Ballots for the Washington State primary election were sent out yesterday. As you know, much of the state will vote by mail. In fact, a number of counties exclusively vote by mail.
Focus on the Family ACTION released their judicial voter's guide yesterday as well. We have posted it on our website for your convenience.
Many will actually be voting by mail over the next few weeks. Please continue to contact friends and family and send the Voter Guide to as many as possible.
John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
As you vote, remember character counts. Vote your values.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Lawyers Ask WA Supreme Court To Reconsider Gay Marriage
Last night, just before the deadline, the Northwest Women’s Law Center and the ACLU filed a motion with the Washington Supreme Court to reconsider the Court’s recent ruling on DOMA.
They say the Court’s finding that the Legislature had a “rational basis” for seeking to regulate marriage was flawed.
Jon Davidson, a lawyer with the gay rights group Lambda Legal, said the Courts must be available to protect minority’s rights. He said, “We have a Court to protect the rights of minorities when the Legislature doesn’t want to.”
Chief Justice Alexander had already extended the period in which they could file a request for reconsideration. After using the entire extension time, they filed.
Now the question is what will the Chief Justice do? Will he ask the state for a written response? Or will he schedule new oral arguments? Or will he simply reject their request?
Any of these three options could take some time.
Could it be that because this issue is so important, it will take more time to review these options?
If he simply rejects the request, it could take days or perhaps a week or so.
If he asks the state for a written response, that could take much longer. If he schedules new oral arguments, that would be even longer.
While the Chief Justice has said the Court is not influenced by polls and politics, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in relation to the time table of the September 19th primary where the Chief Justice and two of his colleagues face strong challenges by qualified candidates.
While the Chief Justice voted with the majority to uphold DOMA, he has not generally ruled in favor of traditional marriage and values.
If enough consideration is given to this request for reconsideration, it could be that any real decision would come after the election.
This case has been thoroughly heard. The Court correctly ruled according to the Constitution. Let’s hope and pray the Chief Justice has the courage to stay with that decision.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
**We have had many requests from readers to restate how the Supreme Court justices voted in the DOMA decision.
Washington Supreme Court DOMA Decision was a 5-4 majority. Justice Barbara Madsen wrote the opinion and was joined by Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and Justice Charles Johnson. Justices James Johnson and Richard Sanders joined the majority in a separate concurrence. Justices Bobbe Bridge, Mary Fairhurst, Susan Owens and Tom Chambers dissented.
Should Judeo-Christian Beliefs Be the Basis of US Law?
I often hear people decrying the fact that people of faith are demanding that Biblical law be the basis for U.S. law. Or we hear stern warnings that judges may rule in favor of Christians and their beliefs now, but wait until they turn against you, then you'll know how we secularists feel.
I also hear that the U.S. and State Supreme Court is supposed to look out for the disenfranchised and the minorities, in case the majority creates laws that are unfair. This was not the original intent.
Other than establishing it, the Constitution (Article III of the U.S. Constitution) spells out neither the specific duties, powers, nor organization of the Supreme Court.
And George Washington said, "The fundamental principle of our Constitution enjoins that the will of the majority shall prevail."
The Founding Fathers believed that God is the ultimate source of law. This is why they predicated the freedoms that we enjoy in America as being given by God and charged the government with protecting those God-given rights.
In fact, this belief was not only dominate among the delegates in 1787 when the Constitution was framed, but seventy years later when the issue of slavery came into obvious conflict with their Biblical beliefs, ("that all men were created equal" before God and the law). The Constitution was interpreted in light of Biblical principles.
Almost all of the framers of the Constitution were lawyers or men who had studied law either formally or personally. Consequently, they were aware of and had been influenced by Samuel Rutherford, John Witherspoon, John Locke and William Blackstone. Two of these men were Christian ministers and two were deeply dedicated Christian lawyers. All were profoundly responsible for formulating what become known as United States or American law.
Samuel Rutherford wrote Lex, Rex or, The Law and The Prince (1644). His premise was that government must be based upon the absolutes of the Bible or that government would ultimately fail.
John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister and later President of Princeton University, brought the principles of Lex, Rex into the writing of the Constitution through his personal influence and his students who reached prominent positions of influence in the Constitutional Convention.
Witherspoon's students included a U.S. President, James Madison, a U.S. Vice President, Aaron Burr, ten cabinet officers, twenty-one senators, thirty-nine congressmen and twelve state governors.
It is impossible to overstate the influence of the Bible and Christian tradition and the early American's emphasis on learning and literary achievement based on the Bible.
That Biblical, Christian consensus gave us the amazing document we call the Constitution of the United States. It could never have been provided by an amoral, bibleless people.
Nor can this country sustain itself under this Constitution without the continuing influence of these Judeo-Christians values.
James Quincy Adams said, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."
We people of faith are not trying to "Christianize" America. The Founding Fathers did that. We are trying to sustain and advance a nation that will, under God, continue to guard and protect those inalienable, God-given rights that has made America great.
So great that those who work to undermine and destroy the very system that gives them the freedom to do so, are free to continue to do so.
We do not want a Theocracy. We simply want freedom.
We also want courts who will simply interpret the law, not create it.
_______________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
The upcoming judicial election is the most important in many years.
While five Washington State Supreme Court Justices ruled in favor of DOMA, four did not. Those four overstepped their Constitutional role by trying to legislate from the bench. Instead of interpreting the law, these four judges tried to define what they think the law “should” be, not what they are. And one who ruled in favor of traditional marriage has not had a record of doing so in the past.
We have an opportunity to create change.
We need an additional $21,000 within the next 10 days to complete the pre-primary election campaign.
We have already mailed out thousands of Judicial Voter Guides, many of which has been duplicated by both individuals and churches. We have seen hundreds of thousands of hits on the judicial information posted on our website already this month.
However, we still have two major mailings that must go out within the next 10 days.
Your tax-deductible contribution right now will help complete the Voter Education Campaign that has already raised awareness around the state of Washington.
You can give online (CLICK HERE) or mail a check today to:
I have a growing concern that our children are being used, in an increasing way, to advance the agenda of the secular progressives – particularly that of the “special rights for homosexuals” and the pro-abortion groups.
Families were outraged when they learned that public school teachers from San Diego’s Cooperative Charter School took children with them to march in this summer’s Gay Pride Parade. A Catholic journalist, Allyson Smith, who covered the event, said she was appalled at what the kids were exposed to. She said they were exposed to “floats that advertised hard-core homosexual pornography.”
And then there is the “Day of Silence,” sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). They claim they have 500,000 students involved nationwide. The idea is that students say nothing – remain silent – during one full school day in recognition of the institutionalized “oppression” against gay students. Your children or grandchildren will face this again this coming school year.
Homosexual activists, including elected officials in our own states, have repeatedly said they are looking at a long-term plan to normalize homosexual behavior.
Homosexual activists see children as their future.
Public schools are fertile ground to implement their agenda.
Yesterday, I received an email forward of a story written by Regina Griggs. She heads up an organization that reaches out to parents and friends of ex-gays.
Their group had applied for a booth at last summer’s National PTA Convention and had been denied. However, a gay rights organization had not only been approved but was given a workshop as well.
She attended their workshop and noted that it included topics like, “Learning About Diversity at School in Every Discipline,” a class outlining how students in a math class can make pie charts of how many gay and transgender people are visible in their textbooks. There was also much material about, “What is Age Appropriate” in regard to instructing primary children to learn that “there aren’t any girl colors or boy colors or girl games or boy games.”
It seems incredulous to me that the tax-supported PTA would allow exhibits that promote homosexuality as normal, while declining to allow or organization with a different view.
And finally, Yale University has partnered with a Planned Parenthood affiliate to create a residency training program teaching second-year medical students how to perform abortions.
Dr. Men-Jean Lee, the program director at Yale said, “Yale is very satisfied with the experience and training the residents are receiving.”
Parents – Grandparents, this is a time to be dissatisfied, and to be aware.
Your children are under assault by those who seek to re-engineer society as we know it. Please, if you are not already, become involved in your children’s school. Know what curriculum is being used.
Indeed, our children are the future.
_____________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
There is a breaking story in Washington State today that goes something like this:
Straight Woman Seeks Equality Under Gay-Rights Law.
I just finished an interview with KING 5 TV in Seattle and the news people are still trying to sort out all of the ramifications.
Sandi Scott-Moore, an employee of Honeywell International in Redmond, WA, claims health insurance coverage for her male partner was denied because the unmarried couple is not of the same gender.
Robert Ferris, of Honeywell, says the company does provide health benefits for partners of its gay and lesbian employees. He is also saying Honeywell has a zero-tolerance stand on discrimination. Yet he is saying her claim has no merit. Which is it?
How can benefits go to the unmarried partner if you’re gay but not if you’re heterosexual?
Marc Brennen, Human Rights Commission Director said, “We could be creating new policy for employers and other entities in the State.” He said, “Upholding the claim could set a sweeping new precedent for Washington business.”
Faith & Freedom and other faith-based organizations have been saying that this bill was dangerous and would have far-reaching and possibly unintended consequences.
A lawyer friend of mine just sent me the following email.
“Gary. So now the flood gates have been opened. The ‘special rights’ law will reorder our entire society by marginalizing and blurring [traditional] marriage and traditional roles such as man, woman, husband and wife. All relationships will be equal and marriage will no longer have specific meaning nor be special.”
When the faith community unsuccessfully campaigned to get HB2661 on the ballot, we were consistently accused of being prejudiced or bigoted.
We are not. However, there are reasons why traditional marriage and values have served humanity well for thousands of years.
To re-engineer society is to begin moving down a slippery slope from which there is little hope for recovery.
House Bill 2661 is a solid first step in that direction. We have only begun to see its unintended consequences.
__________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Much has been written about the "marriage issue" since the Washington State Legislature passed DOMA in 1998. Many have voiced their feelings on both sides of the issue, with the Washington State Supreme Court most recently voicing their opinion.
Senator Dan Swecker serves Washington's 20th legislative district, but in many ways, he serves the entire state of Washington. He was the prime sponsor of the Senate version of the DOMA legislation back in 1998. Since then his comments have given clarity and calm in the midst of conflict.
Most recently, his guest commentary appeared in the Seattle Times and once again his words gave clarity.
I want to share his thoughts regarding traditional marriage.
Most everyone cares who sits on Washington's highest court.
A look at the recent decision to uphold DOMA (traditional marriage) gives us a clear snapshot of the problem.
I, as many of you, took a deep breath and uttered a “thank you” to the Lord as we learned that DOMA had been upheld.
But now it’s time to exhale.
Four of the Washington Supreme Court Justices, in their ruling on DOMA, overstepped their Constitutional role by trying to legislate from the bench. Instead of interpreting the law as the majority did, these judges tried to define what the laws “should” be, not what they are.
Once again, we saw judicial activism in its highest form.
The high level of interest in Faith & Freedom's Judicial Voter’s Guide reflects two things:
First, the secularist progressives have learned that it is very difficult to push their agenda by a vote of the public. The majority of the public does not agree with them. Not only on marriage, but on a variety of issues. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for them to elect judicial activists. Its one of the few ways they can advance their agenda.
If you will recall, it was the loyal supporters of the gay-rights agenda in the Washington State legislature that publicly opposed HB2661 going to a vote of the people. These people must elect activist judges to continue to advance their agenda.
Secondly, people of faith and conservatives, in general, have become weary of the façade.
Where once people generally trusted judges to strictly interpret the law, because of judicial activism, people have become suspect and therefore highly interested in who sits on our state and national courts. People of faith do not want judges to do anything other than strictly interpret the law. Secular progressives want judges to help advance their agenda, and too many judges have complied.
This is a window of opportunity that we must not miss.
There are three highly-qualified candidates for the Washington State Supreme Court and we have less than 30 days until the primary election, September 19th.
Please distribute as many Judicial Voter Guides as possible. (Click here to download the Voter's Guide in PDF format). Distribute them to friends, family, your church, and any group who shares our concern and interest.
Be sure to vote in the primary. In most cases, if a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote; their name will appear alone on the general ballot in November.
Let’s create change.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled yesterday that President Bush’s warrentless surveillance program is unconstitutional because it involved illegal searches.
She said, “There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution.”
However, Judge Taylor, in siding with the ACLU, missed the point. She’s dead wrong.
It’s not about genetics or monarchs. It’s not even about a power grab. It’s about survival.
Contrary to what the so-called elitists are saying, the President has never claimed any blanket privilege to intercept phone calls or emails without warrant. The NSA has only applied the program to international calls, and only those intercepted while tracking known or suspected Al-Qaeda operatives.
This ruling, in essence, extends First Amendment privileges to foreign terrorists abroad, so long as they are talking to someone in the US.
This not only gives unprecedented rights to reporters (for whom the suit was originally filed) but it gives unbelievable avenues of communication opportunities for terrorists.
Its inconceivable to me that an unelected, life-time appointed judge is calling a term-limited President a monarch.
I personally believe the security of we, the American people, is far more important than the rights of journalists to freely interview terrorists.
Too much freedom given to our enemies will indeed kill us.
Is the ACLU crowd blinded by their own ambition and agenda or are they ignorant to the realities of our world?
I, and a few others, were privileged to have lunch yesterday in Bellevue, Washington with Senator Rick Santorum, R-PA. A few minutes of conversation were given to politics – more than an hour was given to discussing “the war.” The war for our survival.
I know how busy each one of us are. Time is both important and valuable. However, may I urge you to read Senator Santorum’s speech given to the National Press Club on July 20th of this year? It will give clarity to this present war and its importance in regard to our survival.
In an attempt to help educate the public, Faith & Freedom has created a first-ever Washington State Judicial Voter’s Guide. We sent each Supreme Court Justice who is up for re-election and each candidate for that position, a judicial questionnaire. Also included are certain Court of Appeals races.
The questionnaire was not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to serve as a reference of the individual record and philosophy regarding social issues.
The Guide is now available on our website. You can also access the PDF file by clicking here.
Please copy or forward these Guides to as many people in Washington State as possible so they too, can make an informed vote at the primary election on September 19th.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
National Attention Turned Toward WA Supreme Court Election
When Faith and Freedom began work on a first-ever Washington Judicial Voter’s Guide a few weeks ago, it was in response to a profound need and a clear opportunity to help create change in the make-up of our courts.
Soon after we announced that the Guide was coming, we were contacted by a respected, national organization, expressing interest in such a project.
We now understand that one, maybe two national organizations are working on a judicial voter’s guide as well.
This is terrific!
Anytime Faith and Freedom can lead in such a way as to cause others to act and participate, that is good.
Here is the focus:
We have a unique opportunity to elect three highly-qualified candidates to the Washington State Supreme Court and several to the Washington circuit courts.
We must act. We learned from Referendum 65 that “almost” isn’t good enough.
If you live in Washington State, be sure you are registered to vote. We can help you with that. Click hereto download a Washington Voter Registration Form.
Be sure to vote in the primary. Most of these judicial elections are decided in the primary. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the primary vote, in most cases, they are listed alone on the general election ballot, thus nearly insuring election.
Share the importance of this election with friends, family, and your church.
If you live outside Washington State, pray that God will help us and give us victory in this election.
For all, wherever you live, would you help us financially? Your financial support today will enable us in making the greatest possible impact.
Gay Couples Receive Special Consideration From WA Supreme Court
The Associated Press is carrying the story. Lawyers for gay and lesbian couples will get two more weeks to possibly challenge the Washington State Supreme Court’s ruling upholding traditional marriage.
The Court has agreed to accommodate the gay and lesbian couples by agreeing to move the deadline for a reconsideration filing from August 15 to August 29th.
Lisa Stone, director of the Northwest Women’s Law Center, is very happy. She said, “The longer we have to think about it, the better off we are.”
Why are they doing this?
We know it has nothing to do with polls, because the Chief Justice told the press last January, when the Faith & Freedom Elway poll showed Washingtonians moving away from support for gay marriage, that people are always putting poll results out here and that they don’t mean anything to the Court.
We have been told often that the Court is not politicized.
Perhaps it’s in the spirit of “fairness.”
Yet, Chief Justice Alexander did tell “The Stranger,” a pro-homosexual news outlet in Seattle, that he expected the ruling to be challenged. It might also be noted that his record shows consistent support for homosexual issues, except for the recent DOMA ruling.
I’m sure Chief Justice has not thought about this, but what if he accepts the challenge because its such an important case and in the spirit of “fairness” wants to give the gay rights activists another chance.
If the lawyers for the gay and lesbian couples wait until the 29th to decide to file for reconsideration, then it takes the Court a while to decide whether to revisit a ruling, which is rare, but not unheard of, that could put this process well into the primary election cycle. It’s possible that a judge could actually, after “reconsidering,” change his mind sometime around or just prior to the primary.
Wouldn’t that be confusing?
There are certainly a lot of questions around our judicial process.
Within days, Faith & Freedom will be releasing our first ever Judicial Voter’s Guide. It will help all voters to see things more clearly.
_________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
The cartoons of Don Larson in his “Far Side” books have often amused me.
Some years ago he drew a cartoon of a dog giving a lesson to a class of puppies. The big dog was pointing to a picture of a cat on the screen. The cat had its back bowed with its hair sticking straight out causing the cat to appear much larger than it actually was. The caption read, “Trickery, Trickery, Trickery.” That was amusing.
What is equally tricky, but not amusing, is the extent that some liberal secularists will go to achieve their ends.
Hours before the deadline for filing for the Washington State Supreme Court position #2, “Michael” Johnson filed to run against “Stephen” Johnson.
Senator Steve Johnson has served Washington well, with dignity and would like to extend his service to serve on the Supreme Court.
“Michael” Johnson, as best we can tell, hasn’t served, little is known about him except that his firm is a member of the Greater Seattle Business Association and a member of the gay chamber of commerce.
Would a last minute entry on the ballot be a sincere desire to serve or an opportunity to confuse voters because the last names are the same?
You decide.
And what about the lawsuit filed against Mike McGavic? A lady with strong ties to very active secularists has filed the suit saying that she thinks Safeco gave McGavic too much money when he retired from Safeco, after turning the company around.
You never know for sure what people’s motives are; but the words “Trickery, Trickery, Trickery,” come to mind.
_________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Gary Randall is co-hosting a luncheon for Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. As you know, Sen. Santorum (R-PA), is one of us and has a strong allegiance with people of faith.
If you would like to attend, you are invited. Please use the link below to view the invitation in pdf format and register for this event.
Earlier this year, a Washington State Supreme Court Justice complained to the press that confusion was caused because of the "politicizing" of the judicial elections by some groups around the state.
The confusion began when judges became activists, making law and re-engineering society from the bench. Not when some of us "groups" finally got involved.
The confusion really began when the Courts began to move away from justice toward fairness.
Fairness is a wonderful word that most people want to embrace and impute to others. After all, isn't fairness treating people in the way we would like to be treated?
While fairness is a social virtue, it is a judicial fiasco.
In their attempt to secularize America, activist judges have purposefully tried to move society away from the church and religion, under the guise separation of church and state, toward what they call progressive secularism. In doing so, they have replaced administrating justice according to the law, with administering "fairness" according to their personal beliefs and agenda.
Pushing the misunderstood and misinterpreted comments of Thomas Jefferson in a letter to a group of Baptists regarding the separation of church and state, some actvist judges have, in too many cases, moved America away from our laws which were based on Judeo-Christian law and teaching.
Once they have achieved that "artificial separation" they and they alone become as god and decide what is "fair" in every court case.
Indeed, the judicial elections have become politicized and confused, not because concerned citizens have begun to pay more attention to who is sitting in the judge's chair, but because through the process of public accountability the light has been turned on and things that were hidden are now seen by the citizens whom these judges serve.
They may not see accountability as fair, but it is for certain necessary.
In the spirit of turning on the light, Faith & Freedom will soon be distributing Judicial Voter Guides throughout the State of Washington.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
The Bible, which some are now saying is archaic and does not speak to today’s culture, is not only relevant to today’s culture in it’s principles for life, but in its ancient wisdom as well.
A favored verse, written thousands of years ago says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
A well-known lawyer from Seattle called me a couple of days ago encouraging me to encourage you to press forward in the battle for the culture. He said people of faith should not feel that the traditional, Biblical marriage issue is settled. He said even now there are a number of strategies under way to redefine marriage and that the close decision by the Supreme Court (5-4)* would be a part of those strategies.
It is a time for change.
We must replace the judicial activists with qualified people who will rule according to the law (as five of the Supreme Court justices did) not according to their personal agenda.
If you are a registered voter in Washington State, you can make those changes in the primary election in September.
We must also elect men and women who will support the values of people of faith to our legislature.
“There is a time …” and this is the time for change.
_________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
* Washington Supreme Court DOMA Decision was a 5-4 majority. Justice Barbara Madsen wrote the opinion and was joined by Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and Justice Charles Johnson. Justices James Johnson and Richard Sanders joined the majority in a separate concurrence. Justices Bobbe Bridge, Mary Fairhurst, Susan Owens and Tom Chambers dissented.
Before the impact of the Washington Supreme Court’s ruling to support traditional, Biblical marriage had echoes across the State, gay rights activists were not only lamenting, but also making promises.
State Representative Jim Moeller promised that he will introduce legislation next year guaranteeing full marriage equality for gays and lesbians. He said he was, “deeply disappointed that a small majority of the State Supreme Court had decided to uphold intolerant DOMA.”
State Representative Ed Murray said, “Now is not the time to be disappointed, it’s a time to recommit ourselves to the struggle ahead and to someday pass marriage equality in the state legislature.”
Gay rights legislators, with the Governor’s full support, will be in full attack mode this next session.
Faith & Freedom (formerly WERG) has had a lobbyist in Olympia for the past 13 years. We will be there this next session as well.
Senator Dan Swecker said it best. “Historically, marriage has been about providing for the next generation. It is only in the modern era that we’ve decided the issue is love between two people. Love comes and goes, but a commitment to the next generation has to be sustainable.”
Well said, Senator. We will do our best to sustain our commitment to the next generation.
______________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
QUICK LINKS
