Presidential hopeful visits West Side

Date: 7/20/2011

July 20, 2011

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Editor

WEST SPRINGFIELD — It was the announcement of an upcoming announcement.

Potential Republican Presidential Candidate Charles Elson “Buddy” Roemer III, former governor of and congressman from Louisiana, made an unexpected visit to the Western Massachusetts Republicans 20th annual Summer Picnic on July 15. More than just a rally stop, Roemer was there to make public his intentions to declare his candidacy in the next few weeks.

Earlier in the day Roemer had told Reminder Publications he had just rented a condominium in Manchester, N.H., and would be spending most of the next 90 days making himself known to voters in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. When asked if he would be declaring his candidacy that evening, Roemer said no.

“I love Massachusetts. I went to school in Massachusetts and I taught in Massachusetts,” the Harvard graduate and Kennedy teaching fellow, said. “It’s no put down to Massachusetts, but I need to announce in New Hampshire. It’s an early primary state.”

His shirt sleeves rolled up in deference to the late-afternoon heat, the fit, 67-year -old Roemer was busy working the picnic crowd by 5:30 p.m. last Friday evening. Western Massachusetts Republicans Chairman and former congressional candidate Jay Fleitman officially introduced Roemer around 7 p.m., saying he was a last minute, but welcome, addition to the evening’s slate of speakers.

Fleitman said he’d received an e-mail from Jim Knowlton from the Central Massachusetts Republicans just a few days earlier, indicating he would be bringing Roemer with him to the event. He added it was “a surprise and a special pleasure” to introduce Roemer at the largest gathering of Western Massachusetts Republicans in many years.

Saying his visit to Western Massachusetts was like “coming home,” Roemer told the crowd he had wanted to visit the area for two reasons, to show his support for the victims of the June 1 tornado and to present his platform and vision to fellow Republicans.

He said where he grew up in Louisiana — a cotton farm about 20 miles outside of Shreveport — tornados were a part of life and he learned from an early age the importance of neighbor helping neighbor, of churches helping their members, of family helping family in pulling through the annual cycle of destruction. Government assistance, though necessary and always of great help, “can only go so far,” he said.

“I didn’t want to come here without praying for you,” the devoted Methodist added.

When it came to his bid for the presidency, Roemer — the only politician to switch his affiliation from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party while a sitting governor — readily admitted that after being absent from politics for 20 years while he started two small businesses, including a community bank that took no money from the federal bailout, he “didn’t know all the answers.”

He did, however, point to the fact that his home state of Louisiana was in an economic situation similar to the one the country is in now when he took office in 1988. Unemployment, he said, was at 12.9 percent. When he left office in 1992, it was down to 5 percent.

“We took a state that was in trouble and turned it around,” Roemer said, adding that one of his focuses as president would be to create more domestic jobs and require fair labor practices from America’s trading partners.

“I think we are giving our jobs away to China, Japan and India,” he said, adding that we need to make it clear that countries that use children as laborers and who work their people 15 hours a day for pennies would not be given trade agreements.

“We’ve quit being a nation of makers and have become a nation of takers,” Roemer pointed out in an earlier interview. “Not everyone can be an insurance salesman. Some people need to make things.”

He also said one of the first things he would do if elected president would be to push for cuts to the regulations hampering small businesses — those that employ 499 people or less — which he said are the backbone of America’s economic engine.

In terms of the federal deficit, he said he said he felt the massive overhaul currently under debate on Capitol Hill wasn’t necessary, just a 1 percent cut initially. He said he would begin by eliminating the Department of Energy, which spends nearly $140 billion a year with little results.

“I keep waiting for the Department of Energy to find one barrel of oil,” he joked.

Roemer said he would also eliminate subsidies to big energy companies — “why should we give money to Exxon when oil is $100 a barrel?” he asked — and would restart responsible domestic exploration for oil and gas with the goal of making America energy independent by the end of the decade. He added that for America to become energy independent, the country would also need to maximize its use of solar, wind, hydroelectric and nuclear energy sources. This too, he pointed out, would create new jobs for Americans.

Noting that his experience as both a state governor and a member of Congress gave him a perspective far different from many of his opponents, Roemer also emphasized his desire to be a president who would not be beholden to special interests, who would be “free to lead.” He said that same desire was what prompted his political affiliation change in the late 1980s — a time when Louisiana was, he said a purely Democratic state and one where he, as a conservative Democrat, could find no compromise because there was “no debate” and no honesty among elected officials.

“I call it institutional corruption,” he said of the political climate of Louisiana at the time. He said his decision to switch political parties essentially brought the two-party system back to his home state.

In keeping with his desire to be a candidate free of influence, he announced that his presidential candidacy would accept no contribution larger than $100 from any individual or organization. He also said, in the spirit of transparency, he would record the name of every family and every individual that contributed to his campaign.

As he finished his remarks, the crowd gave Roemer a standing ovation.

After Roemer’s speech, State Rep. Donald Humason told Reminder Publications he was “surprised” that the potential presidential candidate had chosen to make a special stop to “introduce himself to the potential voters of Western Massachusetts.”

When asked for his reaction, State Sen. Michael Knapik said he found Roemer’s remarks “very inspirational,” adding that he was generally pleased by what he heard, especially the focus on job creation. However, though he found Roemer’s style endearing, Knapik said he wasn’t certain American voters were ready for the candidate’s message just yet.

“You never know in America,” Knapik continued. “The beauty [of this country] is a guy like Buddy Roemer can become president. We’ll see.”

Debbie Gardner can be reached by e-mail at debbieg@thereminder.com