AP Story On "Would Jesus Discriminate?" Campaign

The AP's Ken Kuzmer belatedly picks up on the "Would Jesus Discriminate?" campaign and the dialogue it seeks between gays and Christian fundamentalists. Kuzmer writes:

Would Jesus discriminate?"

The question has been popping up on billboards, yard signs and in newspaper ads around conservative central Indiana lately in a new, Bible-based appeal for acceptance of gays and lesbians. It's a campaign organized by a predominantly gay and lesbian denomination _ Metropolitan Community Churches _ and a Jewish gay activist.

Organizers say the effort is the first in a planned series of campaigns across the country aimed at getting people to take a fresh look at the social justice passages in the Bible.

"Jesus taught us to love everyone, even our enemies and those who are different from us, not destroy and mistreat them," said one ad published in The Indianapolis Star.

"We want the dialogue to take place in every city that we operate, in some way," said Rev. Cindi Love, executive director of MCC, which has congregations in 240 cities.
Christians with conservative theological views believe gay relationships violate Scripture. They insist their outlook is based not on prejudice, but on the Bible and 2,000 years of Christian teaching.

Liberals see the primary values of the Bible as being love and inclusiveness, with long-term gay relationships left unaddressed.

While some are willing to start a dialogue, the discussion around Indianapolis hasn't always been friendly.

An independent Baptist congregation along a major thoroughfare posted the message "God Discriminated at Sodom" on its sign board. A Christian conservative group, the American Family Association of Indiana, distributed radio ads saying, "Not only did Jesus discriminate; he is going to discriminate again."

It's nice to see Kuzmer picking up on the issue. The Town Hall meeting which the story is based upon was held a month ago. Kuzmer's story is very similar to AI's post on the Town Hall meeting from June 15, 2006.

On this subject, it is disappointing that the Faith In America campaign spent so much money in the Indianapolis market and not one dime in South Bend where the campaign could have been useful in the recent unsuccessful effort to pass a human rights ordinance there to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination. Unfortunately, the campaign's focus here in Indiana seems to have become more about promoting the Jesus MCC church than about advancing gay civil rights.

Housing Fraud Crackdown

Bush HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson came into town to speak at Indiana Black Expo. But while he was here, he attended a press conference to announce that 51 people in Indianapolis were being charged with fraud for illegally receiving housing payments intended for low-income persons. The AP reports:

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, who attended a news conference about the charges, said Section 8 federal rental assistance is meant for deserving families.

"HUD is serious about eliminating Section 8 fraud," Jackson said. "Indianapolis has been a model of the focused, long-term effort that's needed across the country."

Of the 51 charged this week with fraud, 31 were jailed by Thursday, 13 remained fugitives, while warrants on the rest were yet to be issued. Those charged will face two to eight years in prison.

The Indianapolis Housing Authority has been investigating the cases over the last six months, said executive director Rufus "Bud" Myers.

"There is a criminal element that is going on within ... the public housing program," he said.

The charges are part of an ongoing crackdown that has resulted in charges against 231 people since 2001. The government has found $2.1 million in fraudulent housing payments.

It will be curious to see the reaction within the community to Jackson using this particular occasion to announce the crackdown.

Blade Tells N'Syncer Bass "Bye Bye Bye" To The Closet

The Washington Blade once upon a time criticized Blogactive.com for its role in outing more than a dozen public officials over the past couple of years who it claimed were leading private lives that were inconsistent with their public positions on gay rights-related issues. Today, it jumped on the bandwagon in a big way, outing N'Sync boy band member, Lance Bass, along with a slew of other celebrities on its Blade Blog. The Blade writes of Bass:

Lance Bass, of the mercifully defunct boy band N'Sync, hasn’t scored this much press since his odd and ill-fated attempt at space exploration.

Bass made the gay party rounds over the Fourth of July weekend in Provincetown, Mass., appearing in public with a group of gay friends, including supposed boyfriend Reichen Lehmkuhl of “Amazing Race” fame.

According to several gay bloggers who were in P-Town and saw the “alleged couple,” including Andy Towle and Cyd Zeigler, Bass tried lamely to disguise himself with a hat. Unfortunately for Bass, it wasn’t big enough to fool the New York Post’s Page Six, which also reported the sighting. It isn't the first time Bass was caught out and about with the boys. Years ago, when N*Sync was still the rage among teenage girls and many a gay twink, Bass was spotted and photographed several times at Oz and the Bourbon Pub, the twin pillars of the gay club strip in New Orleans' French Quarter.

I seriously doubt any member of the gay community will be surprised to learn Bass is gay. But what most people are probably asking, "Who cares?" The guy was the least talented of the boy band. He never sang a solo role on any of their songs. As far as I could ascertain, his only talent was being able to dance in step with his fellow boy band members. And let's not forget how he made a complete fool of himself for his ill-fated publicity stunt to travel into space with Russian cosmonauts. The Russians booted him after he spent a couple of months training with them and failed to cough up the $20 million passenger fare for the trip. His only venture into the movies, On The Line, was a total box office failure, grossing only $4.3 million.

But forget about Lance Bass. The Blade went on to list a bunch of other folks of far more interest it claims are hiding in the closet. The Blade writes:

With this more public quasi-outing, Bass joins a growing list of openly closeted celebrities and politicians who play transparently coy games with their sexual orientation. Bass, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Fox News’ Shepard Smith, actress Jodie Foster, singer Ricky Martin, Congressman David Dreier (R-Calif.), actor Sean Hayes, and too many more to mention are doing a disservice to their fellow gays by choosing the security of the closet over the integrity of living an honest life.

It's the same song and dance perfected by Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell for years before they finally came clean.

The Blade criticizes mainstream media outlets for interviewing and promoting "such stars and accept their non-answers" about their sexual orientation. "It's about honesty," the Blade proclaims. You have to admit it is kind of fun speculating about all the Hollywood pretty boys as they take turns pretending to mate with their Hollywood beauty counterparts everyone knows is secretly lesbian.

California Sex Offender Initiative Would Make San Fran Off Limits To Sex Offenders

California voters will have the opportunity to vote on a sex offender law, similar to the one enacted this year in Indiana, which places restrictions on where convicted sex offenders may live. If enacted, the measure known as Jessica's law would prohibit convicted sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school or park where children play compared to the 1,000 feet limit under Indiana's new law. Because San Fransicso is so densely populated, San Francisco would essentially become a sex offender free-zone if the initiative is approved by voters. As the Capitol Weekly explains:

In San Francisco, one of the nation's most densely populated cities, that leaves only a few square blocks as inhabitable for registered sex offenders. The largest areas that would remain open to past predators would be the airport region, downtown's industrial zones and cemetery-dense Colma--none of which contain much, if any, residential housing.

The Capitol Weekly notes that a Georgia law imposing a 1,000 feet restriction is tied up in the courts, but if the past is any indication, California voters are likely to approve the measure. "Since Californians reauthorized the death penalty in 1978, the state's voters have approved all but one of the nearly 20 tough-on-crime measures put before them," the Capitol Weekly reports.

Rural legislators are concerned that the measure will force "hordes of sexual predators" out of urban areas and into the rural areas in order to comply with the law. Isn't that ironic? Organizations representing Christian fundamentalists are the driving force behind these new laws which will actually work to draw more sexual predators to the rural communities where Christian fundamentalists are more prevalent.

The City of Indianapolis also recently approved a new ordinance which makes it unlawful for certain sex offender to go within 1,000 feet of parks and other places children gather to play. Violators are subject to stiff monetary fines, in addition a potential felony charge they would face under the state's new law. The ICLU has raised similar concerns that there are very few places that sex offenders in Indianapolis may live or visit because of the number of places that are now off-limits.

Buell Proposes Cap On Sheriff's Pay

State Rep. Larry Buell (R-Indianapolis), who is facing stiff opposition from Democrat John Barnes in November's election, announced he will introduce legislation if he is re-elected to cap a county sheriff's pay to the same pay as the county prosecutor. That would set the sheriff's salary in Marion Co. at $11o,000 and disallow the practice of permitting sheriffs to pocket a percent of delinquent tax collections, unless their base pay is less than the prosecutor's salary, in which case they could collect enough tax fees to match the prosecutor's pay. According to the AP story, Marion Co. would have saved about $700,000 over the last four years that was paid out to Sheriff Frank Anderson. As Buell explained, with Anderson's Republican opponent Steve Davis at his side:

"Because of the escalation of the amounts involved in tax warrants, both in the number of warrants and the size of the warrants, I think this has gotten somewhat out of hand," Buell said. "Now, we need to visit it again to see if this can be corrected."

Indiana Department of Revenue records indicate that sheriffs collected about $40 million in delinquent taxes during a recent 22-month period. County sheriffs pocketed about $3 million of that amount as supplemental pay.

House Minority Leader Pat Bauer (D) true to form reacted negatively to Buell's proposal. He told the AP that it "was politically motivated and another GOP move to deflect attention away from legislation House Republicans helped pass the last two years, such as leasing the Indiana Toll Road to private companies." If Democrats regain control of the House, he would entertain a change in the law, however. "Moderation is always the best policy whoever we are paying," he said. "I would think we would do moderation without negatively affecting the collections." Bauer pointed out that Daniels paid out $13 million to a private contractor as part of the state's amnesty program, which netted about $255 million in back taxes.

Gov. Daniels Favors Local Control Of Fireworks

After signing into law one of the most liberal fireworks laws in the country a few months ago, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) now says he would support a new state law giving local governments the right to regulate the use of fireworks, including an outright ban on them. The Fort Wayne City Council is seeking legislative review of the new law, as are many cities across the state, after citizens began complaining about the menace the new law has created in their neighborhoods. Benjamin Lanka of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reports:

The governor’s support of changing the state fireworks law came a day after the Fort Wayne City Council discussed ways it could prompt the legislature to review the legalization of fireworks.

Councilman Tom Hayhurst, D-4th, Tuesday said he has received calls of windows being rattled from the booms.

“It sounds like there’s new monster armaments out there,” he said.

Councilman Tom Smith, R-1st, suggested the council write a letter to the state to reconsider making fireworks legal.

“I have a feeling the legislature is hearing it from all around the state,” he said.
Smith said Wednesday he was glad to hear of the governor’s support to give cities control over fireworks use.

“I think that would be wonderful,” he said. “The more control we have, the better.”

Even as he announces his support for local regulation, the Governor is still defending his decision to sign the new law liberalizing their use. Lanka writes:

Daniels said the fireworks law – passed this year – was a good one, even as a member of the audience shouted that it wasn’t because it prevented her from walking her dog or sleeping with her windows open.

The governor, however, defended the law because it eliminated the practice of people buying fireworks, saying they wouldn’t be used in Indiana, but still setting them off in the state.“We were making liars out of honest people,” he said.

He also said he supported the 5 percent tax on the explosives that will provide cash to create the first state-supported system for firefighter training in Indiana history.

State Rep. Randy Borror (R-Ft. Wayne) also told Lanka that a review of the new law will be taken up by the legislature next year and that changes are likely. It looks like this issue has the makings of supplanting other controversial issues, such as the privatization of the toll road and daily saving times, at least for the time being.

Sheriff Anderson Chooses Re-Election Over $50,000 Pay Raise

Sheriff Frank Anderson (D) has decided that getting re-elected to another 4-year term as Marion Co. sheriff is more important than his $50,000 pay raise. The Star reports that he has decided to forego the $50,000 pay raise he negotiated with the county's Administrative Board late last year. "I will forego the $50,000.00 salary increase," Anderson said, "and I propose that it be dedicated to our public safety needs."

Anderson had little choice after a public firestorm erupted on Monday when the Star revealed the content of his new contract for the first time, and his Republican opponent announced he would push for a $115,000 cap on the sheriff's salary. Let's hope this issue doesn't fade away so that lawmakers feel compelled to repeal the law that allows sheriffs in Indiana to substantially enhance their salaries by pocketing a percentage of delinquent tax collections.

Bopp's Efforts To Make Indiana Judges Legislators

Awhile back, AI reported on the efforts of the fundie's favorite lawyer in America, Terre Haute attorney Jim Bopp, to strike down a Kentucky judicial rule requiring judicial candidates to refrain from announcing their positions on public matters that might come before the court. We neglected to mention a similar lawsuit Bopp had already filed in the Northern District of Indiana on behalf of Indiana Right to Life seeking to declare a similar Indiana judicial conduct rule unconstitutional. The Indiana Law Blog reminded us of that in a post today.

The issue in Indiana arose after Bopp's Right to Life organization began sending questionnaires to judicial candidates respecting their views on various aspects of the abortion issue. Very few judicial candidates returned responses to Indiana Right to Life. The Judicial Qualifications and Disciplinary Commission had sent out a memorandum advising judicial candidates that they are constitutionally permitted to state their general views about social and legal issues, but they have a duty to ensure that the statements they make do not call into question his or her impartiality. Upon inquiry from Indiana Right to Life, the Commission acknowledged that it had advised candidates not to respond to the questionnaires, although it did not threaten discipline against a candidate who chose to respond. That prompted Bopp to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the judicial rule.

At issue in the case is judicial canon 5A(3) which states that "a candidate for judicial office shall not make pledges or promises of conduct in office other than the faithful and impartial performance of the duties of the office, or make statements that commit or appear to commit the candidate with respect to cases, controversies or issues that are likely to come before the court." Canon 3E(1) further requires a judge to "disqualify himself or herself from any preceding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned." Right to Life argues that the recusal requirement in 3E(1) violates a candidate's First Amendment right, while 5A(3), the "pledge or promise" and "commit" clauses, violates both the First Amendment and 14th Amendment.

Bopp argues that the public has a right to know a judicial candidate's "legal or political views." Otherwise, he contends voters' rights are undermined. When it comes to "disputed legal and political issues", Bopp believes judicial candidates should be subject to full disclosure. The Commission believes that the recusal requirement is essential to "preserving impartiality in the judiciary in that it guarantees that a judge will apply the law to all parties in an equal manner." As to the "pledge or promise" and the "commit" clauses, the Commission says the rule protects the "due process rights of litigants by preserving the impartiality and appearance of the judiciary."

What Bopp seeks to do is to apply litmus tests to all judicial candidates. He and the extremist Christian fundamentalists he represents want judges to commit in advance to being "pro life", "anti-gay" or whatever "flavor of the day" the Christian right chooses to invoke into our electoral process to divide us along cultural lines. We rightfully expect candidates in the political branches of our government to let us know where they stand on these issues. At the same time, we must re-affirm the maxim that justice is blind. The job of our judiciary is to interpet the law as written in our constitution and our statutory laws. If Bopp succeeds, judges will become nothing more than super legislators, leading to a complete breakdown in the important checks and balances we have built into our form of government to protect oppressed minorities from the tyranny of a majority.

If Bopp's suit is successful, the danger that will follow in its path cannot be understated. We must have an independent judiciary to ensure anything approaching a fair judicial system. Bopp wants to replace an independent judiciary with one that is held captive to the extremist, but well-funded special interest groups like those he represents. If the likes of Bopp had their way a long time ago, our courts would have never intervened to end discrimination against African-Americans, women, gays and other oppressed minorities. To Bopp, courts rulings such as Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, or Lawrence v. Texas are the product of "activist" judges. That's short-hand for judges who support equality for all Americans.

Springfield, Illinois Legal Community Cracked Out

The Sangamon Co. State's Attorney has taken the unusual step of requesting a special prosecutor be appointed to look into allegations that two of his former assistant state's attorneys, a former public defender and the county clerk in Illinois' capitol city have engaged in illegal use of cocaine. The investigation has already netted the arrest of 8 alleged drug dealers. The State Journal-Register reports:

A special prosecutor has been appointed to determine whether charges should be filed against Sangamon County Clerk Joe Aiello, two former assistant prosecutors and a former part-time public defender in what apparently is part of an investigation of cocaine use in Springfield.

Aiello, former assistant state's attorneys John "Jake" Kelley and Dan Mills and former public defender John A. Maurer were named in a document filed with the circuit clerk's office Tuesday afternoon.

The Sangamon County state's attorney's office asked for the special prosecutor Tuesday after the U.S. attorney's office delivered reports on the investigation to the county. Federal authorities have indicted eight alleged cocaine dealers in the case since October.

Sangamon Co. State's Attorney John Schmidt requested a special prosecutor because he had worked closely with all four men. Kelley, Mills and Maurer resigned their jobs a short time before they were subpoenaed by federal investigators. Schmidt asked Kelley and Mills to resign after he had "received information inconsistent with their continued employment as assistant state's attorneys" and that the information concerned "personal conduct not related to their job" according to the State Journal-Register. The special prosecutor will also investigate two other men linked to the investigation, including a former federal probation officer, Kevin Kelly, and a former bank loan officer, Blair Fein.

When I worked for the House Republican Staff in Springfield, Illinois from 1984 to 1990, I observed a fair amount of influential people, including legislators and lobbyists, who used cocaine. While attending to my duties as a the Minority Leader's floor manager, I once suggested that a legislator go to the men's bathroom to clear away the round, white powder substance visible on his nose hairs. He thanked me without explanation. I'm sure it was just one of those white powder doughnuts that are so messy to eat. He's now a member of Congress.