Tim Lefever

Religious Right Leaders Meet in Texas to Boost Santorum

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Monday, 3/12/2012 10:15 am

Religious Right activists met in Houston, Texas over the weekend in an effort to increase fundraising for Rick Santorum and a pro-Santorum Super PAC, both of which are currently being heavily outspent by rival Mitt Romney. The event was hosted by social conservative activists Rebecca Hagelin, Richard Viguerie, Bob Fischer and Tim Lefever, and attended by Focus on the Family founder and Santorum supporter James Dobson and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, who claims he has not endorsed the senator. Politico reports that Santorum made an appearance and pledged to stay “in the race for the long haul”:

A group of conservative leaders pledged to raise a combined $1.78 million for Rick Santorum's campaign and SuperPAC after meeting privately in Texas this weekend with the Republican presidential hopeful, POLITICO has learned.

More than 200 conservatives from all over the country convened at the Houston Omni for a Friday fundraising reception for Santorum's campaign. They then met to plot strategy with the former senator Saturday morning, discussing how to overcome Mitt Romney's growing advantage in the GOP primary and fend off Newt Gingrich.

"The message was, 'we're all in,'" said South Dakota businessman and conservative organizer Bob Fischer, one of the event’s co-hosts.

…

Co-hosts in Houston included Fischer, Rebecca Hagelin, Richard Viguerie and Tim Lefever.

Also present were conservative leaders Tony Perkins and James Dobson.

“It was not a discussion of who to support, it was a consolidation of support,” said Perkins, differentiating the meeting with the January session. “There was a big push to raise funds. There was a sense of, ‘Now is the time to step up.’”

Perkins said Santorum’s comments Friday night at the closed-press reception were little different than what the candidate has been saying publicly.

Paraphrasing, Perkins said Santorum made clear he was in the race for the long haul and said, ‘We have a chance now and I need your help.’

Santorum Wins Backing of Fringe Religious Right Leaders

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Friday, 1/20/2012 6:30 pm

One day before the crucial South Carolina primary, Rick Santorum is beginning to win the endorsements of not just Religious Right luminaries but also fringe activists, including some who previously backed the failed presidential campaigns of Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry. Santorum recently won the backing of Religious Right activists such as James Dobson, Gary Bauer, Richard Viguerie, Maggie Gallagher, Penny Nance and most recently, former Perry booster John Stemberger.

Today, Viguerie released the names of additional Religious Right figures that are supporting Santorum, including Paul Pressler, the Southern Baptist leader who hosted the recent Texas meeting of social conservatives.

But other Santorum endorsers are less well-known:

Cathie Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum, who has likened President Obama to Adolf Hitler, warned that scientists are cloning humans in order to give them diseases and kill them and that the United Nations is trying to “subvert our children’s faith in God by elevating its earth-centered zealotry that would grant the UN dominion over the earth.”

Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, who has dedicated her career to fighting the rights of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, argued that it would lead to a draft along with “forcible sodomy.”

William Estrada of Generation Joshua, the homeschooler activist who hopes that young people will lead the fight against marriage equality.

Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily, the birther movement leader and onetime Bachmann supporter who wants to see Obama “frog-marched down Pennsylvania Avenue” and an unfailing critic of equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Michael Geer of the Pennsylvania Family Institute who has crusaded against marriage equality, calling it a “tragedy.”

Rebecca Hagelin, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, who derided gays as “bullies” and “power-mongers,” cautioning that gay rights leads to pedophilia and “chaos.”

Tim Lefever of the Capitol Resource Institute, who said that Californians should repeal SB48, which ensures students learn about LGBT historical figures...because it undermines lessons in the Constitution.

William Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition, who ironically was a fierce opponent of the construction of the Park 51 Islamic Community Center near Ground Zero, and suggested that a train crash happened because the negligent engineer was ga y.