Ron Crews Expects to Run for Congress
April 30, 2004

     The President of the Massachusetts Family Institute, Ron Crews, who lives in Ashland is exploring a run for Congress against Jim McGovern who lives in Worcester for the 3rd Congressional District. It is expected that Crews will decide to run. He has established a website at www.crewsforcongress.com which features the following story from the Telegram and Gazette.

      As a Georgia lawmaker, Ron Crews did more that just add his name to socially conservative legislation. In many cases he led the charge, on issues such as banning late-term abortions and defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

      Georgia Gov. Zell Miller signed a late-term abortion bill into law in 1997. The bill came from the state Senate, but Mr. Crews had marshaled similar legislation through the House, and the enactment of legislation long popular with the anti-abortion movement on both the federal and state level was a triumphant moment for him.

     Another victory in Mr. Crews' six-year legislative career was the 1996 enactment of the Defense of Marriage Act in Georgia.

     Defeated in 1998 by a liberal Democrat in his suburban Atlanta district, Mr. Crews, 55, began a journey that led him to Massachusetts to head the Massachusetts Family Institute in April 2000. At the time he could not have envisioned using that platform to become a nationally known voice against gay marriage, but that is what he became after the state Supreme Judicial Court's November ruling legalizing the practice.

     Mr. Crews, who lives in Ashland, has taken out nomination papers to run against U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, in the 3rd Congressional District. But he says his candidacy is not certain.

     ''I'm honored that folks have encouraged me to consider this,'' Mr. Crews said last week. ''And I do believe that it is a winnable district.

     ''There are folks out there who are concerned about issues, everything from pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, to defense, to where a legislator should spend his time, be it in Latin America or back home.''

     The latter comment was a reference to Mr. McGovern's trips to Cuba, where he has met with the country's leader, Fidel Castro, and called for an end to the U.S. trade embargo.

     Should Mr. Crews secure the Republican nomination, the general election would feature candidates who are polar opposites. Mr. McGovern has earned a reputation as one of the most liberal members of Congress, and Mr. Crews would be to the right of most of the major Massachusetts Republicans who have been elected in recent memory.

       Even in more conservative Georgia, Mr. Crews was viewed somewhat as an anomaly, according to the woman who defeated him in 1998, Mary Squires.

      Ms. Squires said she was congratulated by Democrats and Republicans alike when she took office, noting many of Mr. Crews' Republican colleagues found him difficult to work with. She recalled hearing stories of him labeling as sinners people who did not agree with his stances on some issues. Mr. Crews denies ever saying any such thing.

     ''He's very aggressive, very loud, and one of those folks ... 'If you don't believe what I believe, you're evil,' '' she said.

      Her race against him, however, did not hinge on liberal versus conservative issues, she said. Instead, it was an aggressive door-to-door campaign that ultimately led her to victory. She said that by the time Mr. Crews noticed he was in a competitive race, it was too late.

      For his part, Mr. Crews said a major factor in his defeat was an influx of homosexuals into the district- people he said were motivated by the express purpose of voting him out.

     Ms. Squires went on to become a state senator and is now running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Mr. Miller, the former governor, who is stepping down.

      ''I can't believe he's running again,'' Ms. Squires said in a telephone interview last week, referring to Mr. Crews. ''He comes around in my life a lot more than I would care for him to.''

      Indeed, it seems as if the career paths of Ms. Squires and Mr. Crews are inextricably linked. Like many states, Georgia has grappled with gay marriage in recent months. Ms. Squires says several of her colleagues have remarked that, had she lost that 1998 race, Mr. Crews would not have been able to move to Massachusetts and become nationally known for his stance against gay marriage.

      While Mr. Crews is not an official congressional candidate, he already has the backing of Laurie Letourneau, a leading voice of social conservatism in Central Massachusetts. In an online newsletter, Ms. Letourneau describes Mr. McGovern as a fanatical left-winger and urges readers to help Mr. Crews obtain the necessary signatures to earn a spot on the ballot.

      ''This is a chance to expose how evil McGovern really is,'' wrote Ms. Letourneau, who lives in Shrewsbury and is active in the anti-abortion movement and other socially conservative causes.

      In Mr. McGovern, Mr. Crews would face someone much like Ms. Squires- a decidedly liberal opponent. But Mr. McGovern also is so well-funded he was able to run unopposed the past two election cycles. He defeated incumbent Republican Peter I. Blute in 1996 and held off his first Republican challenger, former state Sen. Matthew J. Amorello, in 1998.

      Whether Mr. Crews can mount a credible challenge is unclear at this point. Socially conservative Republicans traditionally do not do well in Massachusetts. But a spirited race could eat up money Mr. McGovern could otherwise use in a race for the U.S. Senate if John F. Kerry is elected president.

      Much could depend on whether anti-gay marriage fervor and a Gov. Mitt Romney-inspired push for more legislative Republicans create a coattail effect. Any of that could be blunted, however, by the strong showing Mr. Kerry is expected to get here in the presidential race.

      Mr. Crews said he considers his work on welfare reform, the removal of the Confederate battle emblem from the Georgia state flag, and the fight against street-gang crime as further highlights of his legislative career.

      ''I would like to think my efforts helped keep that issue before the Legislature and the public,'' he said of the state flag, which was redesigned last year.

      ''I'm a conservative Republican, and many did not understand why I would take on such an issue. I thought it was the right thing to do.'' He said he believes he lost some conservative support because of his stand on the flag, and that loss may have been a factor in his 1998 defeat.

      Mr. Crews is a colonel in the Massachusetts Army National Guard and a supporter of the Iraq war who has completed several monthslong tours of military duty.