Equality has lots of GOP friends
A coalition of Republicans has formed agroup that will support asame-sex marriage referendum
Several
prominent Republican figures came together Wednesday to announce the
formation of a new group supporting the gay-marriage initiative that
appears headed for the Oregon ballot in November.
The
new group, Freedom Oregon, includes several Republicans — including
former Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer and former Secretary of State
Norma Paulus — who came from a once-dominant wing of the state GOP. But
there are also several figures, such as Stimson Lumber CEO Andrew
Miller, who have been prominent backers of conservative Republicans.
Political
consultant Elaine Franklin, the wife of former Sen. Bob Packwood,
R-Ore., and his former chief of staff, helped organize the group.
This
group is “clearly fighting against the national brand” of the
Republican Party being opposed to same-sex marriage, Franklin said. “But
Oregon Republicans have done this before.”
Franklin
is now a non-affiliated voter, having left the party in 2002 in a
dispute over the abortion issue. She said that she hopes the new group
helps bring more support for the gay-marriage measure from both
Republicans and independents.
The group will hold a
kickoff event at the Cerulean Wine Bar in Portland on Feb. 20 that will
feature Jason Collins, the openly gay NBA veteran who sat in first lady
Michelle Obama’s box during the State of the Union address Tuesday
night.
Other members of the new Oregon group
include two Republican state representatives, Rep. Vicki Berger of Salem
and Rep. Jim Thompson of Dallas, former New Zealand Ambassador Bill
McCormick, former state Treasurer Bill Rutherford, and political
consultant Doug Badger, who ran the Bush-Cheney campaign in Oregon in
2004. Packwood is also a member of the group.
This is not the first effort by prominent Oregon Republicans in support of the measure.
Portland
political consultant Dan Lavey, a top aide to former Sen. Gordon Smith,
and his wife, GOP fundraising consultant Lori Hardwick, formed a group
to drum up support in the business community for the initiative.
The
group leading the initiative campaign, Oregon United for Marriage, last
week said it has gathered more than 127,000 signatures. The group needs
116,284 valid signatures to qualify and appears likely to do so well
before the July deadline.
In addition, a federal
judge is hearing aconsolidated lawsuit filed by two sets of same-sex
couples attacking the state’s gay-marriage ban. If that case continues
on a fast track, it’s possible that gay marriage could come to Oregon
well before the issue would go before voters in the Nov. 4 general
election.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane
has scheduled an April 23 hearing on whether he should issue a summary
judgment in the case, which involves the constitutionality of Ballot
Measure 36, the 2004 initiative approved by voters that placed a ban on
same-sex marriage in the state Constitution.
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