Romney's interest in the White House and his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have already been the focus of dozens of news articles, and scores more are inevitable should he announce his candidacy.

So earlier this month, church spokesman Mike Otterson and Ken Bowler, head of the church's Washington office and a former top lobbyist for Pfizer, met with several prominent news outlets, asserting the church's neutrality and trying to dispel myths about Mormon beliefs.

Otterson would not say with whom he met. Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress, reported there were meetings with that paper, as well as the British Broadcasting Corporation and Hotline, part of The National Journal, a political magazine.

The meetings with reporters in Washington were unrelated to a Sept. 19 meeting between Romney's political advisers and a church official in Salt Lake City, Otterson said, and took place before a report of the Utah meeting appeared in The Boston Globe raising questions about whether the church was improperly involved in Romney's expected campaign.

"One has nothing to do with the other," Otterson said.

Dave Owen, a veteran Utah media consultant, said the purpose of the meetings with reporters is likely two-fold: The first is to inoculate the church against questions of political involvement to ensure there are no problems with the church's tax-exempt status.

"The other thing is that the LDS Church is very PR-conscious anyway," Owen said. "Whether they like it or not - and I'm sure they don't mind - they're involved."

Calls have already started coming into the church and "frequently reveal how little reporters understand about who we are," Otterson said. He said church representatives in the meetings emphasized the institution's political neutrality.

"We don't and will not comment on the politics in any way, shape or form," he said. "We have nothing to do with any LDS politician, and while our members are free to vote or express support for whom they wish, the church remains strictly neutral in party political matters."

Otterson also said he wanted to make sure political reporters who might write about the church could get accurate information.

One newspaper, for example, recently inaccurately reported in an article about Romney's religion that Mormons pray to church founder Joseph Smith.

The meetings were organized by Edelman Public Relations, a prominent Washington firm that has been working with the church for several years. One of the individuals the church works with at the firm is Michael Deaver, a vice president in the company and former top aide to President Reagan.

gehrke@sltrib.com