Evangelicals are Working Hard on Wedge Issues Right up to the Election
BBSNews Politics 2006-11-04 -- With the election closing in and GOP scandal after scandal, "values voters" are being sought after by their political masters who care little about values but a whole lot about winning. Communications director for the Texas Freedom Network, Dan Quinn caught up with some of the evangelical GOP operatives that mastermind Republican vote gathering and the following is a raw memo by Quinn detailing a conference call with some of the players about election tactics and the wedge issues they wish to exploit:
During the call, David Barton (founder and president of the Christian advocacy organization WallBuilders and, until June, vice chair of the Texas GOP), Kelly Shackelford of the Christian-right Free Market Foundation, and others encourage pastors to push their congregants to vote next week and list some of the specific issues they see at stake next year in Texas (and nationally), including:
Barton also says lawmakers need to protect a ban on abortion in Texas that remains on the books and will become effective again if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Judicial races and issues are particularly important to Barton in the call. This quote comes at about the 5:27 mark on the 18:42-minute audio file:
"We also have some really tight races on the Texas Supreme Court. And the difference in the values of the folks there are very clear. You'll see that on the voter's guide (from the Free Market Foundation). It's pretty much Judeo-Christian versus post-modern. And if we lose that court, then we're going to see the culture war escalate in Texas ."
That's nonsense. What's clear from this recording is that the folks working to escalate the culture war in Texas are politicians like David Barton. The extremists who head up the Restoration Project are determined to use religion and hot-button social issues to divide people of faith for partisan political gain. At the same time they are ignoring the real issues that most families care about, things like good public schools and affordable health care.
It's also clear who Barton (the former vice chair of the Texas GOP) and Shackelford (a member of Gov. Perry's campaign steering committee) want these pastors and their congregants to vote for. Gov. Perry has spoken at all of the Texas Restoration Project's "pastors' policy briefings" across the state. In addition, just last week Barton sent out an e-mail to the Texas Restoration Project mailing list endorsing Republican Don Willett for the state Supreme Court. Gov. Perry appointed Justice Willett to the Court in 2005. I have pasted that endorsement e-mail below my signature here. In addition, the Restoration Project has also encouraged its pastors to attend a rally with President Bush at Reunion Arena on Monday in Dallas the day before the election. (Also see below.)
Please note that the Texas Restoration Project has not registered as a political committee and its funding is unknown. Last year the group hosted – and covered the costs for -- about 2,000 pastors and their spouses at "pastors' policy briefings" at hotels and other venues around the state. In addition to his speeches at all of these events, Gov. Perry's own campaign has used the Texas Restoration Project's mailing list to contact pastors.
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