Switzerland Throws Out Mormon Missionaries
All 13 Mormon Members of Congress Fight Back

What Would a President Romney Do?

Washington, DC – The story just leaked out that all 13 Mormon members of the United States Congress sent a strong letter to the Swiss Ambassador to the United States. The 13 letter signers were protesting the Swiss Government’s banning of Mormon Missionaries from that county. This was reported yesterday in The Salt Lake Tribune: CLICK HERE

The one page letter signed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and four other United States Senators and eight House members was sent to Swiss Ambassador Urs Ziswiler and said, “We earnestly petition the Swiss Government to reconsider its decision and work with us and the LDS Church to find a solution which would permit LDS Missionaries to continue to perform their missionary service in Switzerland as they have done since 1850.”

Copy of Congressional Letter to Swiss Ambassador: CLICK HERE

Swiss Ambassador Ziswiler’s letter back to the 13 members of Congress — Thanks, but no thanks… CLICK HERE

U.S. Ambassador & Mormon Church Leader(s)
Meet With Swiss Government Officials

In his letter, the Swiss Ambassador refers to one recent meeting to discuss the situation between high ranking Swiss Government officials and the United States Ambassador to Switzerland Don Beyer, and at least one top Mormon Church leader, a Mr. E. Weidman.

How much other lobbying, regarding their Missionaries, has Senate Leader Harry Reid and the other 12 Mormon members of the U.S Congress done before with foreign government leaders?

What Would President Mitt Romney Do?

It begs the question, if Mitt Romney was elected President of the United States, would he take orders from the Mormon Church President like these 13 members of Congress have just done?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) requires “obedience” to the Church over family and country, period.

These five rogue Senators and eight House Members are attempting to conduct U.S. foreign policy on behalf of their faith.

Their letter to the Swiss Government states:

“It would be a great tragedy for our two nations if the long-standing missionary program of the LDS Church in Switzerland were terminated,” the members wrote. “Switzerland can have no more enthusiastic, lifetime ambassadors in the United States than these young people when they return home.”

Words like “our two nations” and “lifetime ambassadors” sure sound like diplomat-speak to me.

Mormon Church Prosecuted and Investigated in California

As a political watchdog, I’ve spent the last 2 ½ years researching the political practices of the Mormon Church. I filed a complaint against the Mormon Church with the California Fair Political Practices Commission two years ago that led to its prosecution, an 18 month investigation, a guilty finding and a fine; all for election law violations during the Mormon Church’s direct involvement in California’s Proposition 8 campaign in 2008.

Did Senate Leader Harry Reid Organize this Foreign Lobbying Campaign?

The group that signed was led by United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Reid was joined by both United States Senators from Utah, Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Robert Bennett (R-UT), Senator Michael Crapo (R-ID) and Senator Tom Udall (D-NM).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (left), Mormon Church President Thomas S. Monson (center), meet with President Obama in the Oval Office July 20, 2009.

There were eight House Members who also signed the letter to the Swiss Government, Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Wally Herger (R-CA), Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), Mike Simpson (R-ID), Dean Heller (R-NV) and all three House members from Utah: Rob Bishop (R-UT), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Jim Matheson (D-UT).

State Department Investigation Called For

Because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) was in direct contact with officials of a foreign government, and even used a United States Ambassador on its behalf, I hereby request the United States Department of State conduct a full investigation of all lobbying activities and all other actions taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and members of Congress with the Government of Switzerland and all other counties that the Mormon Church is in direct contact with.

cc: The Honorable Hillary Clinton,
Secretary of State
The Honorable John Kerry,
Chairman, U.S Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
The Honorable Howard Berman,
Chairman, U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
The Honorable Barbara Boxer,
Chair, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics
The Honorable Zoe Lofgren,
Chair, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

To link to the announcement about Fred Karger’s appearance on the Fallon Forum, click here.

Fred Karger will be on Ed Fallon’s radio program tonight. Karger is originally from Chicago, who worked for over 20 years with leading national Republicans, including Reagan, Bush, and Dole. In recent years he’s been an outspoken activist for LGBT equality, leading efforts to expose questionable campaign finance activities on the part of anti-gay organizations. Make plans to tune in tonight from 7:00- 8:00 p.m. on 98.3 WOW-FM or online. Please consider including your voice in the conversation by calling 515.312.0983 or 866.908.8255 (TALK). If you miss the show, podcasts are available.

To link to the podcast, Click Here. Or, click the arrow to listen now.

A gay Republican president?

Fred Karger, a gay civil rights activist and a Republican, has been dropping not-so-subtle hints that he may seek the GOP nomination for president in 2012. This week, Karger let reporters know he will be spending some more time in New Hampshire, home of the first-in-the-nation primary election in January 2012.

“I have been in New Hampshire for nearly a month so far this year, and will be spending a lot more time there over the next year and a half,” Karger said in a statement. “Lots to do.”

Karger has dubbed the potential, long-shot presidential campaign “Fred Who?”

Karger founded Californians Against Hate in reaction to Proposition 8, the successful California ballot measure that overturned gay marriage in the state in 2008. He filed complaints against the LDS Church for under-reported donations in the “Yes on 8″ campaign.

In June, the California Fair Political Practices Commission fined the church $5,539 for $36,928 in contributions that were not reported on time.

Karger recently changed the name of Californians Against Hate to Rights Equal Rights to reflect a new national scope and direction.

California-based, pro-marriage group goes national

If marriage equality activist and potential presidential candidate Fred Karger has his way, Lieutenant Dan Choi will be the country’s first out gay chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Karger, who’s set to explore a 2012 presidential bid, quipped that’s what he told Choi he’d like to see when he ran into him at New York City’s recent Pride parade.

Choi has become the public face of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces. Karger didn’t say what Choi’s response was.

Before he makes any move toward the White House, though, Karger has plenty to do.

The man behind the anti-Prop 8 group Californians Against Hate, announced recently that the group’s name is changing to Rights Equal Rights.

Some, including Geoff Kors, the executive director of Equality California, have suggested using the word “hate” to fight for same-sex marriage could be counterproductive.

Karger, 60, said including the word in the original name of his group had “served its purpose very well.”

“When I started this effort, I wanted to let people know I was going to be aggressive, and unfortunately there’s still many people who don’t like the LGBT community,” he said. “But I wanted to take a more positive tone. That’s kind of the direction I’m heading, personally, and I think Californians Against Hate has been hugely successful in slowing down our opponents.”

Karger spoke with the Bay Area Reporter on Friday, July 16, which was the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the boycott he helped launch against hotelier Doug Manchester in San Diego.

Fred Karger has changed the name of his Californians Against Hate to Rights Equal Rights as a nod to the broader work he has been doing. Photo: Courtesy Fred Karger

The Californians Against Hate site featured a “dishonor roll” of Prop 8 contributors, and was launched around the same time that Karger called for the Manchester boycott.

Manchester, whose properties include the Grand Hyatt in San Diego, gave $125,000 to support what eventually became Prop 8, which California voters passed in November 2008 to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage. The boycott reportedly resulted in millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The mission of Rights Equal Rights will include “keeping an eye on the major opponents of equality,” with the National Organization for Marriage and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being at the top of the list, said Karger. Members of both groups were among Prop 8′s biggest backers.

Karger prompted the state of Maine to investigate NOM when he filed a complaint on its reporting practices. The anti-gay organization worked to support the same-sex marriage ban in that state, which ultimately passed in November 2009.

Most recently, California’s Fair Political Practices Commission fined the Mormon Church $5,339 after Karger complained about the church’s late reporting of contributions that were supportive of Prop 8.

“We’ll continue to speak out when I see questionable activities on their behalf,” said Karger of anti-marriage equality organizations.

He said, “I realized the name of my organization had grown beyond Californians Against Hate and it was time to adjust that” when he filed the complaint in Maine.

Karger said when the Manchester boycott started two years ago, he had originally thought it would last just four and a half months.

“I had no idea this would go on, so I have to make a few adjustments to change,” said Karger.

He said the Manchester and similar boycotts have sent “a clear message to the big donors that if they want to contribute six-figure sums in these elections when it’s public, we might not want to patronize their businesses.”

When a ballot measure to repeal Prop 8 comes, said Karger, “It will be a very different situation” than what occurred in 2008, when Prop 8′s backers raised more than $40 million to push their measure. Prop 8 opponents raised similar amounts.

“The other side will have to do major money laundering if they’re going to try to keep marriage away from us,” he said.

Karger, a Republican, is in the process of establishing an exploratory committee for a 2012 presidential bid. He said couldn’t yet affirmatively announce a bid because that would mean he’d have to start filing campaign finance reports.

However, Karger said he is developing a commercial called “Good Morning, New Hampshire.”

“It’s going to be a fun biographical piece to introduce New Hampshire to Fred Karger,” he said. Karger, who said he hasn’t yet raised any money for a presidential bid, plans to rent a house and get a car in the state. New Hampshire is the first state where presidential primaries are held.

Karger said he’d pattern himself after another GOP member – the late former President Ronald Regan.

Karger said that like himself, Reagan was “always upbeat.” He expressed confidence.

“I’m not going to be raising hundreds of millions of dollars, unlike some of my potential opponents,” he said, but added that he’d be participating in many of the presidential debates that will come.

He said if he does make an announcement to run for president, it would probably be sometime next year.

For more information on Karger’s work to support marriage equality, visit www.rightsequalrights.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Fines Proposed Against Mormon Church for Prop 8 Campaign Finance Violations

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign today hailed a proposal by the California Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC) that would fine The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) for failing to report all of its late non-monetary contributions in its efforts to pass Proposition 8 in California in 2008. While the recommended fine of just more than $5,500 for the unreported late contributions of $36,968 to the Yes on 8 campaign may seem inconsequential, it represents a pattern of blatant disregard for California election laws and provides ongoing evidence that the Mormon Church was a significant leader in the campaign to repeal marriage equality, even while it evaded standard reporting requirements and denied its involvement.

HRC President Joe Solmonese also commended the efforts of Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate, for filing the initial FPPC complaint that has shed light on the anti-equality activities of the Mormon Church. The issue, scheduled to be discussed at its June 10th meeting, follows the January 2009 admission by the Mormon Church to the FPPC that it failed to report in-kind contributions to the Yes on 8 campaign of $190,000. Previously the Mormon Church had failed to disclose its real involvement in the Proposition 8 campaign, as California law required it to do.

“Thanks to Fred Karger’s dogged pursuit of the truth, we now know the Mormon Church not only violated the law in its election work to pass Prop 8, it most likely did so purposely” said Solmonese. “It’s just not credible that a multi-billion dollar, sophisticated organization like the LDS Church didn’t know or understand the election law requirements. California requires early disclosure so voters know who’s behind these referendum fights and clearly, the Mormon Church worked overtime to keep their full involvement hidden from the people of California.”

A copy of the FPPC complaint is available at the link.

The banner ad ran online at the New Hampshire Union-Leader, the Boston Globe and the Salt Lake Tribune websites

SAN DIEGO, CA – Californians Against Hate will be asking Mitt Romney “to urge the Mormon Church to stop its nasty campaign to ban gay marriage,” in ads running throughout San Diego next week.

Another appeal will be made to Romney at a demonstration on Monday, March 22, 2010 at 5:30 pm at his book signing at the Deseret Bookstore. Californians Against Hate is organizing the friendly demonstration to welcome the former Massachusetts governor to San Diego.

WHAT: Demonstration at Mitt Romney’s Book Signing

WHEN: Monday, March 22nd at 5:30 pm

WHERE: Deseret Bookstore (Mormon Church Owned)
La Jolla Village Sq. Shopping Center
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037
(S. E. Corner of Nobel Dr. and Villa La Jolla Dr.)
Exit 28 off I-5 south — Exit 28A off I-5 north

858-535-1404

The Deseret Bookstore, where Monday’s book signing is being held, is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). Deseret Books is in the shadow of the San Diego Mormon Temple, which is located just across the 5 Freeway (Deseret Bookstore is on the west side of the Freeway).

The online banner ad (copy above) will begin running in four (4) San Diego publications beginning Monday, March 22, 2010. The ads will link to the full ad copy on the new web site, Rights Equal Rights home page.

Ads Will Run In:

• San Diego Union-Tribune
• La Jolla Light
• GLT (Gay and Lesbian Times)
• San Diego Gay and Lesbian News

Californians Against Hate began the Call Mitt Romney ad campaign in January 2010.  It ran the banner ad in the New Hampshire Union-Leader, The Boston Globe and The Salt Lake City Tribune.  Washington, DC based, Politico was the first to report on this groundbreaking ad campaign, “Gay Group Targets Romney,” directed at presumptive 2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The ad asks Mormon Church leaders to take a vow of political neutrality on gay marriage.

Rights Equal Rights

SAN DIEGO DEMONSTRATION

Monday, March 22nd – 5:30 pm

Ask Mitt Anything

Ask Mitt Romney to help stop the Mormon Church’s nasty campaign against gay marriage!

As a national political leader and influential member of the Mormon Church, Mitt Romney could persuade Church leaders to end their 15 years of active involvement, and massive financial support to oppose equal rights for Gay and Lesbian Americans.

The Mormon Church and its members have spent tens of millions of dollars in 31 states to ban gay marriage and hurt so many people.

Mormon Church Leaders should take a vow of political neutrality on gay rights, similar to their stated practice in partisan elections.

WHAT: Demonstration at Mitt Romney’s Book Signing

WHEN: Monday, March 22nd at 5:30 pm

WHERE: Deseret Bookstore (Mormon Church Owned)
La Jolla Village Sq. Shopping Center
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037
(S. E. Corner of Nobel Dr. and Villa La Jolla Dr.)
Exit 28 off I-5 south — Exit 28A off I-5 north

858-535-1404

BRING SIGNS!

Open Letter to Maggie Gallagher

Like millions of Americans, I was able to see the absolute joy experienced by hundreds of gay and lesbian couples who are now able to legally marry in Washington, DC. I wept when I saw television reports of couples who have been together, some for decades, finally able to share in the joy and happiness afforded automatically to their straight brothers and sisters.

Hooray for the Washington, DC City Council and Mayor Fenty for allowing all its residents full equality under the law just like our founding fathers intended.

I cried with joy for all the young LGBTQ Americans who can clearly see that they are not inferior, but equal. I am thrilled that kids growing up now know that they can marry the person that they love in five enlightened states, and in our nation’s capitol.

Hooray for our courageous leaders who stood up to bigotry and discrimination and did the right thing. They stood up to you and your army of paid henchmen who fight marriage equality tooth and nail every step of the way.

I don’t have words to express my disgust toward you and all those you are fronting for at the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). You have spent at least $25 million in just the past few years to try and undo the happiness of so many people. Hundreds of couples lined up in the cold and rain of Washington last Wednesday in order get a license so they could finally marry the one they love.

Why are you, all your financial backers and all your high-priced attorneys across the country hell-bent on destroying so many lives and hurting so many people, just as they are about to experience the happiest day of their lives?

What is so wrong with your life, that you make your living attempting to hurt so many others?

You preside over two extremely well funded organizations that portend to “protect marriage.” You speak all over the county at marriage rallies. You are on TV all the time defending what you call the “sanctity of marriage.” You have written books on marriage, one of which is even titled, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better-Off Financially, yet NOM’s Executive Director, Brian Brown and you viciously attack anyone who gets in your way.

Are You Even Married, Maggie?

No one has ever seen your husband. You attend countless marriage events, chock full of married couples, celebrating marriage, yet you always, always show up alone.

I had the displeasure of attending your recent presentation at the CATO Institute in Washington, DC. I was amazed to see that you don’t wear a wedding ring. No rings on any fingers. Where is your alleged husband? Why no ring?

No rings on any fingers.

Just last year, NOM proudly said it spent over $8 million in a dozen states in your recently released “Investor’s Report.”

That doesn’t even include the millions more in attorney’s fees and money raised through your 501(c)3 charitable fund.

You fight people’s happiness at the ballot box, state legislatures and through too many law suits to count.

Recently, NOM has lead the effort to undo the Washington, DC law through every means possible, including going to Congress, the courts, all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. Brian Brown’s angry email from Friday states, “Don’t believe the lies. It’s not over in D.C. by any means.”

Where Does All Your Money Come From?

You continually hide where all your millions come from on your extremely late or never reported federal income tax filings. You refuse to cooperate with the California and Maine Ethics Commissions (both of whom are currently investigating your National Organization for Marriage), and when these investigations began into your many campaign irregularities, you sued both states to stop their investigation in an attempt to intimidate those seeking the truth.

Anyone who dares to support equality becomes the victim of your venom and hate.

We will not be intimidated. We refuse to allow you, and all those paying your salary, to hurt any more young people.

We have enlisted our own army to fight NOM and you at every turn. We are dedicated to finding out the truth about you and the front group that you head. And we will not rest until your cover of secrecy and deceit is lifted.

Mother Jones cover and inside spread

He was one of the GOP's top dark-arts operators. Now he

Who’s that masked man gracing the pages of Mother Jones? It’s the founder of Californians Against Hate, Fred Karger. Check out the table of contents, read the article online, or grab a copy at your local newsstand.

The banner ad ran online at the New Hampshire Union-Leader, the Boston Globe and the Salt Lake Tribune websites

From Ben Smith’s Politico column – January 20, 2010:

Gay group targets Romney

My colleague Ken Vogel reports that a California political operative whose hardball opposition to California’s 2008 anti-same-sex-marriage initiative generated controversy has set his sights on Mitt Romney:

Fred Karger, a prominent gay rights activist, later this week will launch a campaign urging Romney to lobby the Mormon Church to back down from its opposition to same-sex marriage.

Romney’s Mormonism hurt him during his unsuccessful 2008 bid for the GOP presidential nomination. And Karger’s campaign nods toward Romney’s 2012 presidential ambitions. Not only is it debuting roughly two years before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, but it will launch with an ad on the websites of the New Hampshire Union-Leader, the Boston Globe and The Salt Lake Tribune.

The ad will link to the website of a new group called Rights Equal Rights, which is funded in part by Californians Against Hate, a leading opponent of the anti-same-sex ballot initiative. The website asserts that “as a national political leader and influential member of the Mormon Church, Mitt Romney could persuade church leaders to end their 15 years of active involvement, including their massive financial support, to oppose equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans.”

Kim Farrah, a spokeswoman for the Mormon Church, pointed out that the church itself “did not spend tens of millions of dollars in campaigns to ban gay marriages” — as Rights Equal Rights’ website claims — but also defended the church’s ability “to speak out on moral issues as part of the Democratic process.”

Though Romney holds no official role within the church beyond being a member, its leaders and membership strongly backed his 2008 presidential campaign and can be expected to align behind him if he runs again in 2012.

While reminders of Romney’s Mormonism won’t help him with the broader GOP electorate, reminders of his opposition to same-sex marriage might buoy his standing with social conservatives. In 2008, they held against him a pledge he made (http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0807/Romneys_tonal_shift.html) during a 1994 Senate race to be a stronger advocate for gay rights than his opponent, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), a champion of the gay community.

A Romney spokesman declined to comment on Karger’s effort, though during the presidential campaign, his aides asserted that his stances never shifted on gay issues. They pointed out that he had long been on record opposed to same-sex marriage, as well as discrimination against gays.

But Karger charged Romney had “flip-flopped. The new Mitt Romney would be a disaster for the gay community as president.”

Still, Karger asserted the target of his campaign is not Romney but, rather, the Mormon Church, which supported the California initiative.

Posted by Ben Smith 02:34 PM

Prop 8 screenings draw standing ovations, but no LDS officials

Last night, I attended the Salt Lake City screening of “8: The Mormon Proposition,” the Sundance documentary about the LDS Church’s role in overturning gay marriage in California.

The film, as has become a trend (see video below), enjoyed an extended standing ovation from the audience. But co-director Steven Greenstreet complained that LDS Church officials still have not accepted his offer for a free ticket to see the film and discuss it.

It’s doubtful an LDS general authority or public-affairs person will turn up at one of the remaining screenings and sound off in a Q&A.

But here’s what some others had to say after the film showed at the Tower Theatre.

• Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate said he is getting ready to file a “supplemental complaint” with the California Fair Political Practices Commission alleging unreported LDS Church contributions to the Prop 8 campaign based on new evidence introduced during a federal trial going on now in San Francisco.
• “This is not a gay issue,” said former Mormon Emily Pearson, who was interviewed in the film. “It’s very important that straight people get noisy and courageous.”
• Tyler Barrick, who’s marriage to Spencer Jones is featured in the film, said he has achieved what his sisters have not: When Barrick was a child, he said, “my mom would go on and on and on about how my sisters would grow up to marry returned missionaries. And I was the first one to do it.”
• Linda Stay, Barrick’s mom, said she picked her son over her Mormon religion, and she hopes to inspire other moms to do the same. Most of all, she said, she did it for her LDS grandkids. “Some day they will know that this mom stood on the side of her kids.”

LGBT FYI is a blog about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Rosemary Winters covers politics and LGBT issues for The Salt Lake Tribune. Since joining The Tribune in 2003, she has written about small business, global warming, city governments, sexuality and Utah’s involvement in California’s Proposition 8. During the 2009 legislative session, she outed former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. — as a supporter of civil unions.