This is not intended as a political discussion. I am sharing an eye opening experience.

Tonight I had a funny conversation with my dad. One where he got all defensive fast and throwing spears of H8. I was caught totally off guard by his passion when I asked him a simple question, but it was a real eye opener that the Mormon political agenda is still active in Northern CA.

In a phone conversation Dad mentions that he has been busy helping campaign for for a friend of his running for the local assembly. I told dad, my husband and I were really turned off by his negative campaigning. We have gotten nothing less than 8 large 4 color mailers from that candidate about his opponents involvement in approving building a large salmon statue at the local fish hatchery. The statue has been there for years, even prior to the current economic issues. Our family has visited the hatchery and all the cousins have enjoyed playing on the fish statue that he is trying to smear his opponent for supporting. The fish cost $50k, it sounds like a reasonable price because it is made of metal and it is about the size of a mini van, and had to be engineered to support throngs of children climbing all over it. My concern is I am sure we have recieved at least $50k in negative campaign mailers just about the fish, it does not seem like a wise expense, and it feels like he thinks to voters are idiots to fall for this. I am not confident this man will represent the best use of my tax dollars.

So I told my dad to ask his friend to back off the fish, because we think that really makes him look bad. That triggered a defense tirade about negative campaigning by the opponent. Thanks dad, that makes all the difference in the world because 2 wrongs make it alright.

I have to admit I have not done my homework this year as far as who I am going to vote for, I do not side with either political party. So I had no idea who the candidate was, other than someone using red herring tactic with the fish statue. Tonight after talking to dad I googled him. This guy is the lawyer who defended the Mormon church in the Prop 8 trials. Looks like the Mormon Political machine is rallying to support him.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2010 09:30AM by taddlywog.

I see our assessment of his tactics are spot on. Theocracy.

I see that Pugno took money from the National Organization for Marriage to fund some of his current advertisements. The NOM people still have close ties to mormons.

If you can find any more information about mormon involvement, including volunteer efforts, payment for printing those full-color flyers, mormon email trees being used to get the work out, etc., please do post it here and I'll see that it gets greater coverage.

Quotes below are excerpted from a news article:

"Republican candidate Andy Pugno – who is running for an Assembly seat in District 5 (eastern Sacramento County, Arden Arcade and Folsom) – appears to be so hungry for a win that he’s scrubbed from his official candidate biography any reference to his life’s work fighting against same sex marriage and abortion rights for women, even in the case of rape or incest. Instead he trips over himself trying to use as many GOP catch phrases as possible:
     
"'Small business owner Andy Pugno has a passion for his community, real world experience, and wants to see California thrive again. Since opening his own law practice, Andy has built a successful business in the greater Sacramento area as an effective taxpayer advocate — helping hundreds of local families to reduce their federal, state and local taxes.'"

     "[However, as the Sacramento News and Review reported] “According to state campaign-finance records, the Law Offices of Andrew P. Pugno received $200,473.79 from ProtectMarriage.com, the major proponent of Prop. 8, for consulting, petition processing, office support, professional legal and accounting services and travel in 2008.”...

     "Pugno is letting his old Prop 8 companion – the National Organization for Marriage – promote his antigay marriage values with a $100,000-plus ad buy in Sacramento....[video of ad at the link below]"

http://www.lgbtpov.com/2010/10/yes-on-8-attorney-andy-pugno-trying-to-mislead-voters-in-ca-assembly-race/

I am not interested in using my relationship with my father to get more info. I am sure he would know. My husband is a die hard republican refusing to vote for either candidate on Tuesday because he is so offended by the fish. Are you local?

taddlywog, I understand your reluctance to use your father as a source of information. I was more thinking along the lines of other mormons you might know, or even ex-mormons that might have an insight into the hidden anti-gay marriage agenda.

I think I may have offended you, and if so, I apologize.

I don't live in northern California, if that's what you mean by "local." I do live in the morridor.

The sometimes well-hidden, and sometimes blatant, discrimination that is paid for with money raised in the mormon community bothers me. Especially when those funds are raised using half truths and outright lies.

When I can do something about it, I do, even though it's just keeping information public instead of hidden.

I am really out of the loop on the church. I already knew I was not going to vote for him. The convo with dad just shed more meat on the matter. 2 more campaign mailers today. I am in awe that you checked out who I was talking about because I avoided names.

Oh, good. Glad to hear no offense was caused. It can be hard to tell on the internet.

Pugno is repugnant.

“Specifically, it was alleged that Pugno used public resources of the State Senate – phones, faxes, stationery – to vet the proposed initiative with Mormon leaders. Salladay included a letter Pugno wrote on February 26, 1998 to BYU law professor Lynn Wardle. The letter was on California State Senate letterhead and asked Wardle to review proposed ballot language with an eye toward ensuring it could pass at the ballot box. It was also reported that Pugno may have used public funds to travel to Arizona for a “strategic consultation” meeting with LDS leaders that same year. That appears to be in violation of the Political Reform Act, which governs issues such as this.”

Source: http://www.couragecampaign.org/press/431/courage-campaign-s-rick-jacobs-files-fppc-complaint-against-andy-pugno-assembly-candidate-and-counsel-for-protect-marriage

Pugno takes mormon money, and plans campaign strategy with mormons, but he won't hire mormons, jews, or gays:

"“On September 8th, a Jewish, conservative Republican — David Benkof — wrote a piece entitled Right-wing nonsense, where he questioned the Yes On 8 – Protect Marriage Campaign’s use of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) as their legal defense team:
‘I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, so I supported the man-woman marriage Proposition 8 in California – until I discovered the Proposition 8 campaign tolerates discrimination against Jews. ProtectMarriage.com’s legal counsel, the Alliance Defense Fund, has in effect a “No Jews Need Apply” policy for legal and even secretarial positions. They say they’re not a law firm, they’re a “ministry” and thus have a right to discriminate against Jews and other non-Christians. But even if that’s true, Proposition 8 had hundreds of law firms to choose from. The fact they chose one that refuses to hire a Jew like me is very disturbing.’”

"Sandeen checked the ADF’s employment policies and found “he’s correct on the facts, in that the ADF doesn’t hire anyone but those who ascribe to the ADF’s vision of Christianity,” which means ADF does not hire Jews or – ironically given the Prop 8 association – Mormons."