{"id":5470,"date":"2005-07-13T14:16:16","date_gmt":"2005-07-13T14:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html"},"modified":"2005-07-13T14:16:16","modified_gmt":"2005-07-13T14:16:16","slug":"what-a-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html","title":{"rendered":"What a state!"},"content":{"rendered":"

From a reader, in re the new lobbyist for the Mass. Catholic Conference:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
In case you have not heard, <\/span><\/span>t<\/span><\/span><\/span>here’s a controversy brewing in Massachusetts that you might want to be aware of<\/span><\/span>.  The lobbying\/public policy arm of the Catholic Church just hired a new lobbyist who previously gave donations to politicians who specifically opposed Catholic Church positions. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n
(Much more in extended post – go read)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
http:\/\/www.boston.com\/news\/local\/articles\/2005\/07\/13\/conservative_catholics_question_past_donations_by_bishops_lobbyist?mode=PF<\/em><\/a><\/span> <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
http:\/\/news.bostonherald.com\/localRegional\/view.bg?articleid=93605<\/em><\/span><\/u><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
Pro-life and pro-family conservatives are very upset, <\/span><\/span>and the new hire’s <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span>response to the concerns is pathetic.  <\/span><\/span>At best, he’s <\/span><\/span>basically saying, "I may be personally opposed to these Church positions, but I won’t bring my personal views into the Catholic Conference <\/span><\/span>job."  H<\/span><\/span>is justification holds no water. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
An online query with t<\/span>he Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance at:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.efs2.cpf.state.ma.us\/EFSprod\/servlet\/WelcomeServlet<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
shows t<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>he <\/span><\/span>Mass Credit Union PAC (Saunders’ previous employer) <\/span><\/span>donated to 17 different politicians over the past 3 years (enter "Mass Credit Union" in the "Last Name" field):  <\/span>Joyce Spiliotis, Paul Kujawski, Steven Tolman, Edward Connolly, Barbara L’Italien, Carol Donovan, Scott Brown, Steven Baddour, James Eldridge, John Hart, William Greene, Joan Menard, Harold Naughton, Gene O’Flaherty, David Flynn, Philip Travis, and Steven Walsh. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
If they needed to b<\/span><\/span>uild cozy<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>relationships with other anti-Catholics like Sen. President <\/span><\/span>Travaligni, Shannon <\/span><\/span>O’Brien, Sen. Marian <\/span><\/span>Walsh, and City Council President <\/span><\/span>Flaherty to advance their business, the Credit Union PAC <\/span> w<\/span><\/span><\/span>ould simply have given to them as well.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

Here are a few specific <\/span><\/span>examples of Ed Saunders’ donations: <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

5\/21\/2004: Mr. Saunders personally <\/span>donated $200–the maximum allowed–<\/span>to the campaign of Senate President Robert Travaglini, who in the previous months actively opposed the Catholic Church’s efforts to pass a clean amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.  This donation came just days after same-sex marriages began in Massachusetts.  It also came only a month after MCC’s 4\/23\/2004 "Notes from the Hill" published in the <\/span><\/span>Archdiocesan newspaper, <\/span><\/span>The Pilot, <\/span><\/span>advised Catholics they should "share their serious disappointment" with Travaligni and other politicans for voting against MCC\u2019s position seven out of the first eight Convention votes ("mandating same-sex civil unions equal to marriage, and refusing to allow for a split."). <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.rcab.org\/Pilot\/2004\/ps040423\/Notes_from_the_Hill.html<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Travaligni was opposed in the 2004 election by Gil Lavoie, a pro-life Catholic who advocated for the Church’s position on traditional marriage, but for some reason Saunders chose to financially back Travaglini instead.  Is a donation to Sen. Travaglini how Mr. Saunders demonstrated his support for the Mass Catholic Conference’s efforts?  Since winning that race, we know <\/span>Travaglini has passed yet more legislation in opposition to Catholic public policy positions: legalizing embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, and mandatory emergency contraception legislation with no exclusion for Catholic hospitals.  <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
7\/24\/2004: Mr. Saunders donated $100 to the campaign of State Sen. Marian Walsh, who also in previous months had actively opposed the Catholic Church’s efforts to pass the marriage amendment.  In the 4\/23\/2004 ‘Notes from the Hill," the Mass Catholic Conference asked constitutents to share their "profound disappointment" with Sen. Walsh.  She was part of a group of seventy-six legislators who twice voted to close down the constitutional convention without any amendment.  "T<\/span>his group included the core supporters of same-sex marriage opposed to letting the people vote. They opposed the MCC\u2019s position on all counts."   Walsh was opposed in the 2004 election by Bob Joyce, a pro-life Catholic attorney (who works with the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund) and who advocated for the Church’s position on traditional marriage, but for some reason Saunders chose to financially back Walsh instead.  Is this an indication of Mr. Saunders’ support for the Mass Catholic Conference’s positions and efforts?   As you know, Walsh is the key sponsor of a bill opposed by the Catholic Church that requires greater financial transparency and reporting by religious organizations.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
6\/07\/05: <\/span> Mr. Saunders donated $100 <\/span>to City Council President Michael F. Flaherty.  According to Council President Flaherty’s website at: http:\/\/www.michaelflaherty.com\/photos.html<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span>, Flaherty participated in two Gay Pride events, on <\/span><\/em><\/span>6\/03\/05, the "Pre-Pride Flag Raising Reception Hosted By Council President Flaherty" and on 6\/13\/05, the "Pride Parade,"  described by the Boston Globe as follows: "As usual, there were plenty of explicit displays of sexuality — shirtless men in skimpy underwear dancing on floats and women wearing nothing but tape over their breasts."   In this same timeframe (6\/10\/05) Flaherty was harshly critical of the Archdiocese for their closing of Presentation School in Brighton:<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
Last May, shortly before gay marriages began in Massachusetts, <\/span>Flaherty also signed <\/span>a <\/span>statement as a "prominent <\/span>Catholic " in support of homosexual rights and widely viewed as being critical of MCC’s defense of marriage efforts.  The statement was also signed by known dissenters from the Catholic faith and gay-marriage advocates including James Carroll, Fr. David Hollenbach, Larry Kessler, Mary Jo Bane, Fr. Walter Cuenin, Rosa Buffone (married lesbian), and others<\/span>:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.boston.com\/news\/local\/massachusetts\/articles\/2004\/05\/14\/statement_from_catholic_priests_nuns_and_laypeople?mode=PF<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/em><\/div>\n
Furthermore, last July, Flaherty <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>spoke at the <\/span>Democratic National Convention in support of the pro-abortion presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry<\/span> <\/span>by saying, <\/span>"I b<\/span>elieve we can put our country on a new course."<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.boston.com\/news\/education\/k_12\/articles\/2005\/06\/10\/catholic_school_lockout_angers_parents_officials\/  <\/em><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
City Council President Michael Flaherty declared, ”The archdiocese ought to be ashamed of itself; this is unconscionable. With everything that has happened . . . and everything that the church is supposed to stand for, I just don’t know how they could do this."<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a reader, in re the new lobbyist for the Mass. Catholic Conference: In case you have not heard, there’s a controversy brewing in Massachusetts that you might want to be aware of.  The lobbying\/public policy arm of the Catholic Church just hired a new lobbyist who previously gave donations to politicians who specifically opposed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat a state! - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What a state! - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From a reader, in re the new lobbyist for the Mass. 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Catholic Conference: In case you have not heard, there’s a controversy brewing in Massachusetts that you might want to be aware of.  The lobbying\/public policy arm of the Catholic Church just hired a new lobbyist who previously gave donations to politicians who specifically opposed…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html","og_site_name":"Via Media","article_published_time":"2005-07-13T14:16:16+00:00","author":"awelborn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html","name":"What a state! - Via Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-07-13T14:16:16+00:00","dateModified":"2005-07-13T14:16:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2005\/07\/what-a-state.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What a state!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/","name":"Via Media","description":"Amy Welborn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a","name":"awelborn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","caption":"awelborn"},"description":"Amy Welborn was born in 1960, the only child of a now-retired professor of political science, a teacher-librarian-artist mother,deceased since 2001, was a teacher, librarian and artist. The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}