Governor says BYU list could haunt Mitt
"Using a network or using an alumni list in the case of University of Utah or University of Pennsylvania or BYU is what any candidate would do," Huntsman told reporters after taping his monthly news conference on KUED Channel 7.
"But having someone affiliated with that institution intervene directly as if they were placing an endorsement behind someone is probably problematic territory," he said. "That seems to constitute the question."
Romney has made headlines since the Boston Globe reported last week that the former Utah Olympic leader was seeking help for a potential presidential run through alumni chapters of BYU's Marriott School of Management.
The newspaper reported e-mails touting the "Mutual Values and Priorities" or MVP effort were signed by two officials of the business school, Associate Dean Steve Albrecht and Dean Ned Hill. The pair were told by BYU the e-mail violated school policy and not to do it again.
"I don't know definitively what actually was used," the Utah governor said when asked if he thought the e-mails were appropriate. Huntsman said he did not utilize any mailing lists affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his own campaign.
"Their campaign has already commented that perhaps it was the work of an overzealous employee, and the LDS Church has come out and basically stressed its neutrality in all things political," he said. "That's the extent of my knowledge."
The LDS Church has faulted the Boston Globe story, which also asserted top church leaders were aware of the effort, which included reaching out to other prominent Mormons, and had expressed no opposition.
A September meeting between Romney backers and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the church's Council of the Twelve was described by a church spokesman as "literally a courtesy call."
The week-old story hasn't attracted much attention outside of Romney's home state and Utah, where he took over the 2002 Winter Games in the midst of a scandal and produced one of most successful Olympics ever.
"It's getting more play in Utah," pollster Dan Jones said. "The way it looks today, it's not going to go away. But I do not think it's going to be a major issue," especially when the presidential primaries are more than a year away.
Jones said the story could have an impact on fund raising for Romney's political action committee, the Commonwealth PAC. A Deseret Morning News analysis earlier this year showed that nearly half of the money raised by the PAC came from Utahns.
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