Jon Christensen
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Ugly Turn Taken by James
Dobson’s Candidate, Jon Christensen
State GOP Campaign Smacks
of Fundamentalist Religious Politics
Compiled by
Badpuppy’s GayToday
From Log Cabin
Republicans Report
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A national gay Republican organization
is condemning the anti-gay turn in the Republican gubernatorial primary
campaign of Rep. Jon Christensen
(R-NE) in Nebraska, warning that it is another product of the drive by
far right leaders to dominate the Grand Old Party.
"It's the kind of extreme
and hateful gay-bashing that makes a substantial number of swing voters
disgusted with the Republican Party at a national level," said Richard
Tafel, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. Tafel singled out Christensen's
recent comments where he was quoted as saying that he would never hire
a gay or lesbian person to work for him as Governor, and the strong endorsement
received by anti-gay leader James Dobson of Focus on the Family.
"Jon Christensen not only
endorsed discrimination, he promised to practice blatant discrimination
against people in his own office by dismissing a person's merit and focusing
on their sexual orientation," Tafel said. "It's ridiculous to believe that
there will not be a single gay person working anywhere in the entire state
government, so what he is proposing is off the deep end." In recent
weeks, Dobson has issued public threats against the GOP that unless it
adopts his far right social agenda, he will lead a revolt against the party
among his followers. Dobson and anti-gay activist Gary Bauer have funded
a number of far right candidates in GOP primaries this year with the aim
of defeating moderate Republican front-runners. Dobson demanded a high-level
meeting with GOP Congressional leaders last week, at which he reportedly
repeated his threats of a revolt again. "It's clear that Jon Christensen
is a foot soldier in the Dobson and Bauer army," Tafel said. "And if the
Republican Party marches with him, it will march off a cliff -- we will
lose the House in 1998."
Christensen's hard-right
turn in the final days of the campaign drew angry denunciations from most
of the state's top GOP officials. Tafel praised the way in which the senior
Republican leadership has responded to Christensen's campaign, particularly
his attacks on moderate GOP candidate Mayor Mike Johanns of Lincoln, his
leading opponent for the nomination. "Mayor Johanns, Congressman
Bereuter and Senator Hagel in particular have shown real leadership in
response to the events of the last few days," Tafel said. Johanns, who
has refused to attack gays in his campaign, told the Omaha World-Herald
that "the Jon Christensen campaign has no moral base, no moral compass.
It is win-at-any-cost politics and it is the worst of the worst ... We
are seeking the highest office in the state. We are not running for sophomore
class president."
"Nobody in the Republican
Party of Nebraska can be proud of Jon Christensen's conduct, and I hate
to have to say that. I hope the people of the state will get out and vote
and register their feelings on the conduct of this campaign," U.S. Senator
Chuck Hagel (R-NE) told the Lincoln Journal-Star. Congressman Doug Bereuter
(R-NE), who maintains a non-discrimination policy in his Congressional
office that includes gays and lesbians, told the Journal Star: "The Christensen
campaign has sunk to a new low in Nebraska politics."
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