Freedom Writer - November 1995

GOP shells out to Sheldon

By Jerry Sloan

Republicans in California are in an uproar because 
the week before the general election the state Republican 
Party paid $47,000 to the nonprofit Traditional Values 
Coalition (TVC) of Anaheim, chaired by the infamous 
Rev. Louis P. Sheldon. The money was used to produce 
TVC's annual voter guide.

According to IRS regulations, nonprofits are not supposed 
to endorse candidates for political offices, but many 
on both the left and the right produce "balanced" guides 
on issues which they support. They do this by listing 
hot-button issues and giving the Republican and Democratic 
candidates' positions.

For instance, the TVC guide listed such concerns as 
abortion, homosexuality, school prayer, and "scientific" 
creationism. Usually the Republican candidate is opposed 
to abortion and gay rights, and supports school prayer 
and the teaching of "scientific" creationism. The Democratic 
candidate's position of these issues is generally the 
opposite. The IRS considers this balanced even though 
the voter guides are usually aimed at a specific bloc 
of voters.

Research by Project Tocsin of Sacramento first discovered 
a $35,000 payment to TVC listed on documents filed 
with the office of charitable trusts. Further research 
by Dan Morain of The Los Angeles Times discovered an 
additional $12,000 which TVC failed to report, but 
the Republicans did.

Needless to say, both Democrats and many mainstream 
Republicans are upset by the disclosure. Democrats 
are saying they are going to file complaints with the 
IRS and other agencies because they believe that since 
the voter guides are financed by the Republican Party, 
they are partisan in nature and therefore violate IRS 
regulations.

The Democrats' position is strengthened by a remark 
made by John Peschong, executive director of the California 
Republican Party, who was reported in The Los Angeles 
Times as saying, "They were delivering votes. They 
were making sure that people who support the Republican 
Party went to the polls — and they do a very good job."

Many mainstream Republicans were upset when they heard 
about the party giving money to the TVC. One lifelong 
Republican of over fifty years contacted by Project 
Tocsin asked to remain anonymous but said, "I can't 
believe the party gave those bastards money. I am going 
to rethink my contributions to the party."

Hollywood attorney Thomas Hunter Russell, a member 
of the gay-oriented Log Cabin Republican Club of Los 
Angeles, who describes himself as a fifth-generation 
Republican and chair of the board of the oldest Protestant 
church in Los Angeles, demanded in a letter to Peschong 
that the party ask for the money back even if it meant 
filing a lawsuit against the TVC. Russell further demanded 
assurances that "no more party funds will be provided 
to these neo-nuts from the TVC or the misnamed Christian 
Coalition."

The collusion between the TVC and the Republican Party 
has particularly upset members of the lesbigay community 
because of Sheldon's notorious record as a professional 
gay-basher. Briefly, the highlights of Sheldon's career:

_

1978 Executive director of the Defend Our Children 
which sponsored the infamous Proposition 6, the Briggs 
initiative, which would have banned gay and lesbian 
schoolteachers in California. It failed overwhelmingly.

1983 Founded the California Educational Institute for 
Truth and Morality. In 1987 the name was changed to 
Traditional Values Coalition.

1985 Proposed that everyone who might contract the 
AIDS virus be sent to "cities of refuge."

1986 Supported a Lyndon Larouche initiative which would 
have required registration of AIDS patients.

1991 Asked the attorney general to prepare language 
for a state constitutional amendment to forbid civil 
rights protection for gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons. 
The language was prepared but never submitted to the 
voters.

The TVC regularly appears at various public hearings 
at the legislature and the state board of education 
to oppose sex education and any textbook which might 
in any way present homosexuality in a favorable light.

1992 The TVC was fined $2000 by the California Fair 
Political Practices Commission for trying to hide a 
$6000 contribution to San Franciscans for Common Sense, 
a group which attempted to repeal the city's domestic 
partner law.

Twice this fall Congressional hearings were demanded 
by Sheldon to consider cutting off  federal funds to 
any school district which might have programs that 
support gay youth. 

_

Sheldon has played fast and loose with the rules, as 
he has pushed his agenda of hate. 

_Jerry_Sloan_heads_the_Sacramento-based_[ref001]Project 
Tocsin, a group that researches the Religious Right 
in California. _

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