Sen. David Vitter, despite the "serious sins" that have bedeviled his personal life, has spent a great deal of time and effort building and strengthening his ties to the "family values" base of the GOP.
He railed against Bill Clinton's infidelities. He voted for a constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriage. He has garnered praise from such groups as the Religious Freedom Coalition the National Right to Life Committee and, despite his personal sins and bumps in the road like his involvement with Jack Abramoff and the Jena Indian casino deal, he continues to enjoy the support of many religious conservatives.
In the case of one such group, that support has proved quite rewarding. Come see.
Bill Walsh, the Times-Picayune's Washington correspondent, reports this morning that Vitter inserted a $100,000 earmark into the 2008 appropriations bill for Labor-HHS- Education for a group named the Louisiana Family Forum. The purpose of the earmark? "To develop a plan to promote better science education."
Now, I'm sure many here would support the idea of improving science education in America, but your understanding of how to improve it, or even what constitutes "science," probably isn't the same as that of the Louisiana Family Forum.
As Walsh reports:
The group's stated mission is to "persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking." Until recently, its Web site contained a "battle plan to combat evolution," which called the theory a "dangerous" concept that "has no place in the classroom." The document was removed after a reporter's inquiry.
For public consumption, the Forum takes the position of other "origins science" advocates, that evolution should be taught as one "theory" among many alternatives, including creationism.
Setting aside the fallacy that creation "science" has attained the honored status of a scientific theory--a hypothesis tested repeatedly against fact--and the fact that Vitter's ultimate authority of faith, His Holiness Pope John Paul II felt Darwin's theory was valid and posed no conflict for believing Catholics, why would Vitter carve out a specific earmark to advance the Forum's goal of changing the way science is taught?
The answer has less to do with faith or science than with math--political math. Conservative Christians are a very powerful voting bloc in Louisiana, one which David Vitter has courted since his days in state legislature, and groups like the Louisiana Family Forum have been crucial to his rise from state leg to U.S. House to the Senate.
The group's tax-exempt status prohibits the Louisiana Family Forum from political activity, but Vitter has close ties to the group. Dan Richey, the group's grass-roots coordinator, was paid $17,250 as a consultant in Vitter's 2004 Senate race. Records also show that Vitter's campaign employed Beryl Amedee, the education resource council chairwoman for the Louisiana Family Forum.
More recently, the group has given Vitter invaluable help in controlling the damage from the "DC Madam" scandal, posting one of its "issues" videos on YouTube assuring conservatives that there are big differences between Vitter's dalliances and the rest room recreations of Sen. Larry Craig (link to video).
There is no record of collusion between the senator and the Forum, whose director claims it did not seek the earmark and that Vitter's largess, with your dough, was "a bit of a surprise."
Now, there's nothing new in a legislator using earmarks to reward interest groups that have done him good in the past. But I'm curious to know how people would feel knowing that their tax dollars are being spent not only to support a serial adulterer's defenders, but to promote rewriting science curricula and advance creationist teachings.
Myself, I have to agree with the sign I saw on a phone poll recently:
"Vitter Screws Us All."