Dozens of Utahns have given former SLOC boss Mitt Romney, in total, about $42,000 in his bid to become the next governor of Massachusetts.
But 30 well-to-do backers of Romney in Utah have donated $135,500 to the Massachusetts Republican Party, so-called "soft money" that most likely will be used to aid Romney's gubernatorial bid.
Unlike Utah — which allows a gubernatorial candidate to take any amount of cash from anyone — Massachusetts has strict finance laws for candidate campaigns. No business or corporate contributions are allowed, and individual and political action committee donations are limited to $500 per person per year. On his own, Romney has decided not to take any PAC donations, so all of his personal campaign contributions come from individuals.
Romney's campaign raised nearly $42,000 from Utahns through July, reports filed with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance show.
That's a small part of the nearly $2 million his Romney For Governor campaign raised since he entered the race in March, only weeks after he oversaw the successful 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake in February. But it is a support base he's still mining.
Individual contributions to state political parties, however, can reach $5,000 a year, notes Dennis Kennedy, public information officer for the Massachusetts OCPF. And giving to the party, not Romney's campaign itself, is how some Utah Romney-backers made a bigger financial impact.
Romney held a high-roller fund-raiser in Utah the end of May. "It was a two-part fund-raiser," said Eric Fehrnstrom, deputy campaign manager and Romney spokesman. Part one was Romney For Governor, Romney's personal campaign organization. Though individuals are limited to $500 donations, some couples' combined donations equaled $1,000, records show.
A second event May 22 was a Massachusetts state GOP fund-raiser Romney hosted here, where the higher limit of $5,000 applied.
Fraser Bullock, Romney's second-in-command at SLOC, and his wife, Jennifer, together gave $10,000 to the Massachusetts GOP. The family of Spencer Eccles, former First Security Bank chairman and longtime Olympic backer, gave $20,000. Industrialist/philanthropist Jon Huntsman — an early critic of SLOC actions who later became an Olympic supporter — and his family gave $17,000. And executives of Nu Skin, an Olympic sponsor, gave $15,000 to the Massachusetts GOP, records show.
Kem Gardner of The Boyer Co. and his family gave $15,000, and other Boyer Co. officials gave $7,500. Gardner, who developed The Gateway shopping area that includes an Olympic plaza, and his wife also gave Romney's campaign $1,000.
Don Ostler, retired from the O.C. Tanner Co., which minted the gold and silver Olympic medals, gave $2,500 to the state party. James Sorenson of Sorenson Development Corp. gave $5,000, as did Envirocare's Khosrow Semnani.
Party contributions, so-called "soft money," is cash the state GOP can use to target pro-Romney voters for get-out-the-vote efforts or to run media ads promoting Romney and other GOP candidates in November's election, Kennedy said. Romney has already won the GOP nomination, but who his Democratic opponent is awaits a primary election next month.
Romney has no plans now to return to Utah in person for another fund-raiser, Fehrnstrom said. "He's pleased with the response he's gotten there. There is enormous good will in Utah toward Mitt for the job he did leading the Games. Given that, it's not a surprise (Utahns) give to his campaign."
In July, Romney had a direct-mail fund-raising campaign in Utah. As with all direct-mail solicitations, individual contributions were less — from $2 to $50 with only a few $100 or $500 donations, reports show. About $6,000 came in through the direct-mail effort by the end of last month, records show.
Besides Utah, Romney has received considerable contributions from people living in California, Texas, Virginia, Maryland and Connecticut. A search of out-of-state addresses on his contributions lists shows 1,228 individuals living outside of Massachusetts donating to him.
By far, however, most of his donations come from Massachusetts, where Romney lived for 30 years before relocating to Utah to oversee the Olympics.
Earlier this year, Romney successfully defended a challenge to his Massachusetts residency by local Democrats, who claimed Romney should be thrown off the ballot.
Romney is not a newcomer to Massachusetts voters. He ran a spirited campaign for the U.S. Senate against Democratic political icon Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994. Romney ultimately lost the race but gave Kennedy a scare early on by pulling even with him in the public opinion polls. Massachusetts is a heavily Democratic state, but it has had moderate GOP governors for the last 12 years. Romney leads Democratic challengers in early polls this year.
Which Utahns want Romney to be the next Massachusetts governor?
Mostly it is leading Utah Republicans and businesspeople, with a smattering of Democrats thrown in.
While Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, a Democrat, is not found on Romney's donation list, he recently cut a TV advertisement for Romney. Fehrnstrom said that ad is not running yet, but it may well run later on.
Rodney Brady, head of Deseret Management Corp., the business holding arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and corporate owner of the Deseret News, gave $500 to the Romney campaign. So did Bruce Reese, head of Bonneville International, corporate owner of KSL-TV and Radio.
In rejecting PAC contributions, Romney isn't accepting any funds from firms that may have been Olympic sponsors. And only a few executives from those firms are found in his large contribution lists. Executives from John Hancock and General Mills, both Olympics sponsors, have donated $500, records show. "We have no (campaign fund-raising) lists that come from the Olympics — either from sponsors or others associated with the Games — not in any way," Fehrnstrom said. "But Mitt did make many friends in Utah."
The executives from firms most listed on his reports have other Romney ties.
Staples Inc. and Marriott International, the hotel chain, have executives making up tens of thousands of dollars in donations of $500 each. Romney served on the board of directors of both firms before resigning in April to run for governor, Fehrnstrom said. Romney's first name is actually Willard, for one of the founding brothers of Marriott hotels, J. Willard Marriott, a friend of Romney's father, the Boston Globe reported in a profile of Romney.
Marriott International was an official Olympic sponsor, as was KSL.
Other large groups of Romney financial supporters are made up of executives of Fidelity Investments and EMC, a data storage firm, both headquartered in Boston.
E-MAIL: bbjr@desnews.com