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Prop 8 Backers Seek to Take Control Of California Courts

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on March 12, 2010 - 4:05pm

Several Religious Right activists and California state legislators have unveiled a new effort to take control of the court system "across San Diego County and eventually America" via elections through a new organization called "Better Courts Now", arguing that Proposition 8 would not have even been necessary if the state had the proper judges:

Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-La Mesa, and one of his predecessors from the 77th Assembly District are among those appearing in videos for a new Chula Vista-based group that is urging conservatives to elect local judges who value "life and traditional family."

The website, BetterCourtsNow.com, also includes testimonials from at least one person affiliated with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a group that has been in the center of political battles over gay marriage in California and around the country.

"It’s important that we unify our votes so we ensure that solid men and women of high morals, who will not legislate from the bench, are elected to office," Anderson says in a 97-second video. Later he adds, "We are in full agreement that we need to get behind BetterCourtsNow.com."

...

The group has promised to release a slate of candidates, but has not yet done so. Much of its focus seems to be on the San Diego area where it is based.

Anderson is probably the most recognizable person on the list. Other prominent people on video page include: Steve Baldwin, who held the AD 77 seat from 1995 through 2000; Ron Prentice, San Diego chairman for the Yes on 8 Campaign; Don Hamer, a prominent black pastor in San Diego; Dean Broyles, an attorney the Western Center for Law & Policy; Brian Jones, vice mayor of Santee; and Charles Li Mandri, west coast regional director of the Thomas More Law Center.

A less familiar name is Dr. Jennifer Morse, the founder and president of the Ruth Institute in San Marcos. The Institute’s website displays prominently that it is "A project of the National Organization for Marriage."

Other videos feature John Woodrum, President of the Eagle Forum in San Diego, and Jim Garlow:

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Marriage Equality Foes Up In Arms Over “Home Invasion” Ad

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on November 4, 2008 - 10:45am

Last week the Courage Campaign unveiled a new ad highlighting the millions of dollars the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has poured into the California campaign to strip marriage rights from gay and lesbian couples.  As KUTV explained the ad:

A new commercial against proposition 8 in California is expected to fuel the fire of an already heated debate over gay marriage.
 
The commercial depicts two Mormon missionaries invading the home of a same sex couple.

In the commercial they knock on the door, say they are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and tell a lesbian couple “we are here to take away your rights.”

They enter the home take the women’s rings, ransack the house looking for their marriage license, find it, and then tear it up. 

At the end, the missionaries was away saying, “that was too easy, yeah, what should we ban next?”

The ad itself is here:

Needless to say, the Yes on 8 folks are none too pleased with the ad and are now screaming “religious bigotry”

"This ad reaches new lows of religious bigotry and intolerance," said Yes on 8 Chairman Ron Prentice. "We hope that the leadership of the No on 8 campaign - including Senator Feinstein, Mayor Newsom and Superintendent O'Connell -- as well as all Californians regardless of their position on Proposition 8, will not only condemn the ad but join us in asking television stations to refuse to air it. After all, the No on 8 campaign has been running their own television commercials saying we must all oppose discrimination and intolerance whenever we see it. The bigotry this ad shows to members of the LDS church demands action now."

The California Catholic Conference is likewise outraged:

Bishop Stephen Blaire, the President of the California Catholic Conference decried the new advertisement from opponents of Proposition 8 as "a blatant display of religious bigotry and intolerance." He expressed dismay that any public media outlet would give it an airing. "The YES on 8 campaign is not about discrimination and intolerance; it is about restoring the traditional definition of marriage for the good of society and children," said Bishop Blaire. "All individuals and groups, whether religious or not, have both a right and a responsibility to participate in a civil debate about this important issue. From the beginning of this campaign the Catholic Conference has stressed the importance of mutual respect and denounces this type of religious bigotry."

Of course, when footage surfaced last week of Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute telling a rally of Prop 8 supporters that failure to pass the amendment was akin to failing to stop Hitler, they uttered not a peep.

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Prop 8 Tries to Blackmail the Opposition

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on October 24, 2008 - 9:04am

KFMB in San Diego was the first to report that the ProtectMarriage.com has been sending out letters to those who have donated to efforts to defeat the anti-gay marriage amendment in California, demanding that they donate thousands of dollars to the Yes on 8 campaign or else have their names and businesses publicly exposed.  The AP has more:

Leaders of the campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage in California are warning businesses that have given money to the state's largest gay rights group they will be publicly identified as opponents of traditional unions unless they contribute to the gay marriage ban, too.

ProtectMarriage.com, the umbrella group behind a ballot initiative that would overturn the California Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage, sent a certified letter this week asking companies to withdraw their support of Equality California, a nonprofit organization that is helping lead the campaign against Proposition 8.

"Make a donation of a like amount to ProtectMarriage.com which will help us correct this error," reads the letter. "Were you to elect not to donate comparably, it would be a clear indication that you are in opposition to traditional marriage. ... The names of any companies and organizations that choose not to donate in like manner to ProtectMarriage.com but have given to Equality California will be published."

The letter was signed by four members of the group's executive committee: campaign chairman Ron Prentice; Edward Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference; Mark Jansson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and Andrew Pugno, the lawyer for ProtectMarriage.com. A donation form was attached. The letter did not say where the names would be published.

…

When asked whether ProtectMarriage.com planned to name businesses that have supported the No on 8 campaign, Prentice initially said he was unaware of any such effort.

"I'm not familiar of any organized attack against organizations that have given to No on 8," he said Thursday.

But when asked about the letter to Equality California donors, Prentice confirmed they were authentic and said the ProtectMarriage.com campaign was asking businesses backing the other side "to reconsider taking a position on a moral issue in California."

Prentice said it was his understanding it was intended for large corporations such as cable operators Time Warner and Comcast instead of small business owners like Abbott. Both Time Warner and Comcast are listed on Equality California's Web site as corporate sponsors that gave $50,000 each to the group.

Companies that have contributed directly to one of the campaign committees collecting cash to fight Proposition 8, including one set up by Equality California, also were recipients of the letter, Prentice said. That list includes companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric, Levi Strauss and AT&T.

"I think the IDing of, or outing of, any company is very secondary to the question of why especially a public corporation would choose to take a side knowing it would splinter it's own clientele," he said.

Prentice is right that his threat to out companies is clearly only a “secondary” question about his letter – the primary question is why he was trying to blackmail people into giving donations to his organization.

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AFA’s Prop8ganda

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on August 28, 2008 - 4:00pm

The American Family Association has unveiled a new, half-hour video on the necessity of passing the Proposition 8 marriage amendment in California. Featuring people like Chuck Colson, Hadley Arkes, and Ron Prentice, Chairman of the "Yes on 8" effort, along with various representatives of right-wing groups like the Pacific Justice Institute and the California Family Council - along with lots and lots of footage of gays and lesbians getting married and showing affection - the video explains the various ways in which failure to pass Prop. 8 will destroy America.

As they say, straight, married sex is "unique" because the two are designed to "fit together, like pieces of a puzzle" and the best that gay couples can do is imitate it. But Bridget Melson raises an even more ominous point: if gays and lesbians can get married, who's going to teach the children of the future how to change the oil?

And on and on it goes, until Colson finally declares that failure to stop the "gay-marriage juggernaut ... is Armageddon" and the end to freedom of religion, after which the others call upon pastors and activists to get involved in the fight to pass Prop. 8 or risk losing their right to spread the Gospel:

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