An Open Letter to Sen. Mitt Romney

 

Tucson, Arizona
February 5, 2020

Dear Sen. Romney:

Please allow me to introduce myself.  I am no one of consequence.  I am a 52-year-old lawyer from Tucson, Arizona, married and with four children.  My oldest son is a sergeant in the Marine Reserves.  I am a patriotic American and a lifelong conservative Republican.

I believe that I first became aware of you when you ran for the Republican nomination in 2008.  I did not vote for you in the Arizona primary as I preferred Gov. Huckabee, but I found you to be an outstanding and honorable candidate.  I recall that I preferred you over my own state’s senior Senator, John McCain.  In the 2012 Arizona primary, I did not vote for you, preferring Sen. Santorum.  Again, I found you to be an outstanding and honorable candidate in the primaries.

I was an enthusiastic supporter of your 2012 campaign against President Obama.  I was extremely pleased with your selection of Rep. Ryan as your running mate, and I recall my excitement at your masterful performance against President Obama in the first debate.  I voted for you without reservation, and I wish that you had emerged victorious. I concluded that you were a man of extraordinary ability, integrity, and moral character.

I have carefully followed the impeachment trial of President Trump.  I found the case against him to be quite unconvincing, on many grounds, but I understand that there is room for disagreement on this issue among people of good faith.

I was extremely disappointed by your decision to vote to convict the President on one of the two Articles of Impeachment.  I am concerned that you did not fully realize the gravity of your vote.

I watched your Senate speech stating your position.  You predicted, quite accurately, that you would be attacked for voting to convict the President.  This is already beginning, as I have seen your motives questioned and your character impugned.

First, I want you to know that I oppose that criticism.  I believe that you honestly voted your conscience, on the basis of the evidence as you interpreted it.  I disagree, but I respect your position and am convinced that you acted in good faith.  I believed that you were a man of honor when I voted against you in the 2008 and 2012 primaries, and when I voted for you for President in 2012.  I believe the same thing today.

Second, however, I must point out the grievous political and historic consequences of your decision.  I wish that you could have found room within your conscience to abstain if you could not acquit.  In the House, 195 Republican Representatives voted against impeachment, with not a single Republican vote in favor.  In the Senate, all 52 of your Republican colleagues voted against conviction.  If you had voted to acquit, or even abstained, the entire proceeding could have been dismissed, as I believe it should have been, as a wholly partisan gambit by an out-of-control Democratic Party.

Again, I wish to emphasize that I believe that you voted your conscience.  I am concerned, however, that your conscience imposed an appalling political cost on the Republican Party and the conservative movement. I fear that your decision, by adding a tiny patina of bipartisanship to an otherwise completely partisan process, will be damaging to the beliefs and values that we share, in both the 2020 elections and in the longer history of our country.

Other than a declaration of war, I believe that impeachment and removal of a President is the most momentous decision that any Senator or Congressman can make.  On this issue, your conscience is contrary to the conclusion of every one of your 247 Republican colleagues in Congress who voted on the issue. All of your friends and allies disagreed with you.  You alone stood with our political opposition.  Your views are manifestly outside the Republican and conservative mainstream.

I do not ask you to change your vote, even if you could.  I do not ask you to apologize for doing what you believed to be right.

I do ask, respectfully, that you consider resigning your position as United States Senator.

Very truly yours,

Gerald F. Giordano, Jr.

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There are 52 comments.

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Well said, sir.

    • #1
  2. RyanFalcone Member
    RyanFalcone
    @RyanFalcone

    Strange letter. “You voted in good conscience and I respect that. Please resign.”

    Trump was more popular in Utah than Romney this time yesterday. After the SOTU and Romney’s action today, that is likely to be much more the case tonight. There is only one motive here, pure arrogance. Let’s see how many minutes he logs on the Democrat-run media circuit.

    • #2
  3. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    RyanFalcone (View Comment):

    Strange letter. “You voted in good conscience and I respect that. Please resign.”

    Trump was more popular in Utah than Romney this time yesterday. After the SOTU and Romney’s action today, that is likely to be much more the case tonight. There is only one motive here, pure arrogance. Let’s see how many minutes he logs on the Democrat-run media circuit.

    I thought that I made my argument clear, but perhaps I should have added more at the end.  I though about doing so.  Something like:

    “On the most consequential question you are likely to ever decide, your conscience caused you to act contrary to the wishes and interests of the people you represent, the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the entire country, and the decision of every other Republican in Congress.  As a man of honor, I submit that you should no longer serve as a Republican in the Senate.”

    • #3
  4. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    In order for the impeachment and removal argument to succeed, one had to swallow numerous assertions, exaggerations, and outright falsehoods. One also had to be convinced that:

    a) there was absolutely no merit to the charges that the Bidens may have been engaged in corruption and defrauding not only the US government but the Ukrainian government as well — as Schiff repeatedly attempted to claim saying that the allegations were baseless…and;

    b) that by virtue of announcing that one is a candidate for President that they are immediately shielded from any investigation of their credibly suspected criminal activity. Perhaps this is a vestige of the entire Hillary Clinton “matter”.

    Romney tipped his hand that he was in Schiff’s camp on this aspect of the impeachment, the abuse of power article, when he came before the microphones and stated he wanted to hear from witnesses like Bolton and Mulvaney… but when someone asked about Hunter Biden as a possible witness, he clammed up and was non-responsive.

    If it comes to light that Joe Biden has been orchestrating essentially a criminal enterprise on many fronts to make his family rich (Peter Schweizer makes a compelling argument on this front and keep an eye on leads that Catherine Herridge – now at CBS – is following); then this bolsters Trump’s position and further erodes whatever credibility Joe Biden feels he has.

    • #4
  5. Nohaaj Coolidge
    Nohaaj
    @Nohaaj

    Nice letter.  Resignation is fitting, but not severe enough. 

    • #5
  6. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    So, had Romney won the White House in 2012, then thereafter when the Democrats tried, as part of their partisan sniping, to make his national security advisor or other close advisors show up to testify negatively about Romney’s own motives and thought processes, I guess he would have said, “Sure, why not? Executive privilege, schexecutive privilege.” What a sanctimonious fraud.

    • #6
  7. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    Fritz (View Comment):

    So, had Romney won the White House in 2012, then thereafter when the Democrats tried, as part of their partisan sniping, to make his national security advisor or other close advisors show up to testify negatively about Romney’s own motives and thought processes, I guess he would have said, “Sure, why not? Executive privilege, schexecutive privilege.” What a sanctimonious fraud.

    Actually he only voted “guilty” for the first article of impeachment which was Abuse of Power”. He voted “not guilty” on the “Obstruction of Congress” article.

    • #7
  8. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…: First, I want you to know that I oppose that criticism. I believe that you honestly voted your conscience, on the basis of the evidence as you interpreted it. I disagree, but I respect your position and am convinced that you acted in good faith.

    Good letter, but I choose not to flatter Mitt.  He is willfully ignorant and/or jealous of the Trump’s success.   Either way he is a horrible person to be in the Senate and should have resigned a year ago.  We need Glenn Beck to move to Utah and run for Senate tomorrow.

    • #8
  9. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Thank you for reminding me to write Senator Romney.  I will thank him for voting his conscience.

    • #9
  10. Sweezle Inactive
    Sweezle
    @Sweezle

    Excellent letter. Romney is a spiteful narsassistic man. His motives are like McCain’s were. They both hate that Trump won what they couldn’t. Being President.

    • #10
  11. RyanFalcone Member
    RyanFalcone
    @RyanFalcone

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    RyanFalcone (View Comment):

    Strange letter. “You voted in good conscience and I respect that. Please resign.”

    Trump was more popular in Utah than Romney this time yesterday. After the SOTU and Romney’s action today, that is likely to be much more the case tonight. There is only one motive here, pure arrogance. Let’s see how many minutes he logs on the Democrat-run media circuit.

    I thought that I made my argument clear, but perhaps I should have added more at the end. I though about doing so. Something like:

    “On the most consequential question you are likely to ever decide, your conscience caused you to act contrary to the wishes and interests of the people you represent, the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the entire country, and the decision of every other Republican in Congress. As a man of honor, I submit that you should no longer serve as a Republican in the Senate.”

    My apologies.  I did not mean to express that your reasoning was strange. I meant to express that the way that he can put us in a position of having to defend our criticism of him because he has some kind of moral high ground is strange.

    • #11
  12. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):

    So, had Romney won the White House in 2012, then thereafter when the Democrats tried, as part of their partisan sniping, to make his national security advisor or other close advisors show up to testify negatively about Romney’s own motives and thought processes, I guess he would have said, “Sure, why not? Executive privilege, schexecutive privilege.” What a sanctimonious fraud.

    Actually he only voted “guilty” for the first article of impeachment which was Abuse of Power”. He voted “not guilty” on the “Obstruction of Congress” article.

    Yes, so he got one half of it right.

    But just last week Sen. Romney indicated he wanted more witnesses (beyond the 17 whose testimony in the House became a part of the record in the Senate…), because the House managers had not proven their case.

    Now after there were no new witnesses, all of a sudden, the case had been proven?

    I say again, sanctimonious fraud. I wish I could get back my donations to his 2012 campaign, just on principle.

    • #12
  13. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Thank you for reminding me to write Senator Romney. I will thank him for voting his conscience.

    If only he had.

    • #13
  14. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Thank you for reminding me to write Senator Romney. I will thank him for voting his conscience.

    If only he had.

    Romney is thinking to himself, “Ha, ha, there’s no provision in Utah for recalling a Senator — and I don’t have to stand for re-election until 2024!”

    What a slap in the face of his fellow Republican Senators.  And if they lose the Senate because of it, Fake Republicans everywhere will rejoice.  (I name no names.)

    • #14
  15. Nohaaj Coolidge
    Nohaaj
    @Nohaaj

    I would not be surprised if in the very near future, Romney ends the charade and switches to the party his heart was always affiliated with, the Democrats. 

    • #15
  16. danok1 Member
    danok1
    @danok1

    Taras (View Comment):
    Romney is thinking to himself, “Ha, ha, there’s no provision in Utah for recalling a Senator — and I don’t have to stand for re-election until 2024!”

    Slightly off-topic, but is is even Constitutionally possible for a state to recall a Senator/Representative? I know courts have held that term limits set by states on Senators/Reps to be unconstitutional, because the Constitution itself sets the qualifications for these offices. Similarly, it sets the terms for these offices. There is no provision for recall in the COTUS. So is it even possible to recall Romney?

    • #16
  17. Franz Drumlin Inactive
    Franz Drumlin
    @FranzDrumlin

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Thank you for reminding me to write Senator Romney. I will thank him for voting his conscience.

    A  man who until recently was for all intents and purposes a Democrat catches a populist wave and manages to install himself as de facto head of the Republican Party. His inexperience, ignorance and arrogance leads him into making a serious diplomatic and political blunder. As a result of this error, a good and decent man, a lifelong Republican, sees no choice but to stand with those regard this blunder as beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior for someone who swore to defend the Constitution. It’s a brave stand and I applaud him for it. And my decision on whether or not to vote for Trump this November might depend on how quickly his supporters can past this.

    • #17
  18. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Franz Drumlin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Thank you for reminding me to write Senator Romney. I will thank him for voting his conscience.

    A man who until recently was for all intents and purposes a Democrat catches a populist wave and manages to install himself as de facto head of the Republican Party. His inexperience, ignorance and arrogance leads him into making a serious diplomatic and political blunder. As a result of this error, a good and decent man, a lifelong Republican, sees no choice but to stand with those regard this blunder as beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior for someone who swore to defend the Constitution. It’s a brave stand and I applaud him for it. And my decision on whether or not to vote for Trump this November might depend on how quickly his supporters can past this.

    Franz:  I submit that the flaw in your argument is the obvious fact that Sen. Romney had a choice.  You say that he “sees no choice,” and you seem to agree.  But every other Republican and Senator saw a choice.

    Your position seems to be that, unless the 99+% of Republicans who disagree with you, and disagree with Sen. Romney, come around to your point of view, you may not vote for President Trump.  You are free to do as you wish, but this does not seem to be a reasonable position.

    • #18
  19. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Far more polite than is deserved.

    • #19
  20. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    Thank you for reminding me to write Senator Romney. I will thank him for voting his conscience.

    It’s funny that you thought this was a matter of conscience.

    Please explain how he could vote to exclude new witnesses and yet vote to convict?

    This was not “conscience.”  He has none.  He is terrified that his own corruption with Hunter Biden is going to be exposed and his family’s slice of control of the party is disappearing.  That’s all this was.  It was childishness on the scale of Pelosi.

    • #20
  21. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Nohaaj (View Comment):

    I would not be surprised if in the very near future, Romney ends the charade and switches to the party his heart was always affiliated with, the Democrats.

    I doubt that will happen.  He’s enjoying the McCain tactic of being the controlling vote in the republican party.  He expects that his butt will be continuously kissed, along with that hag in Alaska, and leverage that obstinancy into profit.

    • #21
  22. Franz Drumlin Inactive
    Franz Drumlin
    @FranzDrumlin

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    Your position seems to be that, unless the 99+% of Republicans who disagree with you, and disagree with Sen. Romney, come around to your point of view, you may not vote for President Trump. You are free to do as you wish, but this does not seem to be a reasonable position.

    Don’t we see this on college campuses? Agree with everything we profess, without a hint of denial or you will be beyond the pale. You will be ostracized, cancelled, de-platformed. It would be a terrible thing for the Republican party to fall into this ‘brook no dissent’ manner of thinking. To criticize Romney for his vote (a vote I disagree with, by the way) is one thing. To call for his ouster from the party is another. If that’s the direction we’re going in count me out.

    • #22
  23. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    danok1 (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):
    Romney is thinking to himself, “Ha, ha, there’s no provision in Utah for recalling a Senator — and I don’t have to stand for re-election until 2024!”

    Slightly off-topic, but is is even Constitutionally possible for a state to recall a Senator/Representative? I know courts have held that term limits set by states on Senators/Reps to be unconstitutional, because the Constitution itself sets the qualifications for these offices. Similarly, it sets the terms for these offices. There is no provision for recall in the COTUS. So is it even possible to recall Romney?

    I think there have been court cases but not fully resolved.  The 17th Amendment provided for voting in general elections  instead of the Constitution’s provision for state legislatures to elect.  It would be interesting to see. I have written to Tony Quinn who introduced the recall resolution.

    • #23
  24. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Franz Drumlin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Thank you for reminding me to write Senator Romney. I will thank him for voting his conscience.

    A man who until recently was for all intents and purposes a Democrat catches a populist wave and manages to install himself as de facto head of the Republican Party. His inexperience, ignorance and arrogance leads him into making a serious diplomatic and political blunder. As a result of this error, a good and decent man, a lifelong Republican, sees no choice but to stand with those regard this blunder as beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior for someone who swore to defend the Constitution. It’s a brave stand and I applaud him for it. And my decision on whether or not to vote for Trump this November might depend on how quickly his supporters can past this.

    Trump considered running as a third party candidate in 2000.  You might do a bit of research.  Doing business in a corrupt city and state like New York was probably his motive for supporting Democrats like the Clintons.  

    • #24
  25. Franz Drumlin Inactive
    Franz Drumlin
    @FranzDrumlin

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):
    Trump considered running as a third party candidate in 2000. You might do a bit of research. Doing business in a corrupt city and state like New York was probably his motive for supporting Democrats like the Clintons.

    Third Party . . . Democrat . . . Republican . . . whatever it takes to get elected?

    • #25
  26. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Franz Drumlin (View Comment):

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):
    Trump considered running as a third party candidate in 2000. You might do a bit of research. Doing business in a corrupt city and state like New York was probably his motive for supporting Democrats like the Clintons.

    Third Party . . . Democrat . . . Republican . . . whatever it takes to get elected?

    Yes.  When the results are what he brought to our nation then yes.  Absolutely yes.

    • #26
  27. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    It’s one thing to vote your conscience. It’s quite another to vote your poorly formed conscience. Mitt Romney doesn’t seem to know he is motivated by personal animus to the President, but it’s quite obvious to the rest of us. 

    I knew Romney was not an honorable man when he butt-kissed Trump and happily accepted his endorsement and money in 2012 and then made that despicable speech attempting to knee-cap Trump in March of 2016. His “conscience” told him to do that?? He would have had us subjugated to President Hillary Clinton and her utterly corrupt machine??? Well, screw him. Politely. 

     

    • #27
  28. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    danok1 (View Comment):

    Taras (View Comment):
    Romney is thinking to himself, “Ha, ha, there’s no provision in Utah for recalling a Senator — and I don’t have to stand for re-election until 2024!”

    Slightly off-topic, but is is even Constitutionally possible for a state to recall a Senator/Representative? I know courts have held that term limits set by states on Senators/Reps to be unconstitutional, because the Constitution itself sets the qualifications for these offices. Similarly, it sets the terms for these offices. There is no provision for recall in the COTUS. So is it even possible to recall Romney?

    When people in New Jersey tried to recall Sen. Bob Menendez in 2010, the State Supreme Court claimed this was barred by Federal statute.

    However, this was Democratic judges protecting a Democratic Senator so I don’t know how sound the reasoning was.  

    Just eight years earlier, the same court had invented a constitutional right to prevent Republicans from winning a Senate seat, allowing the Democrats to illegally change candidates at the last minute.

    • #28
  29. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    It’s one thing to vote your conscience. It’s quite another to vote your poorly formed conscience. Mitt Romney doesn’t seem to know he is motivated by personal animus to the President, but it’s quite obvious to the rest of us.

    I knew Romney was not an honorable man when he butt-kissed Trump and happily accepted his endorsement and money in 2012 and then made that despicable speech attempting to knee-cap Trump in March of 2016. His “conscience” told him to do that?? He would have had us subjugated to President Hillary Clinton and her utterly corrupt machine??? Well, screw him. Politely.

     

    Trump made a serious mistake when he endorsed Romney for the Senate in 2018.

    Of course, that underlines Romney’s treachery even more.

    • #29
  30. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Franz Drumlin (View Comment):

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):
    Trump considered running as a third party candidate in 2000. You might do a bit of research. Doing business in a corrupt city and state like New York was probably his motive for supporting Democrats like the Clintons.

    Third Party . . . Democrat . . . Republican . . . whatever it takes to get elected?

    Yes. When the results are what he brought to our nation then yes. Absolutely yes.

    @franzdrumlin — Your position on Trump was entirely reasonable: in 2016.

    But, unless you’ve been in a cave for the last three years, you are forced to admit that Trump has been a better Republican than the last two Republican Presidents.

    Former anti-Trumpers (like me) differ from Never Trumpers because the former have the ability to learn from experience.  Which Never Trumpers don’t.

    P.S.:  What serious diplomatic blunder?  If such a thing occurred, we would see damage in diplomacy or foreign policy. Where is it?

    • #30
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