In Renton, Washington, a working-class, multi-cultural suburb of Seattle, the Religious Right is attempting to buy a seat on the city council by supporting the candidacy of an anti-gay, fundamentalist Christian. The candidate, Cheryl Haskins, is the Executive Director of an anti-gay marriage group, and her husband is a pastor of a conservative megachurch north of the city. She is African-American, a fact which makes her candidacy attractive to many voters in the racially diverse community, which currently has no people of color on its city council. Until recently, however, her anti-gay political activism and ties to the Religious Right were not part of the political discourse, and with her campaign signs and huge billboards plastering the city, she was destined to win the election without controversy.
Initially impressed by her positive campaign message, Renton resident Kevin Poole was motivated to check into Haskins' qualifications and background. What he discovered was alarming. Her organization, Allies for Marriage and Children, had been the primary supporters of Washington State's Defense of Marriage Act, and had also staunchly opposed the establishment of domestic partnership protections by the state legislature earlier this year. More telling, it had also been part of the coalition that opposed adding sexual orientation to the state's anti-discrimination law of 2006. Along with other fundamentalist groups, it argued that making discrimination against gay people illegal would lead to the destruction of our society. All of its arguments were founded in Scripture, of course.
With a single letter to the editor of the Renton Reporter, the local community newspaper that's distributed free to most households within Renton -- Poole was able to get the community talking about Cheryl Haskins' divisive politics. At the time he wrote his letter, he was solely focused on her anti-gay activities. Later, though, he discovered that her campaign is being funded almost entirely by members of her husband's church, most of whom do not live in Renton. In fact, 95% of her record-setting funding has come from outside the city. Not only that, but her campaign war chest is greater than that of all other city council candidates combined, and is many times that of her opponent, an older, non-controversial gentleman with deep ties to the community.
In an attempt to counter the Haskins' enormous financial and marketing resources, Poole created a website, www.rentonfacts.com, and a blog, rentonfacts.blogspot.com. Both sites have garnered interest from residents and community leaders of all political persuasions, and Poole has received support and advice from several sympathetic city council members and other pillars of the community. However, going up against a candidate with tens of thousands of dollars at her disposal has proved challenging, and most residents are still unaware of her ultra-conservative agenda. Unfortunately, no local organizations, including the state's LGBT advocacy group, has made firm commitments to assisting Poole in his efforts, and the traditional media has not shown an interest in covering the story.
Cheryl Haskins is clearly being used as a proxy to fight the Religious Right's battle against LGBT equality in Washington State. Allowing her to win this seemingly insignificant election will not only encourage the Right's efforts, but will help cultivate Cheryl Haskins' future poltical career. It has been suggested that she is being groomed by the state Republicans to run for statewide office, or perhaps the U.S. Senate, at some point in the future. She is a confident, successful, and attractive woman, and her future political ambitions should not be underestimated.
Absentee ballots have already been delivered to Renton residents, so it is imperative that the message about Cheryl Haskins' true agenda gets immediate exposure. Poole has suggested that a guerilla campaign involving strategically-placed lawn signs around the city (which can legally be posted in public right of ways) and the distribution of leaflets with information on Haskins' funding might be effective ways to reach undecided voters. He has created mock-ups of campaign signs and leaflets on his website. He is willing to pay for the materials on his own, but will need help getting them printed and distributed.
If you have friends or family in Renton, please let them know about the situation in their city. If you'd like to support Kevin Poole's efforts, or have contacts within the Seattle activist community, please contact him at info@rentonfacts.com. Most importantly, if you're a resident of the greater Seattle area, you can encourage the local traditional media to cover this story by sending "news tips" to the following television, radio, and print media outlets:
KING 5 News: newstips@king5.com
KOMO 4 News: tips@komo4news.com
KIRO 7 News: www.kirotv.com/contact/index.html
Q13 Fox News: foxfeedback@q13fox.com
KOMO 1000 Radio: comments@komo1000news.com
KIRO 710 Radio: www.kiro710.com/contactus.aspl
Seattle Times: seattletimes.nwsource.com/news-tips/
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: seattlepi.nwsource.com/facts/pisubmit.shtml
Renton Reporter: editor@rentonreporter.com