Mitt Romney and Ham Radio

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney says that he never intended to demean Amateur radio in an exchange with a television reporter two years ago. This, as the debate over his comments flares anew on the ham bands and on hobby radio blogging websites nationwide.

Amateur Radio Newsline's Don Wilbanks was the one who contacted Mitt Romney and asked him to explain:

It all began during a televised Town Meeting that aired on November 16th of 2005 on segment 2 of WCVB television's "When Disaster Strikes" The program featured public safety and volunteer organization officials from across Massachusetts.

Moderator Natalie Jacobson had asked Governor Romney questions about communications interoperability, and communication without commercial power.

During the exchange Jacobson commented '...so you don't see yourself getting down to ham radio operators?...' The then governor replied: "No, we don't need to deal with ham radio operators. We have power systems that allow us to speak with one another and to manage our response."

Hams across Massachusetts and eventually across the nation only seemed to hear the words "we don't need to deal with ham radio operators" and reacted negatively. This, even though the remark was taken out of context. Most hams never bothered to find out what really transpired even though the entire program has been available on the WCVB website since it was broadcast. Instead they relied on inaccurate and incomplete information being passed along on the World Wide Web.

The issue eventually died away only to reappear on the ham radio blogs in recent weeks as a result of Romney seeking the Republican party's nomination to run for the U-S presidency. For example, in the Talk and Opinion area of QRZ.com there is a subject titled: "Do we want a President who hates ham radio?" Reading the ongoing discussion shows that few of those taking part have ever have seen or heard the show in question,

So on Friday, January 18th I decided to see if Mitt Romney would be willing to address this issue in a clear an concise manner. So I wrote him the following e-mail:

" Mr. Romney,

In November of 2005 in a televised town meeting you commented that in an emergency you "don't need to deal with ham radio operators".

My family lived in the greater New Orleans area when Hurricane Katrina hit. Hams made huge contributions down here. I am also a licensed ham, AE5DW.

My question is simple: Tell me how I can support you if you don't support us?
Thank you.

Don Wilbanks, AE5DW"

I did not know if I would get a response or not, but felt it was worth the effort to find out if Mitt Romney even remembered the incident and i so, what he might have to say.

On Tuesday, January 22nd I received thefollowing response via email in which the key paragraph read:

"Dear Don:

Thank you for following up with me on the responsibility of Ham Radio Operators. The exchange with Natalie Jacobsen was meant to imply that we need to strengthen our emergency response infrastructure, rather than demean the important role I recognize that Ham Radio Operators play around our country. I hope this will clear up any confusion. Again, thank you for contacting me. "

Whether the response came directly from Mitt Romney or one of his aids is hard to say. The reference made to WCVB's Natalie Jacobsen would tend to indicate that whoever actually wrote the response was aware of what transpired during the on-the-air exchange.

And as I mentioned earlier, the entire segment of the program "When Disaster Strikes" can be seen at the WCVB website. The url is
www.thebostonchannel.com/video/5334306/index.html

Don Wilbanks, AE5DW
Picayune, Mississippi

Source: AE5DW, ARNewsline™