Posted on 05/01/2009 7:53:53 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
How are Democrats able to push their hyperliberal agenda in what otherwise appear to be conservative states such as Colorado and Iowa? Who is behind the sudden rush of laws allowing same sex marriage?
According to Focus on the Family (FOTF), the answer is Tim Gill, a gay multi-millionaire in Denver who has dedicated his time and fortune to filling state legislature after state legislature with Democrats who support same sex marriage. His latest target is New Hampshire, and as of now New Hampshire Governor John Lynch refuses to say whether he will or won’t veto HB436, the pro-same sex marriage bill the state senate passed on April 29, 2009.
Gill has a long history of changing minds and the composition of state legislatures with his nearly unlimited funding ability. According to FOTF: “In the political cycle of 2000, Gill gave $300,000 to political campaigns [throughout the country], followed by $800,000 in 2002. [Then, in 2004,] Gill dumped an astonishing $5 million into races, mostly in Colorado.” In 2006 he “targeted a total of 70 state and local races in a dozen states” using “$15 million of his own money -- on top of millions from his friends.” (FOTF) For his efforts he was successful in 50% of the races in which he was involved.
In an exclusive interview with HUMAN EVENTS, Brad Miller (Director of Family Policy Council Department at FOTF) said: “The brilliance of Gill’s strategy is that he uses his foundation not just as a giving arm but as an endorsing arm as well.” Thus he not only puts people in office, he also controls them once they’re there. “And he’s not beyond attacking Democrats who won’t go his way,” added Miller: “In 2008 he took out two Democrats in New Mexico who would not support civil union legislation.”
Of course the 2008 election cycle witnessed Gill’s involvement in many states other than New Mexico. According to FOTF, the Gill Action Fund gave money to pro-same sex marriage candidates in “California, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island.” In California alone, in an attempt to defeat Proposition 8, the ban on same sex marriage in the state, Gill’s foundation gave “$350,000” according to FOTF. Additionally, Gill personally gave another $130,000 to help oppose the proposition’s passage according to the L.A. Times.
While Gill wasn’t successful against Proposition 8 in California, 9 out of 9 of the candidates whom he supported in Iowa won their races in 2008, and the people in that state were dumbfounded. According to Danny Carroll, past President Pro Tem of the Iowa House and one of the Republican congressmen whom Gill successfully ousted: “[The people of Iowa] were caught flatfooted. I don’t think they fully realized how liberal things had gotten nor did they have any idea how much outside money was coming in.” Carroll’s knowledge of Iowans is substantial: he was running for his 7th term when defeated.
Carroll said Gill’s method of operation in Iowa was to be sure there were no big checks given -- nothing to draw attention to his personal giving. Said Carroll: “He has lots of friends who gave lots of small checks to candidates who were ready to support same sex marriage.” FOTF’s Miller echoed Carroll on this point: “Gill directs how and where his friends give their money.”
Thanks largely to Gill’s success in changing the makeup of state legislatures in Colorado and Iowa, as well as influencing high courts in both states (particularly Iowa) same sex marriage is now an option in those two parts of the Heartland.
And FOTF is worried that Gill’s influence in New Hampshire may be all it takes to secure the passage of legislation legalizing same sex marriage there as well.
That Gill is involved in New Hampshire’s push for same sex marriage is undeniable. In an email that has become public, the state’s Democrat Chairman, Ray Buckley, listed donors that included the Gill Action Fund. This did not surprise Kevin Smith, Executive Director of Cornerstone Policy in New Hampshire, who told HUMAN EVENTS he had anticipated that “Gill would be involved and looking for ways to defeat legislators who supported traditional marriage in a swing districts.”
Smith said Governor Lynch’s veto of HB436 is crucial because the bill’s successful passage will “redefine the term ‘marriage’ in the state to mean the union of any two people” and will subsequently “become what is taught as ‘normal behavior’ to our children in public schools in New Hampshire.”
But so far Governor Lynch is AWOL on the issue. As recently as April 15 he said: “I think the word marriage is reserved for a marriage between a man and a woman, and I think the real issues really are rights and protections for gay and lesbian couples,” but he refuses to take a stand as to whether he will or won’t veto the legislation when it reaches his desk. And numerous calls to his press secretary by HUMAN EVENTS resulted in no comment on HB436.
This non-committal attitude is what has Focus on the Family and other pro-family groups so worried, for everything seems to be up in the air. Who’s running New Hampshire: Tim Gill or Governor Lynch?
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HUMAN EVENTS columnist A.W.R. Hawkins has been published on topics including the U.S. Navy, Civil War battles, Vietnam War ideology, the Reagan Presidency, and the Rebirth of Conservatism, 1968-1988. More of his articles can be found at www.awrhawkins.com.
Money goes a long way in politics, and some of these libs have deep pockets which are now opening as “the times, they iz a changin’”. All we can do is bombard Gov. Lynch with phone calls and emails.
Iowa is not “an otherwise conservative state” and hasn’t been for a long time.
Maybe Souter is retiring so he can go lead that battle for the gaystapo.
Maine will very soon. All I can say is that God WILL NOT be mocked.
As I have said on many other threads, approving of gay marraige and many other liberal causes has to do with social prestige.
It shows you are of the elite upper classes.
to express anything else opens you up to social shame, public shaming.
I think this is especially true of the northeastern states (ducking) because there Old Europe’s class divisions still have some resonance.
Worthy of a sociological study but of course no academic would attempt it for fear of being socially shamed him/herself.
the media’s attack on Sarah Palin (as another FReeper pointed out to me) is in terms of defining her as ‘lower class’ white trash.
“Iowa is not “an otherwise conservative state” and hasn’t been for a long time.”
I believe there is this misconception because it is “farmbelt”. Statewide it is liberal.
New Hampshire, however, has been invaded by virulent New York Liberals, just like once conservative Vermont, Florida, New Jersey and eastern PA. Those voters assist Mr Gill in placing his puppets in office.
Maybe he's retiring so he can tie the knot while he's still young.
The parenthetic remark that NH is Conservative is completely inacurate. NH has been very liberal for a few years now. The NH economy has leeched off it’s big sister, MA, for decades and now they are morphing into just another Boston exurb.
Wanted:
Male Suitor
to
place himself
at the disposal
of
gay men
who wish to
vigorously mount a justice
campaign to
ramrod
gay mirage
down the throats
of
fellow citizens
in his
homo state
and
seek to rename it
New Humpshire.
Is that next to Vermount?
Bingo - how can a state that has spawned Jean Shaheen and her cronies be conservative? Even the second gen Sununu is a lib...
And turning his back on Bush,
the first generation Sununu
probed Souter
liked what he found
and won the seat
by mounting a vigorous
strategy to penetrate
and ram it through,
which he did,
with just enough resistance
to make it interesting.
It took a day, but they're trying to intimidate.
Actually, they're trying to take over a day old thread when the conservatives probably aren't coming back to it.
LIEberals like Gill and Soros dump millions of dollars into political races and, literally, buy elections.
Are there any conservatives with the courage to spend millions of their own money in support of causes they believe in?
If there are, best they get busy — before LIEberal money buys enough politicians to ensure that LIEberals will rule America in perpetuity.
It is not too late, but the fat lady is strapping on her girdle!
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