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FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012
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He choked up at least twice, including when he recalled how he and wife Ann would awake to find “a pile of kids asleep in our room.” He was unstinting in his criticism of President Barack Obama, his Democratic quarry in a close and uncertain race for the White House, and drew cheers when he vowed to repeal Obama’s signature health care law. “This president can tell us it was someone else’s fault. This president can tell us that the next four years he’ll get it right. But this president cannot tell us that you are better off today than when he took office,” Romney declared. Clint Eastwood, legendary Hollywood tough guy, put the case for ousting Obama plainly moments before Romney made his entrance. “When somebody does not do the job, you’ve got to let ‘em go,” he said to the cheers of thousands in the packed convention hall. Beyond the heartfelt personal testimonials and political hoopla, the evening marked one of a very few opportunities any presidential challenger is granted to appeal to millions of voters in a single night. The two-month campaign to come includes other big moments — principally a series of one-on-one debates with Democrat Obama — in a race for the White House that has been close for months. In excess of $500 million has been spent on campaign television commercials so far, almost all of it in the battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada. Romney was often almost gentle in his criticism of Obama. “I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed,” he said. “But his promises gave way to disappointment and division.” “This isn’t something we have to accept ,” he said, appealing to millions of voters who say they are disappointed in the president yet haven’t yet decided to cast their votes for his Republican challenger. “Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, ‘I’m an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better! My children deserve better! My family deserves better! My country deserves better!” Romney’s remarks came on a night when other speakers filled out a week-long portrait of the GOP nominee as a man of family and faith, savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics, savvy and successful in business, yet careful with a buck. A portion of the convention stage was rebuilt overnight so he would appear surrounded by delegates rather than speaking from a distance, an attempt to soften his image as a sometimes-stiff and distant candidate. “He shoveled snow and raked leaves for the elderly. He took down tables and swept floors at church dinners,” said Grant Bennett, describing Romney’s volun-
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Former Luzerne County Council candidate Joyce DombroskiGebhardt, of Kingston, said the “very energized” atmosphere there was “a very positive sign for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in Northeastern Pennsylvania.” She hoped Romney would “say something very much anticipated by the American voters which is that he, as our next president, will look after all of our American people, especially senior citizens and the middle class.” Kingston Mayor Jim Haggerty said he was “excited to come out and support Mitt Romney and kick off the presidential election campaign to win Northeastern Pennsylvania for Gov. Romney.” Haggerty conceded that Republican presidential candidates have an “uphill battle” in Luzerne County, but said that Romney would win the county or, at the worst, break even. “We know how to micro-target voters and get voters to the polls on Election Day.” Ed Warkevicz, treasurer of the Luzerne County Republican Party, which hosted the party, said he thinks Romney’s chances in Lu-
AP PHOTO AP PHOTO
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, joined by vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, waves to delegates Thursday night after speaking at the Republican National Convention.
AP PHOTO
Actor Clint Eastwood speaks to an empty chair representing President Obama at the Republican National Convention.
teer work as an unpaid lay clergy leader in the Mormon church. Following him to the podium, Ted and Pat Oparowski tenderly recalled how Romney befriended their 14-year-old son, David, as he was dying of cancer. “We will be ever grateful to Mitt for his love and concern,” she said simply. Shouts of “USA, USA” echoed in the convention hall as several Olympic medal winners came on stage, a reminder of Romney stepping in to help rescue the faltering 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In an evening that blended the political and the personal, delegates saw a video in which his sons poked fun at him. “I can’t explain love,” Romney said. As for Obama, Romney said, “Many Americans have given up on this president, but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves, Not on each other. And not on America.” The economy is issue No. 1 in the race for the White House, and Romney presented his credentials as the man better equipped than the president to help create jobs. Speaker after zerne County are good. “Why? Because more and more people are waking up and realizing they don’t have a job. And it’s because of ‘Bama-nomics.’ Just from talking with people, I can tell Romney is going to do better than our last candidate four years ago because the young generation was sold a bill of goods and President Obama didn’t deliver on those promises.” Adriana Vargas, of Edwardsville, said Obama promised to cut the national debt, but it tripled in his time in office. Looking forward to Romney’s acceptance speech, Vargas said she hoped he “is so confident in his beliefs that he will make a difference in the next four years and completely undo all the errors of the last four years. We, as Republicans, have a lot of faith in him.” Joe Nevenglosky, 62, of Mountain Top, said he’d like to see Romney win locally with a landslide, “but I don’t think a lot of people in Northeastern Pennsylvania are intelligent enough to understand what he’s going to do. Many people (here) like to stand with their hand out and expect a handout from the politicians instead of going out and getting a job and working for it.” Pat Gudz, 59, of Kingston, said
speaker testified to the help their received from Bain Capital, the private equity firm that he created — and that Democrats argue often took over companies, loaded them down with debt and then walked away with huge fees as bankruptcy approached. There was no shortage of Obama-bashing, though. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, sharing the stage with his wife, Callista, said Obama was a president in the Jimmy Carter mold. Both “took our nation down a path that in four years weakened America’s confidence in itself and our hope for a better future,” he said. Romney’ offered no new information on what has so far been a short-on-details pledge to reduce federal deficits and create 12 million jobs in a country where unemployment stands at 8.3 percent. Romney would have to nearly double the current, anemic pace of job growth to achieve 12 million jobs over four years. That’s conceivable in a healthy economy. Moody’s Analytics, a financial research operation, expects nearly that many jobs to return in four years no matter who oc-
cupies the White House, absent further economic setbacks. Romney’s steps for achieving the employment growth include deficit cuts that he has not spelled out and a march toward energy independence that past presidents have promised but never delivered. He has called for extension of tax cuts due to expire at all income levels at the end of the year, and an additional 20 percent across the board cut in rates. But he has yet to sketch which tax breaks he will eliminate or cut to prevent deficits from rising. Nor has he been forthcoming about where to make the trillions in spending cuts needed to redeem his pledge of major deficit reduction, or about his promise to rein in Medicare or other government benefit programs before they go broke. Running mate Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, has called for remaking Medicare into a program in which the government would send seniors checks to be used to purchase health care insurance. Under the current approach, beneficiaries pay premiums to the government, which then pays a part of all of their medical bills, and Democrats say the GOP alternative would expose seniors to ever-rising out-ofpocket costs. Obama’s surrogates missed no opportunity to criticize Romney, the convention proceedings or Ryan’s own acceptance speech. “He lied about Medicare. He lied about the Recovery Act,” Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, emailed Democratic donors in a plea for cash. “He lied about the deficit and debt. He even dishonestly attacked Barack Obama for the closing of a GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin — a plant that closed in December 2008 under George W. Bush.”
The former Navy SEAL who wrote this account of the Osama bin Laden raid could face federal legal action.
Federal suit possible over ex-SEAL’s book
The author broke agreement on non-disclosure, Pentagon authorities say. By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s top lawyer on Thursday informed the former Navy SEAL who wrote a forthcoming book describing details of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden that he violated agreements to not divulge military secrets and that as a result the Pentagon is considering taking legal action against him. The general counsel of the Defense Department, Jeh Johnson, wrote in a letter transmitted to the author that he had signed two nondisclosure agreements with the Navy in 2007 that obliged him to “never divulge” classified information. Johnson said that after reviewing a copy of the book, “No Easy Day,” the Pentagon concluded that the author is in “material
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It was unclear Thursday if the Pennsylvania and Michigan cases are related. Ostrowski’s attorneys, Frank Nocito and Phil Gelso, did not return a phone message Thursday. Peter J. Smith, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, has released few details regarding the precise activity that led to the charges against Ostrowski. In a press release issued after Ostrowski’s arrest in May, Smith noted the charges resulted from an investigation by FBI agents in
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DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER
T. Lynette Villano, vice chairwoman of the county Republican Committee, sits in Mulligan’s Irish Pub during a GOP party and waits for Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech Thursday.
she attended the party “to support the new president, and I’m very optimistic that my fellow Americans are going to (vote) for an American who wants this great country we’re living in to come back to its greatness.” Gudz expected Romney’s speech to be “true and from the heart. Because of his faith, he can’t do anything else but tell the truth.” Not everyone at the party was buying into the conservative
agenda and Romney’s plans. “I’m a token Democrat in the room tonight,” said blogger Ben Hoons, of Plains Township. “I’m expecting to watch Romney add to the pile of lies that have been going on for the last three days,” he said when asked what he expected to hear at the party. “That cutout looks more real than he comes across on TV,” Hoons said of the life-size color cardboard cut-out of Romney set up in the center of the room.
“I do have a triple-A personality,” Namey conceded. “When I had my bypass surgery at Jefferson Hospital, I had 20 doctors say, ‘You need to do something about your temper.’ I’m still working on that.” Namey praised district staff. “The district works not because of the board of education and not because of the superintendent. It succeeds because of the people in this room, and the people who put their heart and soul into doing
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ue of the cars, he estimated that equates to a payment of roughly $225 per month, at most, for the Focuses, or $2,700 per year for each. Exactly how much of a savings might actually be realized is difficult to determine because the expense of fuel, insurance and
breach and violation” of the agreements. Johnson addressed his letter to Mr. “Mark Owen,” using quotation marks to signify that that this is the author’s pseudonym. His real name is Matt Bissonnette. Bissonnette referred requests for comment about the letter to his publisher, Penguin Putnam, which was not immediately available. “I write to formally advise you of your material breach and violation of your agreements, and to inform you that the department is considering pursuing against you, and all those acting in concert with you, all remedies legally available to us in light of this situation,” Johnson wrote. The Pentagon has not revealed how it got a copy of the book, which is scheduled to go on public sale next week. Johnson wrote that “further public dissemination of your book will aggravate your breach and violation of your agreements.”
Pennsylvania and Michigan. The release provided no further details. Heidi Havens, spokeswoman for Smith, on Thursday said no other information would be released. Hagen W. Frank, the U.S. attorney in Michigan who is prosecuting that case, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Ostrowski had served as the varsity football coach at Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre from June 2011 until his arrest in May. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in the Pennsylvania case. Pre-trial motions in that case are due to be filed by Sept. 7. No trial date has been set.
what is best for the kids. “Teachers are the most important segment in our education system,” he said. “When the door closes, everything is in their lap.” While Thursday was his official last day on the job, Namey said he will probably have to come back over the next week to finish cleaning out his office. He also promised he’d visit the district from time to time and told the crowd they should feel free to call him if they want advice or need some help. “You have really enriched my life,” Namey said. “And I leave here a better person than when I came.” maintenance must be added to the cost. McLaughlin said city officials believe those costs are more than covered by the $3,600 difference in lease cost versus the savings in mileage reimbursements. “The Ford Focuses should last for quite a while and maintenance on them would be minimal for a number of years,” he said. “Once the leases are paid off, the savings increase even more.”