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.
Last week The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) published a scathing criticism of the anti-domestic-partnership referendum effort known as "Reject R-71". The editorial was built around phrases like "...R-71 opponents' failure to mount anything resembling a viable campaign..." So far the accused, Larry Stickney of Protect Marriage Washington and Gary Randall of the Oregon-based Faith and Freedom Network, have neglected to step forward and take their lumps or refute the charges. Instead, their radical-right colleague Joseph Fuiten has piled on via an e-mail blast, web post and an opinion piece in The News Tribune. "Pastor Joe Fuiten on Referendum 71: Told ya so" is how Janet Tu at The Seattle Times characterized Fuiten's message.
Fuiten is the founder of the Faith and Freedom Network and hired Randall to run it in 2005. Fuiten is also on the board of Family Policy Institute of Washington, the largest single donor to the Reject R-71 campaign and one of Larry Stickney's recent employers. In other words, he's no piddly outsider. Back in May, Fuiten made a splash by splitting from his radical-right colleagues and actively trying to discourage the anti-domestic partnership referendum campaign, saying:
My belief is that it would be a mistake to run a referendum. I know that some will say that I just lack faith. It might be. I don't have any interest in being another General Custer. I also know that when Israel decided to enter the Promised Land without God's blessing they were soundly defeated.If I felt that God was telling us to go ahead, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don't feel the Lord has said not to, but I cannot get any peace about making this effort. ...I would be very disappointed to be dragged into an effort that is unlikely to succeed and very likely to ultimately be counterproductive.
Very disappointed indeed, it would now appear. This early and very public refusal by Fuiten and other radical-right conservatives to involve themselves with the referendum sparked the ongoing public feud between Fuiten, Randall and Ken Hutcherson. By July, Randall had put on his best passive-aggressive and came back hissing
I don't think people understand why he's trying to undermine the whole effort. Some people have said it's because he's not leading the charge. I wouldn't say that, but that has been said.
Soon after Ken Hutcherson, who actually expressed Fuiten-style doubt back in March about the wisdom of running a referendum, took this swipe at Fuiten in, of all things, his "Prayer Warrior" e-mail series:
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!
Randall continued to snipe at Fuiten throughout the campaign. A few examples here, here, here, here, here and here. This looks to be quite the grudge match.
Although Fuiten opposed the referendum, he belatedly endorsed and supported it. A look at his schizophrenic relationship with R-71 and the sometimes apt, sometimes hypocritical accusations he now hurls at his brothers, after the flip.
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 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.
Washington's statewide domestic partnership law is at risk and we need your help to save it. A ballot measure attempting to repeal the domestic partnership law is on the November 3 ballot. We have 6 weeks before ballots are sent to voters. Six weeks to be sure voters know to vote "APPROVED" on Referendum 71 to preserve the domestic partnership law.
Gary Randall, head of Faith and Freedom Political Action Committee and close collaborator of Protect Marriage Washington's Larry Stickney, is apparently afraid of a well-informed Washington electorate. He says he's hoping that some voters go to the polls confused. In fact, it appears that he's relying on it:
Randall said confusion on just one side could be beneficial.
"I'm hoping that everyone understands on our side that they're to vote "reject," and everyone on the other side thinks they're rejecting Referendum 71, so then we win," he said.
This is a strange admission from a member of the Christian clergy. But Randall's apparent hypocrisy is not what's important here. What's important is Randall's strategy in light of recent polls and the double-edged sword they represent.
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.
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.
Lately I've been starting the morning off by reading the latest edition of Gary Randall's My Daily Denial (his blog posts). Gary Randall is a key architect of Referendum 71, which asks voters to reject or approve Washington's domestic partnership law.
Today's issue featured an exceptional display of multi-layered denial on Gary's Part. He is in denial about what domestic partnerships are (by definition, "not marriage"). He is in denial about how a hefty majority of the legislature and the governor have reasoned that fairness is good for Washingtonians, and the vast majority of Washingtonians agree. And he is in denial that it was only via Protect Marriage Washington's lies and deceit and the contra-legal policies of the Secretary of State that his illegitimate referendum qualified for the ballot, if only just barely at that.
As I was reading it dawned on me that Gary has created this elaborate mental and fundraising mechanism not to fend off some gargantuan mortal enemy, but to persecute a mere 5,906 pairs of domestic partners, or 11,812 people. In a state of about 6,668,200 people, that's only 0.18% of the population.
Gary Randall is fixated on actively persecuting 0.18% of the population, the tiniest of minorities. Estimates are that this campaign will cost both sides in the millions of dollars. All to keep 0.18% of the population from being able to use sick leave to care for a seriously ill partner. All to keep 0.18% of the population from providing a partner with a pension they've already paid for should one die. All to keep 0.18% of the population from being notified if their partner is the victim of a crime. All to keep 0.18% of the population from providing death benefits to a partner if they are a police officer or firefighter killed in the line of duty.
How sad that Gary Randall is spending his retirement beating up the puny kid next door. And spending other people's money to do it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh to what depths have Gary Randall and Larry Stickney been reduced! You know they've hit rock bottom when they resort to quoting a lefty blogger (after misspelling his name) for "evidence" that the Washington Secretary of State is engaged in, as they so prosaically accuse, "skullduggery".
UPDATE on the Unhinged: Gary Randall just posted an "Open Letter to the Secretary of State", which links to this missive penned on his behalf by Obama-birther (twice) attorney Stephen Pidgeon. The letter begins with a quote from Josef Stalin and ends with the accusation, "Apparently, the personal politics of those employed in your office are allowed to trump the integrity of this process. This is an outrage." Huh. I thought the outrage was that when you know you have nothing to show before a court of law, you stoop to the court of public opinion. But what do I know, eh?
Larry Stickney and Gary Randall are apparently concerned about the rejection rate of signatures on their anti-domestic partnership Referendum 71. At about 11%, R-71's cumulative to-date signature rejection rate is the lowest in recent memory, and is still well below the drop-dead rate of 12.4% that would keep the referendum off the ballot. Further, if the 53% of signatures already checked are representative of those remaining to be checked, it is statistically nearly impossible for the referendum not to qualify for the November ballot.
So I have have to ask myself, what do Larry and Gary know about the remaining unchecked signatures that worries them so? Whatever it is, it has moved them to take shocking action. After impugning the integrity of the Secretary of State and his employees with "Please pray that Secretary Sam Reed and the public servants he employs, will have the integrity to carry out their duties on the R-71 count in a fair and honest way, as they are duty bound to serve all the citizens of the state." they put out this "Call to Action"
PLEASE SEND THIS URGENT MESSAGE FAR AND WIDE! Tell everyone you know (especially those who signed R71) to let Sam Reed know that we want all of the signatures carefully checked. He owes it to the people of Washington State.
Both phone calls and e-mails to Sam Reed are needed NOW!: (ph) [redacted] or e-mail [redacted]
Larry Stickney, Campaign Manager
Protect Marriage Washington
If Larry and Gary feel they have a legitimate complaint about the signature checking process, the appropriate avenue for protest is the courts. They surely know this, as they've already brought two lawsuits during the referendum campaign. The first was when Larry challenged in court the ballot language on his own referendum. The second was when Larry wanted special rights to side-step Washington's open government laws. No, the anti-family forces are not shy about going to the courts, so why resort now to trying to impugn the reputation of the Secretary of State's office and influence their official actions via the mob?
UPDATE: Marching orders received! Check out the spate of n'er before seen requests for slow action on the Secretary of State's blog, below the fold.
UPDATE 2: The Secretary of State's Elections Division responds. See text below the fold.
Gary Randall's blog posts are always a walk on the wild side, but today's is a particular hoot.
We are particularly concerned about the several thousand [petition signers] deemed "not registered" voters and the 501 signatures they say don't match the signature on file.
Yeah, I'd have expected much better quality from Gary's paid signature mercenaries. ->eye roll<- Have you forgotten your hired gun already, Gary, they guy who baldfaced lied to gullible voters? Just your style, wasn't he? I bet he did a bang-up job making sure that everyone who signed his sheet (a.k.a. signed his paycheck) was a registered Washington voter. By the way, neither your PAC nor Larry Stickney's has admitted paying for the mercenaries or receiving their services as in-kind assistance from another entity. Don't for a moment think that we haven't noticed.
Here's a video of Gary earnestly discussing the matter.
Gary also whines that he's being described as "anti-gay" in a press report. He says
I know there are those in the Seattle press who understand that at the heart of the matter, we are not "anti-gay rights," but are pro-traditional or natural marriage....I, nor most of the tens of thousands of people who are standing for and actively defending marriage, are "anti-gay rights." We are pro-marriage.
The PI got it right. When "pro-marriage" equals attacking the legal and financial stability of over 5,800 Washington families only because many of them are gay, then by your own definition you are anti-gay. Own it, Gary. But this is my favorite part because it is an outright lie that is debunked by Gary's own words and actions:
It was only when homosexual activists began to demand that marriage be deconstructed and family be redefined, that we became active.
ROTFL! Oregon Gary was instrumental in the effort to repeal the LGBT anti-discrimination law in 2006, a full year before the measly initial form of domestic partnerships was instituted in Washington. Remember R-65, Gary, and your ignominious three-way with Tim Eyman and Pastor Joe Fuiten? How conveniently soon you forget! Your current anti-family activism wasn't sparked by any particular domestic partnership law. The truth is that you hate it when gay people are treated fairly, and have dedicated your senescent years to persecuting them. Admit it Gary. Tell the truth for once in your life.
Protect Marriage Washington has filed their Summary, Full Report Receipts and Expenditures, or "C4 report", for July, 2009. Protect Marriage Washington is the organization trying to force a referendum vote to repeal the new domestic partnership law in Washington. To preserve the DP law, voters must vote APPROVED if Referendum 71 qualifies for the ballot. See Washington Families Standing Together for details.
PMW's C4 report contains some items of interest.
1. Larry Stickney again received a handsome salary, and even got his son in on the cash action this time.
2. Protect Marriage Washington failed to name people they accepted cash contributors from in early August. They are identified only by their initials.
3. There remains no indication who their mercenaries paid signature gatherers were, or who paid them.
Gary Randall posted a fundraising plea August 5th on his redundant Referendum 71 vanity blog. In it he claims
I have included the latest communication from the Secretary [of State]'s office.
Except that wasn't the latest communication. It was the Sec'y of State's blog post from August 3rd, which is the last time that the Referendum 71 validation rate looked marginally decent. If Gary really had posted the latest communication from the Sec'y of State's office, he would have had to reprint this embarrassing comment from the Sec'y of State's August 4th blog post:
Election officials have processed another 5,815 Referendum 71 signatures, rejecting 14.4 percent...The error rate was the highest of any seen during the first three days of scrutiny.
Since 12.43% is the invalidation rate above which the referendum will fail to qualify, I guess he hoped to hoodwink a few donors into giving a few last dollars before word got out of the ever-increasing uncertainty over the referendum's fate.
Oh, and regarding that redundant vanity blog - Gary is continuing his habit of 'paying himself' with Faith & Freedom PAC money for running it. According to the Public Disclosure Commission, on July 29th he faithfully made the third payment of $1,179 from the PAC to the organization that he pays himself a salary from. So far he's transferred $3,477 this way, representing 40% of all PAC expenditures so far ($3,477/$8,648). As his would-be donors watch the signature invalidation rate increase towards possible referendum failure, I wonder if they'll think Gary utilized their donations wisely. $3,477 would have bought a lot of signatures from a petition mercenary.
Tuesday evening Oregon voter Gary Randall announced his attack on Washington state law. He is trying to block the Secretary of State from making public the public documents known as Referendum 71 petitions.
Let us remember what Gary Randall is trying to do with Referendum 71. He is trying to prevent The Domestic Partnership Expansion Law of 2009 (SB 5688) from going into effect, thus denying vital protections to elderly heterosexual domestic partners and same-sex domestic partners. As The Olympian stated in SB 5688 is about fairness, not gay marriage:
What [SB 5688] does is give same-sex partners and some heterosexual senior couples equal access to laws available to married couples.
Examples?
The Senate Bill gives same-sex couples:
• The right to use sick leave to care for a domestic partner.
• The right to wages and benefits when a domestic partner is injured, and to unpaid wages upon the death of a domestic partner. ¦ The right to unemployment and disability insurance benefits.
• The right to workers' compensation coverage.
• Insurance rights, including rights under group policies, policy rights after the death of a domestic partner, conversion rights and continuing coverage rights.
• Rights related to adoption, child custody and child support.
• Business succession rights.
[...]
Critics will portray this legislation as special rights for gays and lesbians. It's not. It all about legal parity, and extends those same rights to unmarried heterosexual couples where at least one partner is at least 62 years of age.
At its core, Senate Bill 5688 is all about fairness and equity.
Gary's actions are a transparent effort to get public pity points in advance because he knows that the people who signed the petition will not be harassed when their names go public, as he loves to predict. He never misses the opportunity to cry wolf.
He's likely also trying to keep the names hidden so that people are unable to prove that they've been duped by his paid signature-gathering mercenaries.
UPDATE: Check out the lies being spewed by signature gatherers in Seattle today, after the jump.
UPDATE 2: Chris Mason has posted the entire 9 minute video (thx Chris!). I've updated the post below. It is clear that the referendum mercenary was telling people that this is a yes/no vote on legalizing gay marriage. That is a baldfaced lie. R-71 is only about repealing an incremental domestic partnership law.H/T Joshalot
Wow. Just wow. This is what false Christianity looks like. Gary Randall and Larry Stickney, sponsors of the anti-domestic partnership Referendum 71, have a lot to answer for. This video was recorded by Chris Mason from Driving Equality a few days ago at the Port Angeles, WA Wal-Mart. While watching, keep in mind that Referendum 71 has NOTHING to do with marriage licenses.
[The paid signature gatherer] approached a woman and asked her if she supports same-sex marriage. When she said yes, he handed her the clipboard to sign the referendum. She though she was signing in favor of equal marriage. He tricked her, right in front of me, on camera. I called him out on it.
He said to her:
Did you have a chance to sign our petition yet? We're giving you an opportunity to decide whether or not you're in favor of giving homosexual couples legal marriage licenses. Not just the same rights as married people, but a marriage license too. Do you have an opinion on that, yes no or don't care?
The woman said yes, that she will sign, and he handed her the clipboard. It was obvious to me that she was signing what she thought was a petition in favor or giving same-sex couples marriage licenses. So I asked her if she supports same-sex marriage. She said that she did.
Referendum 71 has nothing to do with granting marriage licenses. Referendum 71 would repeal an incremental domestic partnership law. It isn't a fluke that this mercenary lied. Randall and Stickney have lied from day one that the referendum was about marriage. In fact, their petition sheets have the lie "Protect Marriage, Protect Children" emblazoned across the top with the following lies printed directly beneath
• The legislature just passed a law that effectively makes same sex marriages legal. By signing R-71 we can reverse that decision and protect marriage as between one man and one woman."
• If same-sex marriage becomes law, public schools K-12 will be forced to teach that same-sex marriage and homosexuality are normal... even over the objections of parents. Sign R-71 to protect children.
UPDATE: Be on the lookout for signature gatherers Friday & Saturday in the greater Seattle area. This just in from Family Policy Institute of Washington:
If you are interested in gathering signatures this afternoon, tonight or tomorrow morning in the Seattle area, please e-mail...
My reading of the 1st Amendment is that it is my right to tell interested petition signers why I think they shouldn't sign.
UPDATE 2: Gary Randall just sent this email
We are receiving a number of emails asking where individuals can sign a petition... You may do so at the Capitol steps tomorrow at 2 PM
I can't help myself: HAHAHAHA!Team Homophobia has a 2 PM appointment Saturday, July 25th with the Washington Secretary of State to turn in their anti-domestic partnership Referendum 71 signatures. But guess what? They don't have enough. Gary Randall states:
Friday, July 24, 2009
R-71: Too Close to Call We feel that by tomorrow morning we will have the 120,577 signatures required, however we also know that some will be invalidated for various reasons. We do not have an adequate cushion of signatures.
We will be turning in the signatures tomorrow at 2 PM.
Gary is so desperate that he's throwing this Hail Mary pass:
We are then asking you or someone you know, to drive the additional signatures to Olympia tomorrow...
I know the situation must truly be dire, because Gary forgot to ask for donations!
Gary Randall (pictured right) is having a conniption fit. Pastor Joe Fuiten, the former Director of Gary's Faith & Freedom Network and the very person who hired Gary into that cash cow position has had the temerity to tell the truth about Washington's radical right.
"As a political movement, it is a leaderless army milling about the field," acknowledged Pastor Joseph Fuiten, one of the area's most visible leaders on the Christian right.
Randall stammers in reply, bubububut "2400 people gathered on the steps of the Capitol, in the rain, for marriage." True, but just a few years ago they were able to amass 20,000.
After flouting Washington state law for 6 days, Oregonian and tax evader Gary Randall finally filed his campaign expense report for June yesterday. From it we learn the same lesson we learned from the June report filed by his Referendum 71 comrade Larry Stickney: Gary and Larry's priorities are apparently to compensate themselves first and foremost.
To date, 49.8% of all R-71 expenditures made by Randall's Faith & Freedom PAC has gone back into Gary Randall's coffers (Faith & Freedom Network). Likewise, 44% of all R-71 expenditures made by Stickney's Protect Marriage Washington were to pay Stickney a rich salary.
Priorities, priorities...
Meanwhile, while these guys kick back and crack a cold one, I hear their worker bees have exhausted the church hives and, still coming up short, have had to come out into the light of day to seek signature gold. So now WalMart is apparently buzzing with bigotry. Are fair-minded Washingtonians letting their own calm and reasoned voices be heard at WalMart? "Excuse me Mr. Voter-Looking-Over-the-Petition, but if you sign that you'll be hurting my family directly. Please don't." The 1st Amendment is a beautiful thing, especially when employed calmly and conversationally.
Last week 
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 
To the right is a screen shot featuring Pentecostal ministers 
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 
Referendum 71 has nothing to do with granting marriage licenses. Referendum 71 would repeal an incremental domestic partnership law. It isn't a fluke that this mercenary lied. Randall and Stickney have lied from day one that the referendum was about marriage. In fact, their petition sheets have the lie "Protect Marriage, Protect Children" 
