The Utah Log Cabin Republicans hosted a forum with Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) and five of his primary challengers. The forum coincided the a efforts by Chapter leaders to elect supportive delegates to the states upcoming delegation.

That group figures about 10 percent of delegates to the upcoming state convention are either Log Cabin Republicans or associate themselves closely with its stands — making it a voting bloc that candidates in a tight race cannot ignore.

About 100 people attended the debate it sponsored at the University of Utah.

“Two years ago, we had six delegates that we knew about,” said Utah Log Cabin Republicans Vice President James Humphreys. “This year, we are well over 200, thanks to a lot of hard work to get our supporters to the caucuses.” He adds he is calling other delegates to identify supporters among them and figures he may find 350 by the May 8 state convention.

“Not all of them are gay,” but he said they support the group’s philosophy of limited government, concern about fiscal matters and a desire for less interference in personal lives — including gay rights.

Besides working to get its members to caucuses, Humphreys said another reason the group may have so many delegates this year is because of a “fundamental shift in the level of tolerance that the rising generation has,” and because many new delegates elected are young “and have more of a philosophy of live and let live. It’s different than their grandparents’ generation.”

…

Bennett made clear he also is for defining marriage as between a man and a woman but said if the Supreme Court ever overturned that, he would respect the decision and not attempt to overturn it.

Bennett also said that if the Pentagon suggests overturning its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays serving, that he would support that — and not try to substitute his own opinions on what is best for military unit cohesion.

…

Much of the debate had little to do directly with gay rights. That included questions about foreign policy (all but Fabiano favored remaining in Afghanistan for now), budget earmarks (only Bennett defended them as a way for Congress to control spending decisions instead of President Barack Obama), and immigration.

Read more about the debate in the Desert Sun.

Posted: April 23rd, 2010 under Elections, In the News, In the States, Log Cabin In Focus.
Comments: 1

Last week House Republicans took a bold step aimed at reducing spending and reducing the massive government deficit.  The House Republican Conference vowed to give up earmarks — a pet project or pork barrel spending tactic used by members of Congress attaching funding for projects or research in their home districts.  House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence commented on the Republicans move to end wasteful spending:

“We are offering the American people a fresh start on spending in Washington, D.C. We are offering the American people a new way forward.”

The text of the resolution reads:

Resolved, that it is the policy of the Republican Conference that no Member shall request a congressional earmark, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit, as such terms are used in clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House for the 111th Congress.

Posted: April 21st, 2010 under From the Right, GOP Progress, In Congress.
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While speaking at a Democratic fundraiser for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in California on Monday, President Obama was the target of hecklers in the crowd.  A group of protesters from the left who were in attendance at the fundraiser yelled “Repeal ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’!“  It is a clear sign that when the Democratic president is at a Democratic fundraiser in a largely Democratic state and receives criticism from people in attendance on moving too slowly for repeal of the gay ban in the military that something needs to be done.

Log Cabin Republicans is currently pursuing efforts through the courts and lays claim to the only legal challenge to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  The Obama Justice department has made arguments supporting the gay ban, a position supposedly juxtaposed to the President’s opinion.  The question remains as to why Obama is acting slowly on pushing Congress to repeal if he is in fact so supportive.  The Log Cabin case was filed in 2004 and after numerous hearings and motions, the case is set to go to trial in June.

Posted: April 21st, 2010 under In the News, Issues in Focus, Log Cabin In Focus.
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As Democrats attempt to move forward with budget plans, building off the $3.8 trillion spending request President Obama sent to Capitol Hill in February, it appears that Democratic leaders are now hesitant to do so, but why? It is an election year. Democrats are worried that passing such a massive budget  in the run-up to the November midterm elections that will ratify a spending blueprint certain to include large deficits will result in retribution at the polls. The solution, well, Democrats are poised to wait until after the election and after the budget deadline to pass a budget for next year.

While speaking to a group in Dallas about the budget and the financial state of the nation, Doug Elmendorf, head of the Congressional Budget Office, the growth rate of the nation’s debt is becoming so large that is is “unsustainable.”

Elmendorf noted a recent CBO report that pegged an increase in the public debt from $7.5 trillion at the end of 2009 to $20.3 trillion at the end of 2020 if President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget were to be implemented as written. As a percentage of gross domestic product, the debt would rise from 53 percent to 90 percent, CBO forecasted. The last time the percentage was that high was right after World War II.

Posted: April 16th, 2010 under In Congress, In the News.
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Tom Campbell, republican candidate for U.S. Senate in California, seems to be the sensible candidate that has what it takes to bring experience and change to Washington.  With three degrees in economics, culminating in a doctorate, a law degree, and experience in academia, Congress, and as California’s chief financial officer, Campbell clearly boasts the credentials needed to bring smart solutions to help turn our economy around.  Former coworkers from Campbell’s days as a law clerk and on up to his time representing Californians at the federal level, describe Campbell as “this completely open, sincere person” and “as principled and ethical a guy as you could imagine.”

Former California Republican Gubernatorial nominee, Bill Simon, who fought to remove Democratic Governor Gray Davis in 2002, is supporting Campbell in his bid to oust current U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and help bring sensible leadership to Washington.

I’ve known Tom Campbell for over 20 years. I’m impressed with the depth of his knowledge and the strength of his opposition to federal spending, taxes and debt. Tom’s experience in government makes him extraordinarily well equipped to make a difference for taxpayers once elected.

Tom Campbell is a true and tested deficit hawk. When he served in Congress, he consistently earned high marks from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, which twice named him “the most frugal” with tax monies.

Speaking with regards to Tom Campbells’ service to California as the state’s Finance Director, Congressman Tom McClintock praised his work, writing:

“Mr. Campbell commanded absolute respect from all sides because he was clear, straight-forward and honest — at times painfully honest — in representing the financial condition of the state. If the state was deficit spending, he would say so; if a measure created a short-term savings at long term expense, he would say so.”

Posted: April 14th, 2010 under Elections, In the States.
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In February, just before the Conservative Political Action Conference was about to get underway, the Cato Institute held a forum on the place for gays in Conservative Politics.  The forum featured three representatives from various conservative arenas: Nick Herbert, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom; Andrew Sullivan, conservative political commentator; and Maggie Gallagher, President of the National Organization for Marriage.

The question being debated at this forum, “Is there a place for gay people in conservatism and conservative politics?” While much debate on the topic did not occur because it turned into more of an argument to disclose the names of gay conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage, one fact remains — gays are already in the Republican Party, so it is now up to the Party to decide how to be intentional in including them:

According to a CNN poll, 27% of self-identified gay voters supported John McCain in the last presidential election, the highest such figure ever recorded for a GOP candidate. In actuality, the number is likely higher, given that there are presumably many gay people who do not divulge their sexuality to pollsters. Regardless of whether the conservative movement thinks there should be room within it for gays, there are plenty of them already there.

Posted: April 13th, 2010 under From the Right.
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After what could be a crushing defeat in his 2008 re-election campaign from U.S. Senate in Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman, rebounded quickly and joined with other GOP leaders to create a new conservative group policy and political group to provide balance to and counter the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP).  Coleman and other GOP leaders formed the American Action Forum,  a 501(c)3 policy forum, and the American Action Network, a 501(c)4 election arm.

The Forum and and Network were created with the goal of organizing grass-roots efforts and support for conservative causes and candidates and raising funds ahead of the 2010 midterm elections.  CAP plays a significant role in providing policy statements and briefs that largely help the democrats shape their policy platform, and Coleman and his counterparts recognized that the Republicans could benefit from a similar organization that could help provide conservatives with a strong policy driven forum and offer major donors a trustworthy depository for their campaign contributions to support conservative candidates in the 2010 elections and beyond.

Coleman serves as the CEO for the more politically-oriented network, with  Doug Holtz-Eakin, the former CBO director and GOP strategist, heading the policy oriented forum.

Posted: April 8th, 2010 under From the Right, GOP Progress.
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On March 31, the Justice Department filed a brief in the case of Log Cabin Republicans v. Defense Secretary Robert Gates supporting the failed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy being challenged in court.  The brief filed by the Obama Justice Department ignores testimony of the current civilian and military leadership at the Pentagon and instead promotes misconceptions about problems that openly gay soldiers might cause in the military.  Obama officials claim to be making efforts toward repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military, but the language and ill-timing of the DOJ brief lends question to just how committed the Obama administration really is about repealing the ban.  When speaking to reporters about the White House’s position on the DOJ brief, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said:

“I will say: was it odd that they included previous statements from General Colin Powell on a belief set that he no longer had? I don’t think the President would disagree with that,”

“The Justice Department … is charged with upholding the law as it exists, not as the president would like to see it,” Gibbs said Tuesday. “We have obviously taken steps on the front of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ and I think we’ve made a genuine amount of progress.”

Nathaniel Frank, a senior fellow at the Palm Center military think tank author of Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America responded to the DOJ brief and what he calls a ‘mischaracterization’ of his testimony during a deposition in the case:

“What I said was that certainly some service members have privacy concerns,” Frank says. “I’m not calling those privacy concerns irrational, what’s irrational is using those concerns to exclude [out] gays in order to preserve cohesion.” There is no evidence that privacy concerns adversely affect cohesion, Frank told the lawyer.

The DOJ brief took Frank’s testimony and the term ‘irrational’ to characterize his testimony during the deposition as supporting the Justice Department’s brief and supporting the rationale behind Congress’s decision to implement “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Posted: April 7th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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Same-sex marriage may not yet be legal at the federal level or in every state, but the U.S. Census Bureau is seeking to count same-sex married couples in the 2010 Census, and is reaching out to gay and lesbian communities across America to solicit their help in capturing an accurate picture of their relationships.  Che Ruddell-Tabisola, the national LGBT partnership leader for the Census Bureau, commented on the Bureau’s efforts to capture same-sex couples in its count:

“Our job is to get an accurate count. … One of the most important things is for same-sex couples to know that it is 100 percent safe to participate in the census.”

Safe for two reasons:

First, individuals’ census data are confidential. Second, nowhere on the 2010 census form does the government actually ask for anyone to identify his or her sexual orientation. Boxes exist for “male,” “female” and for spousal relationship. The existence of a same-same marriage or partnership is surmised from the data.

The 2010 Census form does not actually have a category for same-sex couples or gays and lesbians to self-identify. Rather, the Bureau is asking same-sex couples to mark the appropriate gender box and select “married” on the Census form, regardless of whether same-sex marriage is legal in their respective state or not.  In previous years the Census Bureau has assumed it was a mistake when a Census form included two individuals of the same sex and the “married” box was checked, and the Bureau graciously corrected the gender on those forms to reflect a heterosexual couple.  In 2010, the Bureau is assuming that where a form indicates two individuals of the same gender and “married”, that in fact it is a married couple and will count it as such.  The Bureau will extrapolate data based on marital status and gender to determine how many same-sex couples there are in the United States for the first time since the government began collecting this information.

Posted: April 7th, 2010 under In the News, Issues in Focus.
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Tom Campbell, a veteran elected official representing Californians at various levels,  is locked in a tight race against Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard.  Campbell and Fiorina are the front runners in the Republican primary, both vying for the chance to oust incumbent U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.  While Campbell and Fiorina share conservative views on many issues, one issue divides the two candidates: same-sex marriage.

The issue of same-sex marriage is taking over the stage in California, but the focus is on the views of two main contenders for Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat in November, not on the fact that polls show that more Californians now support same-sex marriage than oppose it.  Tom Campbell says that he focuses on the issues that Californians are focused on, making the argument that same-sex marriage should not be the main issue on this campaign.

In October 2008, a month before the Proposition 8 vote, Campbell wrote an op-ed column in which he said government has no business making distinctions between people based on their personal lives. He said California has always made itself stronger by welcoming people, not excluding them.

“For those of us who are proud of our party and our state’s reputation for fairness and against discrimination, our choice is very clear: No on Proposition 8,” he wrote.

During the California Republican Party convention in early March, Campbell was asked how he could connect with many in the party who are more conservative on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

“I’m telling you straight: Whenever I go out and speak, I get questions on unemployment, inflation, interest rates, the Central Valley being cut off from water. I don’t get the social questions, and I think that’s a sign of the importance of the economic issues,” said Campbell, who also supports abortion rights.

In an effort to discount Campbell’s record and aide Fiorina in her campaign, the National Orgnaization of Marriage has made its presence in the race by buying an ad that compares Campbell and Boxer as similar on many of the issues, including same-sex marriage.  Campbell hopes that voters will look past just the issue of marriage and vote on his experience and his understanding of the economy, the state, and Capitol Hill and that those issues will prevail.

Posted: April 5th, 2010 under Elections, In the States, Uncategorized.
Comments: 1