Mass. Governor: "We don't need Ham Operators"

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It appears as if Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney does not know the role radio amateurs play in emergencies or maybe he just does not care.

At least that's what hams in New England are saying after Romney dismissed the role of Amateur Radio operators in emergency communications during a recent televised 'town meeting.' Burt Hicks, WB6MQV, has more:

The program was WCVB television's 'When Disaster Strikes: Segment Two.' It featured public safety and volunteer organization officials from across Massachusetts among its guests and in the audience.

According to reports, Governor Romney seemed to get agitated when host and moderator Natalie Jacobson asked questions about communications interoperability, and communication without commercial power. Based on his answers, Romney was next asked by Jacobson if in the end it all came down to depending on ham radio to which the governor replied - quote: "No, we don't need to deal with ham radio operators..."

Embarrassed public safety officials later tried to put in a good word for Amateur Radio. The National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Glenn Field was prepared to state the importance of Amateur Radio. Salvation Army Colonel Fred Van Brunt beat him to the punch talking about his organization's quest to improve its communications capabilities and how Amateur Radio has been an important aspect of this.

But it was after the TV show ended that hams in the state went on the offensive. Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY made public that he had submitted a letter to the Governor's Office, ARRL Section Manager Mike Neilsen, W1MPN, sent a section-wide email to all Eastern Massachusetts ARRL members describing the incident along with actions he and his staff were taking to mitigate the situation.

Neilsen wrote that the Governors attitude about ham radio sets an unfortunate tone within the state's executive branch. Neilsen added that as former military officer, he sees this as a failure in leadership. Neilsen said that he intended to address the Governor's comments as an urgent matter at a meeting with Don Carlton from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

Meantime, Tom Kinahan, N1CPE wrote that Governor Romney's comment has made a public relations problem in his role as Massachusetts State RACES Officer. Kinahan asks where it leaves the RACES program when the Governor has said that he "certainly doesn't need to rely on ham radio."

Burt Hick, WB6MQV
Amateur Radio Newsline

Link to program

While Governor Romney has yet to issue a formal apology to the ham radio community a representative from the Governor's office has reached out to the Amateur Radio community in the wake of the perceived "snubbing."

According to Eastern Massachusetts Section Emergency Coordinator Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Pam Hickman from the Governor's Office of External Relations telephoned has him. The message delivered was that the Governor's would like to the make the situation right. Macedo told Hickman that he and the local ARES leadership want to visit with Romney so that they might describe Amateur Radio and its benefits to the community. No word on if or when that meeting might take place.




Glad I don't live in Mass...