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Republican Fletcher's 'gay card' from an old deck CALLS, ATTACKS IN FINAL DAYS TURNED OFF VOTERS
18th November 2007
By MusclFurPeX

Republican Fletcher's 'gay card' from an old deck
CALLS, ATTACKS IN FINAL DAYS TURNED OFF VOTERS
By John Cheves
JCHEVES@HERALD-LEADER.COM


With just days to go until Election Day, Gov. Ernie Fletcher reached into his pocket and pulled out the gay card.

Fletcher and his Republican allies warned voters that Democratic challenger Steve Beshear had gay and lesbian friends, that he backed "every homosexual cause," that he would legalize same-sex marriage, promote adoption by gay couples and put more gay teachers in schools. They even hinted about Beshear and his running mate Daniel Mongiardo personally, calling them "a couple of San Francisco treats."

The gay card seemed to work in Kentucky elections before.

But this time, for Fletcher, it was a losing hand.

Fletcher got clobbered Tuesday. Some undecided voters he hoped to win said they were "disgusted" by his attacks, which included automated phone calls to their homes warning about the homosexual threat.

"It was obviously a last-ditch effort," said Randi DeYoung, a retired schoolteacher in Lexington. A Republican, DeYoung ultimately voted for Beshear. "They should stop nit-picking on these divisive religious things and focus on the real issues, like education."

Fletcher's strategy failed for several reasons, political analysts said.

For one thing, they said, Fletcher might once have been a lay Baptist preacher, but he forfeited his standing as a moral leader during the state hiring investigation. Fletcher and his aides were indicted, prompting him to issue a mass pardon and cut a deal for himself with prosecutors. For another, even his natural allies among religious conservatives said they smelled the sweat of desperation when Fletcher launched his gay-related attacks late in the campaign.

If Fletcher had staunchly opposed same-sex domestic partnership benefits at state universities more than a year ago, for example, he might have found a winning issue, said Kent Ostrander, executive director of the Family Foundation of Kentucky. But Fletcher didn't criticize the benefits until this summer, after it was obvious he trailed Beshear in the polls, Ostrander said.

"Too little, too late," Ostrander said. "He didn't lead throughout his entire term on the values thing."

Others say the gay card simply isn't as potent as it used to be.

In 2004, with a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage on the ballot, Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning faced a tight re-election contest against Mongiardo. Bunning allowed his Republican allies publicly to suggest that Mongiardo might be gay. To cheering and laughing crowds, Senate President David Williams called him "limp-wristed," and Sen. Elizabeth Tori of Radcliff said, "I'm not even sure the word 'man' applies to him." Bunning narrowly won.

"I think people are getting tired of that kind of hatred and divisiveness," said U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, who lost to Fletcher in the 2003 gubernatorial election. "Regardless of their personal feelings on this issue, people just don't want to see other members of our society get singled out and attacked. It makes them uncomfortable."

Many voters -- such as DeYoung -- don't think gays and lesbians pose a threat to society, analysts said. They want candidates to talk about legitimate government functions, such as schools, jobs, law enforcement, roads, health care and taxes.

Surveys show that Americans are becoming more tolerant about homosexuality and equal rights for gay and lesbians. Even in a conservative state such as Kentucky, which approved the same-sex marriage ban, discomfort over homosexuality doesn't necessarily run deep. Despite Fletcher's frequent campaign attacks on same-sex benefits at state universities, fewer than 10 percent of voters last month thought it a top priority for the General Assembly, according to a Herald-Leader/Action News 36 Election Poll. Far more wanted lawmakers to raise teacher pay and provide health insurance for children.

"It's just not a huge issue that worries most people," said Scott Lasley, political scientist at Western Kentucky University. "And once you pass the same-sex marriage ban, where do you go from there? You can't get much more mileage out of it. Making an issue out of health benefits at the state universities, that never caught on. That just looked like micro-managing."

In the more liberal cities of Louisville and Lexington, which help deliver elections, a candidate who sounds shrill on the subject of gays and lesbians can find himself on the fringe, said Ted Jackson, a Republican political consultant in Louisville. Lexington currently has a vice mayor and a state senator who are openly gay.

Fletcher might have found more traction in conservative rural areas if Beshear had endorsed a gay-rights agenda, Jackson said. But Beshear cautiously steered clear of the subject, other than to say he respected the traditional concept of marriage. That left Fletcher's attacks sounding "over-the-top and exaggerated," Jackson said.

"I'm not sure we've considered how many votes we lose by pushing these buttons and raising these issues," Jackson said. "If we win one vote, we might lose two, particularly in the urban areas, which are growing."

Republican candidates need to get out of other people's bedrooms and trumpet the core themes of low taxes, small government and respect for personal liberty, which attracts moderates and independents, said Jimmy LaSalvia, president of the Kentucky chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay-rights group within the GOP.

"Anti-gay tactics just turn off too many voters," LaSalvia said. "Look at Tuesday night's results. The two candidates who used ugly tactics against gays, Ernie Fletcher and (attorney general candidate) Stan Lee, were badly beaten. But Republicans like (Secretary of State) Trey Grayson, who did not bash gays, did OK."

Beshear enjoyed a double-digit lead over Fletcher in the polls for months and seldom responded directly to gay-related attacks, forcing Fletcher to put words in Beshear's mouth.

The Fletcher campaign seized on an endorsement of Beshear by the political-action committee of the Fairness Campaign, a Louisville group that promotes equal rights for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans-gendered individuals.

The group endorsed Beshear based on his written responses to questions because he seemed like a tolerant man who believed in equality, said Jeff Rodgers, a member of the group's board.

Beshear didn't agree with all of the group's ideas, and the group is wary of Mongiardo, his running mate, for supporting the same-sex marriage ban, Rodgers said. But the Fairness Campaign endorsement allowed Fletcher and the Kentucky Republican Party to call Beshear a sexual radical who hoped to turn Kentucky into "another San Francisco."

Citing the endorsement, the Fletcher campaign said Beshear pledged to legally recognize same-sex unions and award "special benefits for homosexuals" in state government. He did not, Rodgers said. The Kentucky Republican Party hired Christian singer Pat Boone to record an automated phone call to voters warning that Beshear "supported every homosexual cause," including same-sex marriage. He did not, Rodgers said.

Anonymous automated calls also blitzed the state that purported to be from "the homosexual lobby" and endorsed Beshear. They directed voters to the Fairness Campaign's Web site. Fletcher and the GOP denied knowledge of those calls.

"I kept getting all these phone calls at the last minute about homosexuals. That ticked me off. That was just crude," said Yvonne Bredhold, a Republican in Louisville who was undecided until Election Day. She finally voted for Fletcher because she admired his achievements -- despite the calls. "I assumed Gov. Fletcher himself didn't have anything to do with it. I hope he didn't, anyway."

Still, not everyone agrees the gay card has played itself out.

Homosexuality can remain an effective issue under the right circumstances because it makes some people emotionally uncomfortable, said Joe Gershtenson, director of the Kentucky Center for History and Politics at Eastern Kentucky University. Politicians might prefer to reach voters on that level rather than try to discuss their campaign platforms, Gershtenson said.

"There is a limited understanding of many of our problems as a society. It's easier to just have a visceral reaction to something, particularly if it ties into the values we're taught as part of our upbringing," Gershtenson said. "We all want our leaders to share our values. It's an easier way to relate to a candidate, to try to pick one from among them."

Where Fletcher erred, Gershtenson said, was by attacking a man who never championed gay rights, and by launching that attack at the end of an obviously failed campaign.

"Timing is important. People aren't fools," he said. "Actions taken at a certain point in the campaign tend to smack of 'Hey, this is politics, this is gamesmanship, this isn't really what the guy feels strongly about.'"

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