Is McGovern's seat safe, or could this get competitive? I know that Crews is probably just doing this to get more publicity and more money for his cause, but I still worry, especially on how this might give more support and money to Chuck Morse's race against Barney Frank (who could lose if the anti-gay climate in MA keeps building).
And of course Crews is from my state. He was chased out of here but you just can't get rid of shit when it's so firmly encaked on your best shoe.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/04/09/gay_marriage_foe_ponders_run_for_
congress/
By Steve Leblanc, Associated Press Writer, 4/9/2004
BOSTON -- One of the state's most outspoken critics of gay marriage is weighing a run for the seat in Congress now held by four-term Democratic Rep. James P. McGovern.
Ron Crews, 55, leader of the Massachusetts Family Institute, pulled nomination papers this week to run as a Republican in the 3rd Congressional District. He now has to collect signatures from 2,000 registered voters in the district before a May 4 filing deadline.
The evangelical pastor and former Army chaplain moved to Massachusetts from Georgia four years ago to head the conservative policy group. At the time, Internet safety for children seemed to be the institute's most pressing issue.
But the state's highest court ruled late last year in favor of seven gay couples who sued the state for the right to get married, and Massachusetts became an epicenter for the national gay marriage debate.
Crews has rallied foes of same-sex marriage and angered gay rights advocates by pressuring state lawmakers to amend the Massachusetts constitution to ban gay marriage.
He won a partial victory last month when the Legislature gave its initial approval to a constitutional ban, but one that also created civil unions for same-sex couples. The amendment needs to be approved again during the 2005-2006 legislative season before it can go to voters in November 2006.
Crews served six years in the Georgia Legislature, where he sponsored a bill against physician-assisted suicide and launched a filibuster to force a vote on a partial-birth abortion ban.
He did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Friday. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Family Institute said he was vacationing out of state.
Crews, who lives in Ashland, faces an uphill battle against McGovern, who ran unopposed in 2002.
Gay marriage is sure to be a key issue in November's elections. If Crews is elected to Congress, he would be able to back President Bush's call for a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage, which McGovern opposes.
In February, McGovern and the rest of the state's House delegation signed a letter to state lawmakers urging them to reject any changes to the Massachusetts constitution barring the state from recognizing same-sex unions.
An aide to McGovern said he has already collected twice the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot and is aggressively raising funds for a re-election campaign.
"We'll be ready," said McGovern spokesman Michael Mershon.