Romney denies 'dad's dad was a polygamist' accusations

Washington, Apr 21 (ANI): Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reacted to Montana Democratic Governor, Brian Schweitzer's assertion of him avoiding talking about his family history and immigration because "then he'd have to talk about his family coming from a polygamy commune in Mexico."

"My dad's dad was not a polygamist. My dad grew up in a family with a mom and a dad, a few brothers and one sister," CBS News quoted Romney, as saying.

Schweitzer had said Romney refrains from talking about his father, over him being born and raised in Mexico where the family had a history of polygamy.

"They lived in Mexico and lived a very nice life, from what I understand. And when he was 5 or 6, there was revolution in Mexico and they escaped," Romney said, describing how the family moved from El Paso to Idaho and then California in search of a new home.

Interestingly, the former Massachusetts Governor claimed that he actually hadn't read Schweitzer's comment.

But he retorted claiming that "the immigration policy that existed in 1905 in 1910 might not be highly relevant for the election in 2012,"

The controversy sparked off after Schweitzer had earlier said in an interview, "I am not alleging by any stretch that Romney is a polygamist and approves of polygamy," but he then went on to say that Romney wasn't interested in claiming ties with the Hispanic community even though his father was born in Mexico because "then he'd have to talk about his family coming from a polygamy commune in Mexico." (ANI)