As we noted yesterday, Focus on the Family announced that it was changing the name of its c4 lobbying arm from Focus on the Family Action to CitizenLink, apparently as part of an attempt to continue with its right-wing political agenda while separating the negative ramifications of said agenda from the parent organization.
This move doesn’t really make a lot of sense, as everyone knows that CitizenLink is the lobbying arm of Focus on the Family .. but apparently the powers that be over a Focus think this is a wise move:
Focus on the Family announced Wednesday that Focus Action, the lobbying arm of the family group, is now CitizenLink, the name of Focus’ online newsletter.
“We wanted to create clarity between the two organizations,” CitizenLink spokeswoman Sonja Swiatkiewicz said.
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Swiatkiewicz said the re-branding of Focus Action is meant to end the confusion of people attributing Focus Action’s public-policy efforts to Focus on the Family. She said Focus spends its time not in the political arena but in “helping families thrive.”
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Swiatkiewicz said the stances of Focus Action are identical to CitizenLink’s.
So the agendas of Focus on the Family Action and CitizenLink are exactly the same, but now all the negative attention they generate when they suddenly backtrack and announce that they would oppose a gay Supreme Court nominee simply because said nominee is gay will reflect badly upon CitizenLink instead of Focus on the Family?
How is that supposed to work, considering that people like Tom Minnery, who has been the main spokesperson for Focus Action and will presumably retain that position with “CitizenLink,” are also “senior vice presidents” for Focus on the Family.
The idea that by simply changing the name of its lobbying arm, Focus on the Family is going to be able to separate itself from the political agenda of “CitizenLink” is laughable, especially since every time anyone writes about the activities of CitizenLink from now on, they are simply going to write “Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink” or “CitizenLink, the political arm of Focus on the Family.”
I know that I will.
