MoveOn Pushes Romney On Purge

With Mitt Romney campaigning in Florida Thursday, MoveOn.org Political Action continued its push to persuade the former Massachusetts governor to denounce Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to purge non-citizens from the state voter rolls.

During Romney’s scheduled speech at the NALEO Conference in Orlando, MoveOn circled a mobile billboard around the location urging Romney to condemn Scott’s purge, which the group says unfairly discriminates against minority voters.

MoveOn also chartered an airplane to fly over Orlando and around the conference trailing a Spanish banner that said “Romney: Condena La Purga De Votantes Latinos,”  (Translation: Romney: Condemn the Latino voter purge”). This is MoveOn’s second airplane banner at a Romney appearance in Florida urging him to speak out against the purge. A banner reading “Latino Voter Purge = Racism for Romney” flew over his June 13 campaign stop at Con-Air Industries in Orlando.

“Romney’s silence speaks volumes to the voters targeted by these suppression schemes,” said MoveOn’s National Campaign Director, Garlin Gilchrist in a statement.

Romney Camp Denies Contacting Scott On Economy

Romney’s campaign is denying that the GOP nominee told Scott to downplay economic progress in the state, as first reported in Bloomberg on Wednesday. The Bloomberg report said Romney’s team asked Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with Romney’s message that the nation is suffering under Obama.

“Governor Romney frequently praises [governors] for their ability to overcome the job-stifling policies of the Obama administration,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “Any statement to the contrary is not in line with Governor Romney’s thoughts or his message.”

No one in the Romney inner circle nor Romney himself had any contact with Scott on his messaging on the economy, according to a senior Romney campaign source. Sources close to Scott insist that the story is “completely false.”

Tags | Andrea Saul, Garlin Gilchrist, Mitt Romney, MoveOn, rick scott, Spanish