The Blaze/ Associated Press is reporting that the founders of American Unity PAC, a national group of prominent GOP donors determined to change Republican minds about the freedom to marry, has formed a lobbying organization.
The American Unity Fund has already spent $250,000 in Minnesota, the Blaze's Erika Rita reports in Top GOP Donors Launch Push for Gay Marriage: ‘The Right Thing for the Country But Also Good Politics’:
American Unity PAC was formed last year to lend financial support to Republicans who bucked the party's longstanding opposition to gay marriage. Its founders are launching a new lobbying organization, American Unity Fund, and already have spent more than $250,000 in Minnesota, where the Legislature could vote on the issue as early as next week.
The group has spent $500,000 on lobbying since last month, including efforts in Rhode Island, Delaware, Indiana, West Virginia and Utah.
Billionaire hedge fund manager and Republican donor Paul Singer launched American Unity PAC. The lobbying effort is the next phase as the push for gay marriage spreads to more states, spokesman Jeff Cook-McCormac told The Associated Press.
In Minnesota, the group has targeted its spending:
In Minnesota, the money has gone to state groups that are lobbying Republican lawmakers and for polling on gay marriage in a handful of suburban districts held by Republicans. So far, only one Minnesota Republican lawmaker has committed to voting to legalize gay marriage: Sen. Branden Petersen, of Andover.
"I think there will be some more. There are legislators out there that are struggling with this," said Carl Kuhl, a former political aide to former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Kuhl's public affairs firm is contracted by Minnesotans United, the lead lobby group for gay marriage in Minnesota and main recipient of American Unity's Minnesota spending. . . .
Though only one current GOP officeholder in Minnesota is on record supporting gay marriage, a handful of prominent Republicans have spoken out in favor of it. They include former state auditor Pat Anderson and Brian McClung, who was spokesman for former Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Prominent Republican donors including former politician Wheelock Whitney and businesswoman Marilyn Carlson Nelson have also lent support and donated money.
Since it first formed to campaign against last fall's gay marriage ban and then shifted to pushing for its legalization at the Capitol, Minnesotans United has been building Republican alliances, hiring multiple lobbyists with Republican ties. . . .
Will national Republican money--and influential Minnesota Republicans--have an effect on swaying more conservative legislators?
In other news on the fight for marriage equality, Lake Park mayor Aaron Lee Wittnebel contributed Marriage equality: Legislators, stand on the right side of love — and of history to MinnPost last week. He writes:
. . . My friends, family and neighbors have all come a long way in their recognition that lesbians and gay men like me have the same values, hopes and aspirations as all other Minnesotans. We are your neighbors, your co-workers and friends, your brothers and sisters, and we believe in families just as you do. These are values shared across Minnesota from the metro to the rural areas of Greater Minnesota.
Marriage is a commitment, an aspiration, a bundle of hopes and disappointments. Marriage is full of lessons that amplify our personal, social and spiritual growth and fulfillment. There isn’t a need for a separate set of rules. Gays and lesbians don't need a special status. Minnesotans simply need to let committed same-sex couples share the same rules, same responsibilities, and same respect that everyone else enjoys. . . .
Under 800 people live in Lake Park, a small town in Becker County that elected Wittnebel mayor.
It's telling that those who wish to block the freedom to marry often seek to use the issue as a line in the sand, whether along party lines or geographical boundaries. It's a politics that relies on divisions. Those supporting marriage equality, on the other hand, are seeking to unite the state across the those boundaries.
Divisive politics? It's worth noting that one side's all for that.
Postcard: It's one state, people.
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