The FAMiLY Leader President and CEO, Bob Vander Plaats, announced at The FAMiLY Leader Leadership Summit this afternoon that he is relaunching the Iowans for Freedom Initiative which was successful in unseating three Iowa Supreme Court justices in 2010 to campaign against Justice David Wiggins retention. Justice Wiggins is the 4th of 7 Supreme Court justices who ruled against the Iowa Defense of Marriage act and ruled that same-sex marriage must be allowed in Iowa. Vander Plaats will serve as the State Chair. He announced that Iowa National Committeewoman-elect Tamara Scott will be the State Co-Chair, former Steve King campaign manager, Chuck Laudner will serve as special advisor, and Greg Baker will serve as the executive director.
“Two years ago, Iowans agreed with the common-sense rationale and education presented to them that these seven judges went far beyond their constitutional bounds,” Vander Plaats said. “This is an accountability mechanism, given to ‘We the People,’ for the purpose of keeping activist and/or incompetent judges accountable. We see this as a freedom and constitutional issue important to all Iowans. If the courts are allowed to redefine the institution of marriage, every one of the liberties we hold dear is in jeopardy.”
Tamara Scott added, “We believe, as in 2010, that constitutionally-minded Democrats and Independents will unite with this initiative to preserve our freedom and the Founders’ intent for the separation of powers.”
Brian Brown of the National Organization of Marriage was also present for the summit as one of the co-sponsors, and he committed his organization to $100,000 of matching funds to help fund the campaign. Vander Plaats during the press avail said that currently the judges are on a speaking tour and making their case with taxpayer money, but felt confident that they had enough time to run this campaign. He did caution that it will be harder to repeat the success of their 2010 initiative.
Baker noted, “We will run a very focused and grassroots advocacy movement destined to produce similar or better results than the 2010 effort. The website for Iowa for Freedom is www.IowansforFreedom.com. Brown also referred the audience to the website www.NoWiggins.com.
Update: Below is the video of the press avail.
