The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
With God's help and your support, this battle can be won. -- Gary Randall, February 23, 2009
With few votes left to count and Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed reporting an ever-increasing approval percentage for Referendum 71 (currently 53.1% to 46.9%), it is clear that the Washington electorate has APPROVED Referendum 71. Washington is the first state in the nation to approve full domestic partnerships at the ballot box. Starting December 3, 2009, when the law challenged by the referendum goes into effect, Washington will have domestic partnerships fully parallel to civil marriage in state law. Over 6,300 pairs of Washington State Registered Domestic Partners can begin to enjoy virtually all of the state-level rights, responsibilities and obligations that married couples do.
From the beginning, the radical-right evangelicals behind Washington state's Referendum 71, have had the shared delusion that God takes sides, and favors them. Oregonian Gary Randall said on July 1, 2009: (emphasis mine)
With your hard work and God's blessing, I believe we will succeed.
On Wednesday, July 22, 2009 as Randall and Stickney embarked on their campaign to hobble families:
Please join in prayer today that God will bless the effort and give us the needed signatures to put this issue on the ballot.
Upon subsequently obtaining a sufficient number of raw signatures to submit the Referendum 71 petitions to the Secretary of State, Randall jumped to this arrogant conclusion on Tuesday, July 28, 2009:
We are grateful to all of you who worked so hard and to God for His help.
And finally, on November 6, 2009 when it was clear that R-71 would be approved, Randall deployed God in the pursuit of his new anti-gay project:
I believe God has called me to this and I believe He will guide us and provide the necessary funding. Please consider a tax deductible donation to Faith and Freedom Foundation. Thank you and God bless you.
Randall was joined by Mr. "God will get all the glory!" Ken Hutcherson, who undeservedly (and painfully prematurely) wrapped himself in the cloak of God's favor, saying on Monday, July 27, 2009:
Thank you for praying for Washington state! Enough signatures have been gathered to try and repeal SB5688 (Everything but Marriage).
God proved He doesn't need certain shepherds from certain churches to get His will done!
Larry Stickney, Gary Randall's Washington operative, apparently also believes that God was a deciding factor in the referendum effort:
And indeed, Stickney literally exhorted his followers to "pray in a victory" after early returns showed that R-71 was heading towards approval.
As you may know, we have seen amazing things happen at every critical juncture of this campaign. Please join me today in getting down on our knees to lift up this effort to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Let's pray the REJECT R-71 effort across the finish line! Every family and church in Washington now and for years to come will benefit from our efforts if we win! Pray that we are in the lead by the end of today's counting!
As I said at the time, for God to influence the election after ballots have been cast would require God to change people's votes. Thus, Stickney wanted God to tamper with ballots. Apparently God isn't into felonious activities, since He did not deliver unto Stickney such ill-gotten gains. I wonder why Stickney has deleted that post from the Protect Marriage Washington website.
If God really does take sides, and given that Randall & Stickney (not to mention Rep. Matt Shea & Sen. Valera Stevens) lied that the referendum was about civil marriage and not about domestic partnerships, the take-away message from the Referendum 71 experience is this:
God endorses marriage equality, and has spurned those who would twist His word into an instrument of judgment and vindictive hate. Perhaps Pastor Joe Fuiten was on to something when he said:
God is not coercive...The idea that people ought to be free to live their life and live the way they want to - I don't object to that.
Too bad Fuiten ultimately turned his back on Him a few weeks before the election by endorsing the referendum Rejects. If you ask me, Fuiten is a lost and conflicted soul to be pitied.
Now that God has eschewed hate and endorsed civil equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples, Gary Randall and his colleagues have a choice. They can either accept God's endorsement of marriage equality, or turn their back on their Creator and continue to scorn his beloved children.
The Washington Secretary of State's final vote count report for the week continues to validate the conclusion that all of Washington state is moving towards equality. Tonight's numbers of 52.6% to 47.4% are not final, as vote counting is still underway. However, even the Secretary of State seems pretty sure about R-71 since their Friday afternoon blog post was titled "R-71: Effective 12-3-09"!
King [County]'s approval rate has been running 68 percent, and a number of the ballots remaining to be counted are from that county. ... If the vote holds, Senate Bill 5688 will go into effect Dec. 3. The election returns will be certified by Secretary of State Sam Reed and Gov. Chris Gregoire, probably on Dec. 1, but under provisions of the Constitution, a bill referred to voters and approved takes effect 30 days after Election Day, or Dec. 3 in this case.
After failing to pray in a victory, campaign manager for Protect Marriage Washington Larry Stickney was expected to concede defeat earlier today. Stickney has failed in his effort to undermine families and disadvantage children through the repeal of Washington's Domestic Partnership Expansion Law of 2009.
Larry Stickney...told LifeSiteNews.com that they plan to wait it out for the rest of [Friday] afternoon (pacific time) to make fully certain of the result and then "probably at that point concede."
No word yet that Stickney has transmitted his concession message to the press. He very well may choose to not communicate with them at all. He locked the media out of the Reject election night party, even the local Everett Herald. "It's a little lonely in the media room at the Holiday Inn in Everett...", reported Janet Tu of The Seattle Times.
The Washington State Republican Party endorsed Stickney's anti-family campaign, a move even their major candidate this election, Susan Hutchison distanced herself from and that they themselves never apparently backed with any vigor. No reaction from them yet either.
I believe He will guide us and provide the necessary funding. Please consider a tax deductible donation to Faith and Freedom Foundation. Thank you and God bless you.
Microsoft made a big splash a few weeks ago by donating $100,000 to the Approve 71 campaign. Indeed it was a significant and much-needed contribution by a major Washington employer. But the really big story is that Microsoft's gift was only one of 4,175 donations made by Washingtonians from across the state (see map). In fact, 85% of all cash donations to Approve 71 have been made by Washingtonians for a total of $1.16 million. Excluding the Microsoft gift, 89% of WA donations were for amounts below the average donation of $253. In the main, the Approve 71 campaign has been funded by small Washington donors.
In stark contrast, only 34% of donations to the anti-domestic partnership campaign totaling $104,233 have come from Washingtonians. The other 66% comes from James Dobson's Colorado-based Focus on the Family (FOTF) and National Organization for Marriage. FOTF made two cash dumps into Washington state. The first was $200,000 into the PAC Vote Reject on R-71 via the local FOTF affiliate Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW). The second was last-minute direct independent spending of $91,852 on radio ads, etc. by Focus on the Family Action. Is it fair to say that James Dobson is the reject campaign?
The anti-domestic partnership campaign has also received an undisclosed amount of in-kind assistance from the undisclosed entity that paid for Protect Marriage Washington's signature gatherers.
~~~Reminder from WAFST: Only 20% of voters have mailed their ballots. Your vote and those of your friends can make the difference. Don't hold onto your ballot, mail it today. Remind your friends. VOTE APPROVE ON REFERENDUM 71
The Colbert Report gave Protect Marriage Washington some love last night. Videos and transcripts below the fold.
Did anyone catch Colbert's own truthiness misspeak about married same-sex couples filing joint tax returns? Washington state registered domestic partners can't file joint tax returns because a) Washington state has no income tax, and b) the federal government considers them "legal strangers". With that bit o' sober fact-checking out of the way, let the games begin...
Are the homosexuals finally going to take control of our culture and push their depraved lifestyle on our children and families? -- Val Stevens
Tuesday, Larry Stickney posted to his Protect Marriage Washington website a letter from state senator Val Stevens. Gone is the disingenuous claim that "Our opposition is not about hate. It's about love." Finally PMW is being honest about their true reason for opposing the domestic partnership law: raw animus against "homosexuals". They're so overflowing with it that they can't even use the more common, non-sexualized terms "gays and lesbians".
The author of this hateful letter is state senator Val Stevens. Last we heard of her, she was calmly accompanying Roy and Valerie Hartwell as they committed fraud by apparently signing the petition circulator affidavits on petition sheets they did not circulate. Senator Stevens presents herself as a moral giant, but I wonder why she isn't being impeached.
The entire message is below the fold, with my annotations. Count how many times Stevens lies and tries to dehumanize gay people.
H/T Chris. Protect Marriage Washington is the organization trying to repeal Washington's domestic partnership law. They're not particularly careful with the truth but are big on baseless scare tactics. One of their hottest scare tactics goes like this:
R-71 opens the way to an easier second challenge of the state's marriage law. The state's controversial Defense of Marriage Act, which limits marriage to a relationship between a man and woman, was upheld by the state Supreme Court in a 5-to-4 ruling on July 26, 2006.
"Any time you have a situation where you have all the same kind of protections and rights of another class, so to speak, you have a potential argument for equal protection" under the law, [state Rep. Matt] Shea said in July at the R-71 signature turn-in. "That's it in a nutshell."
Two University of Washington law school professors expert in constitutional law say Shea's and Stickney's claims are not true. Peter Nicolas, a gay man who teaches a course about gay rights and the Constitution, said the state Supreme Court has made clear that the standard for considering issues of discrimination against gays and lesbians is of the lowest level in the law - something he called a "rational basis review."
That means Washington courts are more likely to tolerate unequal treatment of gays and lesbians on marital or other issues - unlike states such as Connecticut and California where courts apply a "heightened scrutiny" and have objected to one-man, one-woman marriage laws, Nicolas said.
If R-71 passes, Nicolas said, courts could see it as further evidence that gays and lesbians have political clout. This in turn would hurt gays' chances of winning a level of judicial review using the equal protection guarantees of the state and federal constitutions, he said.
Stewart Jay, a senior constitutional law professor at UW, said Nicolas is exactly right in his analysis. Jay said the state Supreme Court already cited gays' success in passing an anti-discrimination law in 2006 as evidence of their growing political power, which is an argument against treating gays as a "suspect class" deserving of additional constitutional protections.
"Surely, legislative passage and popular approval of an 'all but marriage' law would be the icing on the cake of this argument," Jay said. "On the other hand, rejection of R-71 could be interpreted as evidence of political weakness on the part of gays and lesbians, and thus provide a basis for questioning the rationale of" the Supreme Court decision upholding the Defense of Marriage Act.
Did you get that? What it boils down to is that reality is just about opposite of what Protect Marriage Washington claims it is. I applaud The News Tribune (Tacoma) for fact checking one of Protect Marriage Washington's scare points.
The monthly campaign expenditure numbers came out last night and are reported on the Washington Public Disclosure Commission's website. As predicted, radical-right extremists have dumped last-minute money into the race. Family Policy Institute of Washington plopped $200,000 into the mysterious new PAC called "Vote Reject on R-71" that appeared late last week. FPIW bills itself as an affiliate of James Dobson's Focus on the Family and Tony Perkins' Family Research Council. Dobson is famous for advocating the paddling of children, and Perkins for his connections to the Klan. The Vote Reject PAC is run by Dave Mortenson, a seasoned and savvy conservative campaign consultant.
Referendum 71 is the Washington state ballot measure asking voters to approve or reject the domestic partnership law passed by a wide margin by the Washington Legislature in May and signed by Gov. Gregoire. The law makes domestic partnerships parallel to civil marriage at the state level, providing vital rights to straight senior and same-sex domestic partners that married people have like pension inheritance and the right to use sick leave to care for a seriously ill partner.
First glances indicate that the Approve Referendum 71 campaign has greatly out-fundraised the opposition, and sure enough the David and Goliath comparisons are already being made by Larry Stickney. But don't get too comfortable just yet. Campaigns have 5 days to deposit donation checks, so we won't know until perhaps Tuesday, October 20th just how much the opposition really raked in right before the large donor ban took effect on October 12th. The large donor ban means that the most money any individual can donate after Oct. 12th is $5,000 (regardless of how much they donated before Oct. 12). There is also the distinct possibility that an out-of-state enterprise like National Organization for Marriage will swoop in an provide tv time and ads for the opposition "unasked". You know I've been right about these things before. The Approve 71 campaign still needs your support.
Half of Reject's $200,000 has already been spent on radio ad time. Seven local stations have accepted money to run these anti-child, anti-family radio ads.
Meanwhile, true to form, a substantial proportion of expenditures made by Larry Stickney's Protect Marriage Washington and Gary Randall's Faith & Freedom PAC have gone to salary for Stickney, attorney's fees and maintenance of Randall's redundant website. However, Stickney has spent about $10,000 on yard signs, and Randall about $500 on postage. It isn't entirely clear who paid for Protect Marriage Washington's lurid fliers or theocratic tv ads (here and here).
On the Approve Referendum 71 side, Washington Families Standing Together has received just over one million dollars in cash contributions to date. WAFST has invested about $400,00 of this into tv ad time and smaller but substantial amounts into mailings and phone banking costs.
I've posted a few of the radio and tv ads from both sides below the fold. As you listen and watch, notice how the Approve 71 campaign found real Washingtonians to speak for the domestic partnership law. The opposition had to hire actors.
"I never thought I'd live to see this [flagrant bigotry] in Lynnwood" -- woman in local business
"Look at those girls. They're just kids. They don't know what they're doing to people. This is just a right - this should be a right." -- another woman in local business
"I was just driving by, I felt I should do something. I went home and made a sign." -- pro-equality demonstrator
"WWJD"
Saturday "our friends in the Russian/Slavic community" led an anti-domestic partnership "reject R-71/SB 5688 Side Walk Rally" in Lynnwood, just north of Seattle. A crowd of about 150-200 showed up. Like the anti-equality lobby day in Olympia this past March, this crowd was heavily populated by high school-age kids and young adults. Most of the younger folk I spoke with said they were not old enough to vote.
I was told that this event represented the combined efforts of 5 Russian/Slavic churches. Only a few among the participants seemed not to be part of that community, and those people didn't seem to have much if any interaction with the others.
There was a certain amount of car horn hooting, but it was hard to tell how much of it was genuine since demonstrators were themselves driving back and forth laying on the horn.
The young ladies' cheering and sign waving was identical to that of the nubile barkers always set out on the curb to lure drivers into high school fundraiser car washes. One of these gals said she was perturbed that drivers weren't honking horns more. Another demonstrator standing at an intersection, apparently thinking I was part of the demo, said with reference to cars going by, "they sure like giving us the finger, don't they?". It didn't seem to dawn on these young folk that they would or should experience any reaction other than positive to their message of bigotry. After speaking with several, it was clear that many didn't truly understand what Referendum 71 is about. I don't blame them for wanting to have a fun day cheerleading, because they don't control their own lives. No, it's the parents of these children who I take issue with.
I hope that those in the Russian/Slavic community who stand for fairness and equality for all will not let this "reject" group be the sole public face of their community.
While folks are marching in DC, don't forget that back in the other Washington, ballots are dropping and a class of people could lose their rights. Sometimes is sucks to be right: Reject 71 has a sugar daddy after all. Remember this prognostication?
On October 12th, two days before the state starts mailing out ballots to voters, a large donor ban goes into effect in Washington. ...I think that [Protect Marriage Washington] has stopped asking for cash because they expect an external entity to buy big media time for them. ...Once those ads are on the air, at the time when we need cash the most, it'll be legally impossible for generous donors to give more [than $5,000]. ...
We all know how National Organization for Marriage and allied organizations have been riding roughshod over state campaign finance regulations in Iowa and Maine. To them, the end (snuffing out legal protections for families) justifies the means (ignoring campaign laws). All indications are that the same is about to happen here in Washington. The only way to defend against this dirty plan is to CONTRIBUTE. NOW. Before it's not possible to give more at the time it's needed most.
Well, it looks like I was right. Details below the fold. If you have the resources to give a gift over $5,000, you need to givenow. The most any individual can give after October 12th is $5,000. Whatever your total giving ability is, please give any amount over $5,000 now. All large donations must be in the WAFST campaign manager's hands by the end of the day Oct. 12th, so please give online if you can. If you prefer to give by check, do not mail it because it will not reach the campaign in time. Instead, email the campaign at donate@approve71.org and someone will come to pick up the check from you. The campaign has people in Washington DC this weekend, so if you are reading this from DC, we can still pick up your check!
Small and medium donors, please be ready to step up to the plate.
The Referendum 71 broadcast media campaign is on in Washington! There is MUCH more to come, but I can't tell you about it yet. In the mean time, have a listen to this new radio ad. Which voter cohort do you think is the target?
Recently I listened in on a different radio broadcast - the weekly show put on by Family Policy Institute of Washington. FPIW bills itself as a Focus on the Family/Family Research Council affiliate, and it has been a key player in the anti-domestic partnership campaign. FPIW clearly understands the game. It was curious to hear them agree almost to the word with Washington Families Standing Together about what will tip the win on Referendum 71.
Joseph Backholm: In an off-year election [as opposed to the big presidential election last year] the turnout this year is going to be much, much lower, and we know that. We're probably be looking at maybe 50%, and that's probably optimistic. And so the key here is not actually convincing everyone that you're right, the key on this is having more of your people vote than their people vote.
There's more below the fold. We have a question to face: are we going to let them beat us at our own GOTV game? NO! Donate to the Approve 71 campaign so that we can continue to motivate our voter base!
UPDATE: Approve 71's chair Anne Levinson respoonds to the PMW ads. "The people behind this ad have a history of working on extremist causes that are out of step with the views of mainstream Washingtonians. And they haven't been letting the facts get in their way. This ad is very disrespectful to the thousands of families in our state for whom the domestic partnership law provides important legal protections. The law has nothing to do with marriage, they are trying to mislead voters. It's par for the course. Instead they should be honest with voters and let them know if they vote to reject they will be taking away the protections such as sick leave and social security."Protect Marriage Washington's togas 'n tigers ad, complete with copyrighted Mormon painting, isn't all that Protect Marriage Washington has lined up for Washignton t.v. viewers. They also have two Prop 8-style lie-fests spooled up. One is 45 seconds and the other 60 seconds. Both videos are a re-working of an ad that PMW's campaign manager Larry Stickney aired early March, 2009 in an effort to sway/bully solidly pro-equality legislators. Did he really think these bullying ads would change the votes of senators who have sponsored and/or voted for every DP bill to date? You can enjoy that set of videos here.
Let us dissect the lies in the 60 second ad. Shall we begin? But first, will you pledge to donate so many dollars per lie we find to the Approve 71 campaign so that we can effectively motivate our voter base?
VO: Last Spring in Olympia, a law was passed that redefines marriage to include homosexual relationships. This new law has far-reaching consequences. Like allowing public schools to teach that gay marriage is normal and healthy. Whether parents approve or not.
The sponsor of this law says, those who disagree with homosexual marriage should face being fined, fired or even jailed until they relent.
Text: In Massachusetts a similar law passed...
Text: As a result...school libraries across the state have added explicit pornographic books to normalize homosexual behavior.
Text: A parent was jailed overnight for demanding the ability to opt his kindergarten child out of homosexual instruction.
Text: Catholic Charities had to abandon adoption services rather than submit to regulations requiring them to allow homosexuals to adopt children in their care...
VO: On November 3rd, vote to preserve marriage and protect our children. on Referendum 71, reject senate bill 5688. Paid for by Protect Marriage Washington.
Togas? Blonds on the savanna? Tigers on the savanna? My but God does work in mysterious ways. Donate now to help us drown out this rubbish with some sanity.
In the beginning, GOD created the heaven and the earth,and formed man. And he made a woman and brought her unto the man. Thus God established, and defined marriage between a man and a woman. What god has joined together, let not man put asunder.
Senate bill 5688 violates God's mandate. On November 3rd, vote to preserve marriage and protect our children on Referendum 71. Reject senate bill 5688. Paidforbyportectmarriagewashington
Blend readers keeping tabs on Referendum 71 in Washington will know how unusual it is for our key opponents of domestic partnerships to not issue daily asks for money. Yet Protect Marriage Washington hasn't bothered to ask for contributions since September 15th. This is very worrying - not for them, but for us. Here's why:
On October 12th, two days before the state starts mailing out ballots to voters, a large donor ban goes into effect in Washington. After that date, no single donor can give cash or in-kind gifts that cumulatively exceed $5,000. For example, if you donated $4,000 in September, the most you could donate after October 12th would be $1,000. ALL major cash and in-kind donations must be on the books prior to October 12th.
It's said that politics is a game of chess. I think our opponent has a silent second queen on the board. I think that PMW has stopped asking for cash because they expect an external entity to buy big media time for them. Knowing that it is harder for us to raise funds while they remain silent, they are cannily having their media fairy wait until the big donor ban kicks in before they start their ad barrage.
Once those ads are on the air, at the time when we need cash the most, it'll be legally impossible for generous donors to give more. We need Approve 71 campaign supporters to DONATE NOW, especially people who would be willing to donate over $5,000 cumulative once the PMW ads start rolling.
We all know how National Organization for Marriage and allied organizations have been riding roughshod over state campaign finance regulations in Iowa and Maine. To them, the end (snuffing out legal protections for families) justifies the means (ignoring campaign laws). All indications are that the same is about to happen here in Washington. The only way to defend against this dirty plan is to CONTRIBUTE. NOW. Before it's not possible to give more at the time it's needed most.
Floating on a lurid sea of male symbols pornographically piercing female symbols is a picture of the Nelson family of Ozzie and Harriet fame. This is a new leaflet from the opponents of domestic partnerships in Washington state. The page title reads "There is something very good in this picture", with arrows drawn to "Dad" and "Mom". The following is written on the bottom of the last page of the leaflet
On the cover is a photo of the most traditional American Families [sic] from the 1950's television series, Ozzie & Harriet. David and Ricky Nelson really had it pretty good. They had a normal mother and father and grandparents. We simply want this for tomorrow's children and families.
Indeed they made a beautiful family, and for all I know were blissful together. But that didn't result in sons David and Ricky Nelson growing up to be good fathers or husbands.
Ricky's wife Kristin gave birth 6 months after their wedding. After making 3 more children, they divorced.
David had two kids with his first wife, divorced and then remarried.
The leaflet authors would label such people fornicators, adulterers and home-wreckers. Much like several of the leaflet authors themselves. Rep. Matt Shea is divorced, campaign manager Larry Stickney has divorced twice and married three times, and I have it on good authority that campaign attorney and strategist Stephen Pidgeon is on his fourth marriage, leaving children dotted across several states. Did the many children these men produced have the benefit of their biological father at home?
The Nelson family picture and the men politicizing it are proof that being raised by your biological parents guarantees nothing. It is a red herring. But one thing is guaranteed if we fail to Approve Referendum 71: heterosexual seniors may not be able to care for one another in times of crisis, and the children of same-sex parents will be financially disadvantaged and legally vulnerable. Protecting ALL Washington families is the Washingtonian way.
How appropriate that they placed a "close window" symbol on that page. The leaflet should be composted. The other 3 leaflet panels are just as ripe for rebuttal. They're pasted below the fold. Have at 'em.
At a September 16 debate on the merits of marriage equality in Iowa, an Iowa Family Policy Center spokesman questions why elderly, infertile, or childless couples want to marry.
"One might ask, why are you getting a marriage license anyway?"
Utterly heinous. Forget love and commitment, seniors. If you don't have reproductive potential, you're not wanted in the club. And in Washington state, if we don't approve Referendum 71 even your domestic partnership will be hobbled.
Like the anti-domestic partnership group Protect Marriage Washington, the Iowa Family Policy Center has ties to Focus on the Family, the National Organization for Marriage and the Alliance Defense Fund. Same crap, different state.
Protect Marriage Washington has filed their Summary, Full Report Receipts and Expenditures, or "C4 report", for August, 2009. Protect Marriage Washington (PMW) is the political organization forcing a referendum vote on the domestic partnership law passed this spring by the Washington legislature and signed by the Governor. To preserve the law, voters must vote "APPROVED" on Referendum 71.
For the second month running, PMW's C4 has failed to report expenditures related to their paid signature gatherers. Their use of paid signature gatherers has been well documented in newspapers here, here and here, and blogged about here and here.
PMW has also neglected to report their legal expenditures. Attorney Stephen Pidgeon has been providing legal services for PMW since at least May 27, 2009, when The Olympian identified Pidgeon as attorney for PMW and its campaign manager, Larry Stickney. May 27th was the date when Pidgeon and Stickney initiated an unexpected legal challenge to the Referendum 71 ballot language.
Since that time Pidgeon has taken a very public role as PMW's attorney in their efforts to keep donor names secret, and in defense of PMW's collection of signatures from non-voters and PMW volunteers' fraudulent signing of petition circulator's declarations on petitions that they did not circulate.
James Bopp, Jr. of the Indiana firm Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom has been the primary attorney in PMW's efforts to keep their petition signers' names secret, with Pidgeon acting as local counsel. Pidgeon and Bopp continue to be identified as PMW attorneys and sign off on their court documents. Yet not a penny of cash or in-kind payment has been reported to the Public Disclosure Commission for at least 3 months of professional legal services rendered to PMW by two attorneys and probably staff at Bopp's firm.
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? -- Jesus
All this news about militant heterosexualists fraudulently "signing" R-71 petition declarations with Larry Stickney's signature stamp got me thinking: where had I seen pen-wielding people mulling over the backs of petitions? Aah yes, on Gary Randall's Faith and Freedom website. A few days after the July 25th delivery of R-71 petitions to the Secretary of State (SOS), Oregon Gary posted a slide show commemorating the event. After reading Judge Spector's order this morning, I'm seeing those pictures, and others, with new eyes.
To the right is a screen shot featuring Pentecostal ministers Roy & Valerie Hartwell from Rivers of Glory Church, which meets in a hotel room. Why is Roy Hartwell hovering his pen directly over the declaration box? And why did he even have a pen? There was nothing to write on on that table except petitions. Let's take a closer look at Roy and others, below the fold.
A deep concern that we have is that Judge Julie Spector is openly homosexual and activist. She is found on a list of openly homosexual elected officials. In her campaign to be elected to her seat in 2000, she was quoted in the September 13, 2000, edition of the Seattle Weekly, calling herself a "dyke".
It is impossible to believe an openly homosexual activist judge could rule fairly in this case. We are considering our next step.
For Gary, Judge Spector's sexual orientation by definition tosses her into the "activist" category. Because, you know, only militant heterosexist theocrats can be considered impartial... This tells us something about Gary, and how sexuality apparently (over)rules his rational brain, and so he assumes it does the same for everyone else.
Sad that Gary won't even wait to hear the ruling and examine Judge Spector's legal reasoning before finding her guilty of ulterior motives. It tells me that he doesn't really care about justice, only about winning. And he'll smear anyone to win, apparently. Because you see for Gary, revealing that someone calls themselves a dyke is a smear. Personally, I find it rakishly charming. :)
Now might be a good time to review Oregon Gary's history of trying to manipulate the outcome of the 2008 Washington judicial primary elections. He wrote such learned evaluations about the candidates as this:
Holly Hill has the support of women, race and NARAL.
Les Ponomarchuk is the current court commissioner. We do not know a lot about him or his judicial philosophy but it appears he is taking a more conservative approach in seeking endorsements.
Rob Lawrence-Berry appears to be well qualified and has a mainstream church background. However, David Elofson appears to be a little more conservative.
One of Gary's picks, the heterosexually-married Michael Hecht, did actually win and is now a Pierce County Superior Court judge. Or was. He's on probation pending the outcome of his September trial. He's been accused of using racist slurs, stealing campaign signs of his opponents, hiring male prostitutes (paying in both cash and legal services) and threatening at least one of them with violence. Great pick, Gary, thanks! We should all trust Oregon Gary's wisdom about Washington judges.
The Washington Public Disclosure Commission just unanimously rejected Larry Stickney's request to seal the identities of donors to his political action committee, Protect Marriage Washington. Anti-gay Protect Marriage Washington is trying to force a public vote to repeal the Domestic Partnership Expansion Law of 2009, which was passed by an almost-super-majority of the legislature and signed by Governor Gregoire.
According to their website, "The Public Disclosure Commission was created and empowered by Initiative of the People to provide timely and meaningful public access to accurate information about the financing of political campaigns, lobbyist expenditures, and the financial affairs of public officials and candidates, and to ensure compliance with and equitable enforcement of Washington's disclosure and campaign finance laws."
The PDC has been listing Protect Marriage's donors on their website since June, but Stickney didn't request that donor identities be sealed until August.
Two key facts were unearthed during today's hearing. First, neither Larry Stickney nor the two additional witnesses who testified with him that they received threats for contributing to the campaign have ever been listed as donors to Protect Marriage in the PDC's online database! Second, neither Stickney nor the other witnesses could provide any evidence whatsoever of any Protect Marriage donor suffering undue hardship as a result of their name being in the PDC database.
PDC commissioners extended their sympathy to anyone who would receive insults due to their political views, but made clear that insults do not rise to the level of "undue hardship", a criterion for sealing donor names. One commissioner, apparently on friendly terms with Stickney, admonished him for being a crybaby in the face of insults, saying "I think you knew very well this was not going to be a cakewalk."
It is heartening to see the PDC stand tall in the face of attempts by Protect Marriage Washington to carve out for themselves a special exception to the law of the land. Let us put Stickney's request in a larger context, and remember that LGBT people are attacked and murdered daily for the simple fact of who we are.
Stickney was represented today by attorney Stephen Pidgeon, the anti-Obama birther.
Joe Mirabella over at the Examiner has a story up about how the Dynamic Duo of referenDUMB have violated the very TRO that Larry demanded to hide the identity of his anti-domestic partnership Referendum 71 petition signers. No stranger to restraining orders, you'd think Larry would know better.
Larry Stickney and Gary Randall, both extreme right wing activists working to repeal the domestic partnership law passed this year, have gone against their own request to seal the names of petition signers from the public. As a result of their litigation a Federal Court Order temporarily prevented the Secretary of State from releasing the referendum 71 petition publicly until a hearing scheduled for September 3. In court papers filed by lawyers representing Protect Marriage Washington, their lawyer argued that alleged threats, "have caused Larry Stickney a great deal of worry for his safety and the safety of his family."
"An Open Letter to Friends of Referendum 71" by Larry Stickney and Gary Randall was posted on three websites this morning, including the Protect Marriage Washington website managed by Larry Stickney. In the letter they disclosed the name* of Larry Stickney's daughter and confirmed that she signed the petition. It begs the question why Stickney and Randall would release her name if they actually believed harm or retribution would result from a public record of the petition signatures? Would a good father willingly put his daughter in danger if he believed the threat was real?
*[Lurleen: correction, they didn't disclose her by name, but identified her as the daughter of Larry and wife Polly.]
I wonder what (or who) Larry Stickney and "Pastor" Gary Randall wouldn't sacrifice to hurt domestic partners and their children? So far, Larry and Gary have thrown Larry's daughter to the wolves on three websites: Larry's Protect Marriage Washington, Gary's Faith and Freedom Network and the bloody-sounding Red County.
Besides making a mockery of their own TRO, the actions of Larry and Gary pull the rug out from under the melodramatic tripe that Stephen Pidgeon wrote in a letter impugning the integrity of Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed
I remind you that R-71 campaigners have faced death threats as a result of their desire to pursue the constitutionally provided-for referendum process in this state.
(emphasis mine)
If God really does take sides, and given that Randall & Stickney (not to mention Rep. Matt Shea & Sen. Valera Stevens) 
The Washington Secretary of State's final vote count 
There was a certain amount of car horn hooting, but it was hard to tell how much of it was genuine since demonstrators were themselves driving back and forth laying on the horn.
The young ladies' cheering and sign waving was identical to that of the nubile barkers always set out on the curb to lure drivers into high school fundraiser car washes. One of these gals said she was perturbed that drivers weren't honking horns more. Another demonstrator standing at an intersection, apparently thinking I was part of the demo, said with reference to cars going by, "they sure like giving us the finger, don't they?". It didn't seem to dawn on these young folk that they would or should experience any reaction other than positive to their message of bigotry. After speaking with several, it was clear that many didn't truly understand what 
Floating on a lurid sea of male symbols pornographically piercing female symbols is a picture of the Nelson family of Ozzie and Harriet fame. This is a new leaflet from the opponents of domestic partnerships in Washington state. The page title reads "There is something very good in this picture", with arrows drawn to "Dad" and "Mom". The following is written on the bottom of the last page of the leaflet
To the right is a screen shot featuring Pentecostal ministers 
The Washington Public Disclosure Commission just unanimously rejected Larry Stickney's request to seal the identities of donors to his political action committee, Protect Marriage Washington. Anti-gay Protect Marriage Washington is trying to force a public vote to repeal the Domestic Partnership Expansion Law of 2009, which was 
Besides making a mockery of their own TRO, the actions of Larry and Gary pull the rug out from under the melodramatic tripe that Stephen Pidgeon 
