This diary is cross posted from The California Majority Report with the permission of author Chris Moore, President of the Stonewall Democratic Club of Greater Sacramento. Chris formerly served as Political Director for Equality California.
I'm hoping to bring national attention to this state level race and thank Chris for letting me cross post his excellent discussion on this.
We really have an opportunity here to send a clear message to NOM and Pugno that their agenda is not welcome. I live in the district and my husband and I just won't allow Pugno to be our state Assemblyman.
Won't you help in anyway you can, GOTV, $, sharing this on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Thank you!
By Chris Moore
National Organization for Marriage is Using Children as Political Pawns... Again.
October 19, 2010 @ 12:49 PM
The folks behind the divisive and hurtful Yes on Proposition 8 T.V. ads just couldn't help themselves -- The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is once again using children as political pawns, but this time in an attempt to elect one of their own, Andrew Pugno, to the California State Assembly by smearing his pro-equality challenger Dr. Richard Pan. The two are facing off in a hotly contested race for Assembly District 5 in the Sacramento region.
Pugno is the golden boy of the nation-wide anti marriage equality effort. His career sets him apart from your standard anti marriage equality activists and includes such highlights as: Chief of Staff to the notoriously homophobic late Senator Pete Knight, Co-Author of Proposition 8, and lead attorney for the Yes on 8 Campaign. It is no surprise that NOM is spending big to have their go-to California political operative elected to the Assembly.
NOM has spent over $112,000 to air a new television ad in which they warn that Pugno's opponent, Richard Pan, will support the teaching of gay marriage to 2nd graders. See the ad below:
It is fairly ironic that NOM is divisively using children as political pawns in an effort to smear Dr. Richard Pan, a pediatrician that has focused his career on building community partnerships to increase children's health coverage. Dr. Pan co-founded the Healthy Kids Healthy Future program, which secured health, dental and vision coverage for over 65,000 children in the Sacramento region.
Assembly District 5 was drawn as a Republican district in 2000 but has been trending more and more Democratic. The polling for the race shows that Dr. Pan will win as long as his campaign can get the message out about Pugno's extremist past. In addition to Pugno's anti-gay past, he has also worked to eliminate all abortions, even in the case of incest and rape.
To learn more about this race and Andrew Pugno's extreme past, visit http://www.stopandrewpugno.com/...
To help Dr. Richard Pan, please visit http://www.panforassembly.com/
My ActBlue Page for Dr. Pan's Campaign
Thanks for reading and thanks for acting!