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Show 10 | MyWeberMedia.com| March 15, 2018 JOSHUA WINEHOLT | The Signpost SENATE HOPEFUL MITT ROMNEY TALKS TO THE SIGNPOST ALONG CAMPAIGN TRAIL By COLE ECKHARDT Editor-in-Chief A publicity entourage and security escort moved through charged crowds across Weber State University’s Ogden campus March 13 as Senate hopeful Mitt Romney stopped along his statewide endorsement campaign to participate in a guest lecture series. In a town hall-style Q and A, Romney fielded questions from the campus community concerning climate change policy, Utah’s economy and his criticism of the president. Following a meet-and-greet that swarmed WSU’s Shepherd Union with community members seeking photo-ops with the former presidential candidate, Romney met one-on-one with The Signpost to speak about the campaign. Having been born and raised in Michigan and having found both commercial and political success in Massachusetts, Romney received backlash from within the Utah Republican Party when he announced his run for the senate. Utah GOP chair Rob Anderson told the Salt Lake Tribune in January Romney was “doing what Hillary Clinton did in New York — campaigning in a state he hasn’t spent much time in.” Romney believes, however, that his roots run deep in the Beehive State, and he’s eager to get back to them. “My parents were both raised in Utah. My ancestors helped settle Utah,” Romney said. Between his time as a student at Brigham Young University, coordinator of the 2002 Winter Olympics and recent resident of Utah, Romney says his time spent living in Utah totals 10 years, “and 10 years is time to get to know a state.” Bloomberg political reporter Sahil Kapur pointed out, however, that Romney’s Twitter location remained set to Massachusetts until the day Sen. Orrin Hatch announced his retirement. “This is home for us, and I believe the values of Utah are values we need to have in Washington,” Romney said. “And I think I can represent that well.” Anderson hasn’t been Romney’s only critic. A contentious, on-again-off-again relationship developed between Romney and the president, beginning with Trump’s public endorsement of Romney’s second presidential campaign in 2012. Four years later, however, during Trump’s presidential campaign, the soon-to-be POTUS lashed out at his then-opponent Romney, tweeting that he was “one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics.” This prompted Romney to tweet the following week that had he been privy to Trump’s stance on the KKK, Muslims, and Mexicans, he would never have accepted the endorsement in the first place. All this left many surprised when the president tweeted Feb. 19 endorsing Romney’s run for the Senate. Romney has accepted the endorsement but says he won’t become acquiescent. “He’s the president,” Romney said emphatically. “He’s president of the United States and the leader of my party. The president and I are on the same page with regards to a great deal of policy, particularly the policies of the first year, but when he says something I disagree with, I call that out. The president respects individuals who call it like they see it.” Romney does appear to be on the same page with many of the policies produced by Trump’s administration, the GOP tax code in particular, about which he remains optimistic despite many students’ and educators’ concerns about the plan calculating graduate program funding as income. “The best thing about the tax code changes is it’s said to start businesses and create new enterprises, such that when people come out of school, they can find jobs — and they’re good jobs with higher pay than they would have had otherwise.” Romney believes that the prospects are greater for those graduating with not only graduate degrees but bachelor’s and associate’s degrees as well, though he failed to acknowledge the prospects of those pursuing academic careers. In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, Romney adhered tightly to one of the GOP’s pillars: states’ rights. “Most actions taken to protect our schools and our kids in our schools I think should be taken at the state level,” Romney said, “because provisions that may be attractive or may be politically acceptable or that may be effective in New York City may not be effective in Cedar City.” However, Romney would see bumpstocks removed from public domain and said he supports intensified, federally overseen background checks on firearm purchases. Romney’s position on cannabis runs even more parallel to GOP party lines— that is, how those lines used to look. On a map of states that have passed legis- |