[NYTr] Vitter secures $100K for Louisiana anti-evolution group

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Steven L. Robinson (activ-l)

Raw Story - Sep 24, 2007
http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Vitter_secures_100K_for_Louisiana_antievolution_0924.html


Vitter secures $100K for Louisiana anti-evolution group

by Nick Juliano

Religious conservatives receiving funds have political ties to embattled
senator In a move ostensibly aimed at providing "better science
education" in Louisiana schools, Sen. David Vitter has secured $100,000
in taxpayer dollars to fund an anti-evolution effort spearheaded by a
religious group politically connected to the alleged
prostitute-soliciting Republican.

Vitter secured an earmark in an upcoming labor, health and education
financing bill for the Louisiana Family Forum, which The New Orleans
Times Picayune reports has "taken the lead in promoting 'origins
science,' which includes the possibility of divine intervention in the
creation of the universe."

The group was founded by Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state
lawmaker who now leads the conservative Family Research Council. The
Louisiana Family Forum works to "present biblical principals" on public
policy issues, and until a reporter questioned them about it, the
group's Web site included a "battle plan to combat evolution," which
argued the theory "has no place in the classroom."

Despite Vitter's admission earlier this year that he used a Washington,
DC, call-girl service and allegations that he frequented prostitutes in
New Orleans, the first-term Republican has maintained the support of
religious conservatives in his home state.

In a YouTube clip posted by user "lafamilyforum," the group's executive
director Gene Mills defended Vitter from comparisons to Idaho Sen. Larry
Craig, who was arrested in a restroom sex sting in June.

"The media's going to do whatever it can to smear any of the family
values guys, and unfortunately Vitter has been elevated into that role,
not because of what he has done on the family values front, which is
commendable," but because of the prostitution allegations, Mills said.
He went on to praise the fact that "Vitter has repented of the
allegations. He sought forgiveness, reconciliation and counseling."

The political ties between Vitter and the group go beyond some
much-needed recent PR help and stretch to the senator's first campaign
in 2004, although the Family Forum's tax exempt status prohibits it
from engaging in political activity, the Times Picayune reports.

"Dan Richey, the group's grass-roots coordinator, was paid $17,250 as a
consultant in Vitter's 2004 Senate race," according to the newspaper.
"Records also show that Vitter's campaign employed Beryl Amedie, the
education resource council chairwoman for the Louisiana Family Forum."

Vitter's office downplayed the relationship between the senator and the
group, saying it's not surprising their employees would overlap because
of a shared philosophy.

"This program helps supplement and support educators and school systems
that would like to offer all of the explanations in the study of
controversial science topics such as global warming and the life
sciences," Vitter said in a written statement.

Critics torpedoed the idea that Vitter's earmark was anything but an
attempt to federally subsidize religious instruction.

"This is a misappropriation of public funds," Charles Kincade, a civil
rights lawyer in Monroe, La., who has been involved in church-state
cases told the Times Picayune. "It's a backdoor attempt to push a
religious agenda in the public school system."