In
Televised Town Meeting Posted on Wednesday16 November 2005 @
15:48:10

Governor Mitt Romney dismissed the role of Amateur Radio operators
in emergency communications
during a televised 'town meeting' program last night on WCVB's 'When
Disaster Strikes: Segment Two.'
The program featured public safety and volunteer organization
officials from
across Massachusetts
among its audience.

Host and moderator Natalie Jacobson asked an increasingly-agitated
Governor
Romney questions about
communications interoperability, and communication without
commercial power.
Romney was next asked
by Jacobson, '...so does it come down to ham radio?...'

The Governor replied in a disgusted tone, 'No, we don't need to deal
with ham radio operators...'

Embarrassed public safety officials later tried to put in a good
word for Amateur Radio. National
Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Glenn Field was
prepared
to state the importance
of Amateur Radio, when Salvation Army Colonel Fred Van Brunt was
called upon. Van Brunt remarked
about his organization's quest to improve its communications
capabilities and how Amateur Radio has
aided his organization. 'The ham radio situation helps a great
deal,' he stated.

'I have already written and submitted a letter to the Governor's
Office,' wrote Eastern MA Section
Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY. 'I have also written an
email to Natalie Jacobson.'

ARRL Section Manager Mike Neilsen, W1MPN sent a section-wide email
today to
all Eastern MA ARRL
members describing the incident along with actions he and his staff
were taking to mitigate the
situation.

'[Romney's] attitude about us sets an unfortunate tone within the
state's executive branch,' wrote
Neilsen. 'As a former military officer, I see this as a failure in
leadership. My immediate concern
is our working relationship within the [Massachusetts Emergency
Management
Team] environment.'
Neilsen intends to address the Governor's comments as 'an urgent
matter' at
a meeting on November 17
with Don Carlton from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

'I was very disturbed about what the Governor stated on the
program,' wrote
Ron Wood, W1PLW, the
section's Public Information Coordinator. 'It does show that more
work is needed by all hams in the
section. It's a great idea to write letters explaining the good we
do.' Wood
is attempting to
schedule a meeting with the Governor's office tomorrow so that EMA
ARRL staffers might discuss the
matter further.

Tom Kinahan, N1CPE wrote that Governor Romney's comment has made 'a
PR problem' for Kinahan in his
role as MA State RACES Officer.

'I've got a roster of over 150 Amateur Radio operators that support
local communities, and those of
us that directly support the state government. There are at least
double that in terms of people
that are actually out there that I don't have formal paperwork on
that support Amateur Radio
emergency communications in some organized manner... The Governor has
said
that he 'certainly
doesn't need to rely on ham radio' -- where does that leave the
RACES program now?'

'I am ashamed tonight that I am a Republican!' remarked one ham
radio viewer. '[Romney] speaks in
derogatory tones about hams. He certainly shows an ignorance as to
what we
do and are capable of. I
suggest a grass roots campaign of local hams calling the State House
and The
Governor's Office to
protest.'


--









--
---
William O'Hara
www.N1ey.com - Amateur Radio and Railfan Blog
www.yahoogroups.com/group/illinoiscentral - premier discussion list
ICRR