Salt Lake City GER 12 16 7 35 USA 10 13 11 34 NOR 11 7 6 24 CAN 6 3 8 17 RUS 6 6 4 16 AUT 2 4 10 16 ITA 4 4 4 12 FRA 4 5 2 11 SUI 3 2 6 11 NED 3 5 0 8 Full 2002 table

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Romney a Boston resident?

By Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret News staff writer

      There's a welcome-home party planned Monday in Massachusetts for Mitt Romney, who may use the occasion to announce he's running for governor of that state.
      Even though he's not yet a candidate, Romney already faces the possibility of a challenge to his residency from the acting governor of Massachusetts, Jane Swift, a Republican. Romney's entrance in the race would force a GOP primary.
      The issue, raised in the Boston press Wednesday, is whether Romney is a resident of Massachusetts or Utah. He has homes in both Deer Valley and the Boston suburb of Belmont, is a registered voter in Massachusetts but has said he pays taxes in Utah.
      The Salt Lake Organizing Committee president has said he won't talk about his political future until after the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games end Saturday. His spokeswoman, Caroline Shaw, said that includes questions about his residency.
      "He's being a little coy," Dominick Ianno, spokesman for the Swift campaign, said Thursday. "It's a simple question he can answer." Ianno said the campaign is "not going to rule out" a challenge to Romney's residency.
      Any challenge would not have to be filed until June 7, according to a spokesman for Massachusetts Secretary of State William Gavin. "There's not much of a case. But people can bring it," the spokesman, Brian McNiff, said Thursday.
      Belmont Town Clerk Delores Keefe said Thursday she has Romney's voter registration card from 1976 and that he has signed the town's "residency book" annually since 1974. Massachusetts requires gubernatorial candidates to live in the state at least 7 years.
      "I don't see it as an issue," Keefe said.
      Mel Kleckner, Belmont's town administrator, said, "He lives in this community." He said the rally for Romney on the town green Monday is a tradition to recognize prominent residents.
      The hour-long welcome-home party will feature speeches from local dignitaries about Romney's accomplishments as the head of the 2002 Winter Games and music from the local high school band.
      "We're trying to separate this recognition ceremony from any of the political aspirations he may have," Kleckner said. "If he's going to make an announcement shortly thereafter, I can see why reasonable people might want to put them together."

E-mail: lisa@desnews.com