Big bucks over gay marriage - Both sides active as election approaches

Gay-rights activists and same-sex marriage opponents are pumping thousands of dollars into this year's state elections to back candidates who support their views.

The Family Institute Action Committee, which lobbied against last year's landmark civil-union legislation, and Love Makes a Family, the chief proponent of the law, are interested because the legislators elected on Tuesday could vote in the next session on whether to make same-sex marriage legal, and whether same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries should be recognized in Connecticut.

The Family Institute Action Committee spent more than $21,000 on political activities in the last quarter, including direct contributions to a handful of state House and Senate candidates.

It also paid to send out letters denouncing some Democratic incumbents for their voting records on civil unions and other issues.

"In the past four or five months, we've sent tens of thousands of letters out," said Brian Brown, executive director of the Family Institute and treasurer of its political action committee. "We want to elect our guys and make sure voters are informed when they go into the voting booth."

In many cases, Brown said all they do is make an incumbent's voting record known.

The PAC has endorsed 64 candidates for the state House and Senate this year --mostly Republicans --and is actively involved in about 15 legislative races across the state, Brown said.

Love Makes a Family's PAC endorsed 49 state House and Senate candidates this year, up from 26 during the last state election two years ago. Adam Nicholson, the PAC's treasurer, said the increased number of endorsements is a reflection of more candidates adding marriage rights to their platforms since civil unions became legal last year.

Both PACs distribute questionnaires to candidates before deciding whom they will endorse.

The chairmen of the state's Judiciary Committee, state Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, and state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, who are both gay and shepherded the civil-union bill through the legislature, are among the incumbents the Family Institute is trying to oust this election season to block the passage of a same-sex marriage bill.

The Family Institute ranks how "pro-family" incumbents are on its Web site. McDonald and Lawlor were marked "totally anti-family" --the lowest rating --because of their support for civil unions and stem cell research. Only two state senators --Republicans Louis DeLuca of Waterbury and John Kissel of Enfield -- are considered "100 percent pro-family" by the group.

The PAC recently sent voters in McDonald's district a letter calling the Democrat "one of the key players in a cabal of extremists" in the state legislature "leading the charge for same-sex marriage, transgender rights, forcing Christian hospitals to provide chemical abortions and other attacks on faith, family and freedom."

The letter asks readers to help his opponent, Republican Rick Giordano, by making a donation to the Family Institute PAC.

Giordano and his wife, Cecilia Lampitelli, are big contributors to the Family Institute. Tax records show the couple gave $27,500 to the Family Institute through their Giordano-Lampitelli Family Foundation last year.

East Haven voters were sent a letter similar to the one voters in Stamford and Darien received about McDonald, saying Lawlor has been "relentless" in his attacks on the family and religious freedoms, and if he is re-elected, a same-sex marriage bill is certain to be passed next year.

It is unclear how much the Family Institute spent on such letters this election season because those expenses are not detailed on its campaign finance reports. The reports show the PAC has been spending money on printing and postage, but does not say what it has mailed out.

Brown said it does not have to report mailings sent to supporters, even if they include candidate endorsements, because they are not considered campaign donations if they are distributed to people on their mailing list independent of the candidate's campaign.

The Family Institute PAC contributed $600 to Lawlor's opponent, Dan McCann, a Republican on the East Haven Town Council.

The PAC also has given money to Al Adinolfi, a Republican from Cheshire seeking re-election to the state House; Matthew Daly, a Republican challenging Democratic incumbent Edith Prague of Columbia for the Senate; Gregg Hannan, a Republican from North Branford trying to unseat Democratic state Sen. Edward Meyer of Guilford; and Republican Eric Thompson of East Hartford, who's running for state Senate against incumbent Gary LeBeau, a Democrat.

Love Makes a Family's PAC spent more than $37,000 in the last quarter, including $9,400 in direct contributions to candidates and other PACs.

In addition to giving McDonald and Lawlor $1,000 apiece, Love Makes a Family also has donated to Madison Democrat Deb Heinrich's re-election bid to the state House, and former Greenwich resident Beth Bye's campaign for state representative in West Hartford, among others.

"We are very strategic about where we put our money because it's a precious resource," Nicholson said.

Love Makes a Family employees and volunteers began going door-to-door yesterday in Bethel campaigning for Jason Bartlett, a Democrat running for an open state House seat representing Bethel.

The PAC plans to do the same for Heinrich, running for her second term, and Ashley Joiner, a Democrat running for the state House in North Branford.

Lawlor said the Family Institute's letter is backfiring in his race, saying he got a flurry of supportive calls from Republican women who had received one.

When McCann ran against him in 2004, Lawlor said the Family Institute put up a billboard that read, "a vote for Mike Lawlor is a vote for same-sex marriage, period," and had people at the polls warning voters they had to protect their children from him.

"The good thing is every time they do more, my numbers go up," Lawlor said.

McCann said same-sex marriage is an issue in the campaign, but Lawlor wouldn't know it because he spends more time in Hartford than in East Haven.

After knocking on more than 5,000 doors since March, McCann said he's found many Roman Catholics in the district who disagree with Lawlor's positions.

"It's an issue because that's where he's devoted his time in Hartford," McCann said.

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