Brad Shannon:
The Politics Blog

Brad Shannon maintains this blog. He is political editor at The Olympian and can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.

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Evangelical leader says Reject-71 tactics were flawed

• Published November 09, 2009

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A few others wrote earlier today about conservative Pastor Joe Fuiten's slam on the Reject 71 campaign this morning. Fuiten is the evangelical leader who warned in May this wasn't a good time to be mounting a ballot challenge.

If anything Fuiten has gotten more edgy in his criticism of those who led the Protect Marriage Washington effort and pushed Referendum 71 to the ballot.

As of this moment, R-71 is passing by about 100,000 votes, assuring that Washington's registered same-sex domestic partners will have all the state rights of married couples after election results are certified Dec. 3.

The "Frankly Fuiten" column blames a campaign that appeared to rely too much on divine intervention and not enough on concrete campaigning to persuade the undecided or soft supporters of R-71. Fuiten does give credit to latecomer efforts by Focus on the Family and the Family Policy Institute of Washington, calling them "the two giants in this campaign."

As Jerry Cornfield highlighted earlier today in the Everett Herald, Fuiten wrote:

From my viewpoint, the outcome would have been difficult under the best of circumstances. But our loss was made certain by three failures on our part: 1. We failed in our message. 2. We failed in our methods. 3. We failed in our money. Furthermore, I still have to wonder if God was in the effort.

Ouch. Campaign leaders Gary Randall and Larry Stickney talked up their campaign as though they had blessings from on high, and some supporters were insisting last week they still might get help from the "hand of God." But the campaign never really tried to talk to people who weren't already supporters, it failed to attract money, and it put its message in religious terms that were appealing mainly to religious voters.

Here's a piece of what Fuiten said in May:

My belief is that it would be a mistake to run a referendum. I know that some will say that I just lack faith. It might be. I don't have any interest in being another General Custer. I also know that when Israel decided to enter the Promised Land without God's blessing they were soundly defeated. If I felt that God was telling us to go ahead, I would do it in a heartbeat. I don't feel the Lord has said not to, but I cannot get any peace about making this effort.