LIBERALS WANT TO ELIMANTE A THOMAS VOTE WHEN OBAMACARE COMES UP--THE WILL RESORT TO ANYTHING!
Forty-six House Democrats have joined forces this week to ask the chamber's Judiciary Committee to investigate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for ethics violations. The Democratic lawmakers' complaint argues that reports of Thomas' actions--including those related to the high-profile political activism of his wife, Virginia "Ginni" Thomas--have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
CONTINUED: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/democrats-mobilize-over-clarence-thomas-ethics-investigation-213436978.html
Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Friday, October 7, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
DAILY RELFECTOR: Letter to the Editor
Letter: Butterfield district not a mandate
An area paper (not the Reflector) made me laugh Sunday. The headline “G.K. Butterfield calls for fair redistricting” is most amusing.
He's one who benefits from unfair districting. For him to state, “We've got to make sure the lines are drawn fairly,” shows his arrogance. He stated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires the 1st District remain a minority-majority district. This is untrue. North Carolina must have two majority-minority districts but nowhere does it say which ones. Convicted felon Frank Balance drew it just so he could be elected and Butterfield benefited. I am sure Butterfield hopes this district remains gerrymandered because he lost quite a few counties last election.
Districts should be made in accordance with the wishes of our founding fathers. If they were, Butterfield would now be retired and we would have a man of integrity in Washington. We were educated by his opponent's campaign in 2010, bringing to light issues about Butterfield that would have never been known.
One, Butterfield admitted to pocketing taxpayer monies following congressional junkets. You should look into what happened to this money.
Following the election and before the new Congress was sworn in, the ethics office said in a report that Butterfield received excess per diem in four trips between June 2008 and August 2009. It found that he had not returned a total of $1,509 from four trips including visits to Lithuania, Belgium, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, England, Italy, Liberia, Ghana, South Africa and Morocco. The office also found that he used per diem for expenses not for travel, like souvenirs. Has this money been returned to the U.S. Treasury? What was he doing in these exotic places? The district is the fourth poorest in the nation and he is going to these countries? Why? We need to know.
BILL SHAVENDER
Washington, N.C.
http://reflector.cookepublishing.net/opinion/letters/letter-butterfield-district-not-mandate-353748
An area paper (not the Reflector) made me laugh Sunday. The headline “G.K. Butterfield calls for fair redistricting” is most amusing.
He's one who benefits from unfair districting. For him to state, “We've got to make sure the lines are drawn fairly,” shows his arrogance. He stated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires the 1st District remain a minority-majority district. This is untrue. North Carolina must have two majority-minority districts but nowhere does it say which ones. Convicted felon Frank Balance drew it just so he could be elected and Butterfield benefited. I am sure Butterfield hopes this district remains gerrymandered because he lost quite a few counties last election.
Districts should be made in accordance with the wishes of our founding fathers. If they were, Butterfield would now be retired and we would have a man of integrity in Washington. We were educated by his opponent's campaign in 2010, bringing to light issues about Butterfield that would have never been known.
One, Butterfield admitted to pocketing taxpayer monies following congressional junkets. You should look into what happened to this money.
Following the election and before the new Congress was sworn in, the ethics office said in a report that Butterfield received excess per diem in four trips between June 2008 and August 2009. It found that he had not returned a total of $1,509 from four trips including visits to Lithuania, Belgium, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, England, Italy, Liberia, Ghana, South Africa and Morocco. The office also found that he used per diem for expenses not for travel, like souvenirs. Has this money been returned to the U.S. Treasury? What was he doing in these exotic places? The district is the fourth poorest in the nation and he is going to these countries? Why? We need to know.
BILL SHAVENDER
Washington, N.C.
http://reflector.cookepublishing.net/opinion/letters/letter-butterfield-district-not-mandate-353748
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Right Perspective
Waters Ethics Charges “About Black People”
Embattled Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters has begun a publicity campaign aimed at making her upcoming Ethics trial not about her but “about Black people.”
Waters told DC blog The Hill that she organized staffers to hold signs proclaiming her innocence at various events around the Capitol, including the annual legislative conference for the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation and a green technology awards ceremony held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“It ain’t about Nancy,” Waters said about the later event. “It’s about black people.”
Waters has been charged with using her influence to get a special private meeting for a bank her husband was on the board of, to discuss getting a special loan to keep the bank alive during the financial crisis. She has already blamed former US President George W. Bush and racism for the charges.
Signs held by Waters’ staffers at the Pelosi ceremony read, “Let’s fight for Maxine Waters,” and “No improper action. No benefit. No failure to disclose. No one influenced. No case!”. They were held up just before the House Speaker spoke.
One of the staffers told The Hill that Maxine Water was his aunt. When asked later about this, Waters just shrugged and replied, “I’m everybody’s aunt.”
The staffers were asked to leave and there was no confrontation.
A Waters campaign aide told The Hill that the young men at the Pelosi event were staffers paid for the day. The aide said 40 to 50 yard signs were printed, in addition to 10,000 handouts. The aide said a similar presence would be made at other events between now and when Waters’s trial takes place, but that no formal plans had been made.
“It’s important to communicate our message,” the aide said.
The Right Perspective (c) Peter Goodman 2005
http://www.therightperspective.org/2010/09/17/waters-ethics-charges-about-black-people/
Embattled Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters has begun a publicity campaign aimed at making her upcoming Ethics trial not about her but “about Black people.”
Waters told DC blog The Hill that she organized staffers to hold signs proclaiming her innocence at various events around the Capitol, including the annual legislative conference for the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation and a green technology awards ceremony held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“It ain’t about Nancy,” Waters said about the later event. “It’s about black people.”
Waters has been charged with using her influence to get a special private meeting for a bank her husband was on the board of, to discuss getting a special loan to keep the bank alive during the financial crisis. She has already blamed former US President George W. Bush and racism for the charges.
Signs held by Waters’ staffers at the Pelosi ceremony read, “Let’s fight for Maxine Waters,” and “No improper action. No benefit. No failure to disclose. No one influenced. No case!”. They were held up just before the House Speaker spoke.
One of the staffers told The Hill that Maxine Water was his aunt. When asked later about this, Waters just shrugged and replied, “I’m everybody’s aunt.”
The staffers were asked to leave and there was no confrontation.
A Waters campaign aide told The Hill that the young men at the Pelosi event were staffers paid for the day. The aide said 40 to 50 yard signs were printed, in addition to 10,000 handouts. The aide said a similar presence would be made at other events between now and when Waters’s trial takes place, but that no formal plans had been made.
“It’s important to communicate our message,” the aide said.
The Right Perspective (c) Peter Goodman 2005
http://www.therightperspective.org/2010/09/17/waters-ethics-charges-about-black-people/
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Butterfield Faces Ethics Probe Over Foreign Travel
CAROLINA JOURNAL: Stipends subject of probe; Butterfield says he’ll cooperate
By David N. Bass
September 03, 2010
RALEIGH — North Carolina Congressman G.K. Butterfield is one of a half-dozen federal lawmakers facing an ethics probe for allegedly pocketing portions of his taxpayer-funded travel stipend.
The investigation comes on the heels of calls for Butterfield, a Democrat representing the state’s 1st Congressional District, to return $4,000 in campaign donations from a political action committee of embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. Butterfield has declined to do so or recuse himself from an investigation by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (aka the ethics committee) of Rangel. Butterfield is one of 10 members of that committee.
Congressmen receive daily allotments, called a per diem, for overseas travel. Because “foreign officials or U.S. ambassadors” often pick up the tab for federal lawmakers, members sometimes keep the difference, according to a report published Aug. 31 in The Wall Street Journal.
“Lawmakers routinely keep the extra funds or spend it on gifts, shopping or to cover their spouses’ travel expenses, according to dozens of current and former lawmakers,” the newspaper reported.
No system exists for lawmakers to return excess per diem funds to the government, the Journal reported, and investigators might conclude the standards need to be clarified.
E-mails to Butterfield’s press secretary were not returned this week, but the three-term Democrat told The Daily Reflector of Greenville that he would cooperate with the investigation.
“I have complied with the requests of [the Office of Congressional Ethics] and will comply with any other request from the ethics committee,” he said.
In January, Butterfield faced criticism for spending $4,406 for food and lodging at a five-star hotel while attending climate-change talks in Denmark. Butterfield said that lawmakers weren’t aware of the costs prior to the trip and that House leaders made the travel arrangements.
In response to the ethics investigation, Butterfield’s Republican opponent, Ashley Woolard, called on the congressman to resign.
“Citizens of the First District need honest leadership that will help our struggling economy, not another greedy politician feeding at the public trough as our economy burns,” Woolard said in a statement.
Also this week, a House panel dismissed ethics allegations against Butterfield’s fellow Democrat, Rep. Mel Watt of the 12th Congressional District. Investigators had questioned the timing of a fundraiser Watt held shortly before the House voted on financial regulatory reform legislation last year.
David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.
http://www.carolinajournal.com/articles/display_story.html?id=6816
By David N. Bass
September 03, 2010
RALEIGH — North Carolina Congressman G.K. Butterfield is one of a half-dozen federal lawmakers facing an ethics probe for allegedly pocketing portions of his taxpayer-funded travel stipend.
The investigation comes on the heels of calls for Butterfield, a Democrat representing the state’s 1st Congressional District, to return $4,000 in campaign donations from a political action committee of embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. Butterfield has declined to do so or recuse himself from an investigation by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (aka the ethics committee) of Rangel. Butterfield is one of 10 members of that committee.
Congressmen receive daily allotments, called a per diem, for overseas travel. Because “foreign officials or U.S. ambassadors” often pick up the tab for federal lawmakers, members sometimes keep the difference, according to a report published Aug. 31 in The Wall Street Journal.
“Lawmakers routinely keep the extra funds or spend it on gifts, shopping or to cover their spouses’ travel expenses, according to dozens of current and former lawmakers,” the newspaper reported.
No system exists for lawmakers to return excess per diem funds to the government, the Journal reported, and investigators might conclude the standards need to be clarified.
E-mails to Butterfield’s press secretary were not returned this week, but the three-term Democrat told The Daily Reflector of Greenville that he would cooperate with the investigation.
“I have complied with the requests of [the Office of Congressional Ethics] and will comply with any other request from the ethics committee,” he said.
In January, Butterfield faced criticism for spending $4,406 for food and lodging at a five-star hotel while attending climate-change talks in Denmark. Butterfield said that lawmakers weren’t aware of the costs prior to the trip and that House leaders made the travel arrangements.
In response to the ethics investigation, Butterfield’s Republican opponent, Ashley Woolard, called on the congressman to resign.
“Citizens of the First District need honest leadership that will help our struggling economy, not another greedy politician feeding at the public trough as our economy burns,” Woolard said in a statement.
Also this week, a House panel dismissed ethics allegations against Butterfield’s fellow Democrat, Rep. Mel Watt of the 12th Congressional District. Investigators had questioned the timing of a fundraiser Watt held shortly before the House voted on financial regulatory reform legislation last year.
David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.
http://www.carolinajournal.com/articles/display_story.html?id=6816
Friday, August 6, 2010
The Daily Advance
The Daily Advance
Woolard: Resign or face probe
By Reggie Ponder, Staff writer
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Republican congressional candidate Ashley Woolard — stepping up his rhetoric linking U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield to embattled Rep. Charles Rangel — is calling on Butterfield to resign from the House Ethics Committee or face investigation. Read more!
Woolard: Resign or face probe
By Reggie Ponder, Staff writer
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Republican congressional candidate Ashley Woolard — stepping up his rhetoric linking U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield to embattled Rep. Charles Rangel — is calling on Butterfield to resign from the House Ethics Committee or face investigation. Read more!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
WOOLARD TAKES ON G.K. BUTTERFIELD
.Statement – Ashley Woolard, candidate for Congress – NC 1
7/27/10
I'm angry and the voters in the First Congressional District are angry and rightfully so. Whey see the arrogance and corruption in Washington, and we don’t like it. We are especially upset that Rep. G. K. Butterfield, has violated the spirit of the Congressional Ethics Committee while he is a serving member of that body.
Charlie Rangel, who has served in Congress for 40 years, was charged with numerous ethics violations. It has taken the Ethics Committee two years of investigation to even admit that there might be sufficient evidence to bring charges against Rep. Rangel.
Rep. G. K. Butterfield while serving on the Ethics Committee received a $4,000 campaign donation from Rep. Rangel. By any standard, receiving a donation from someone that you are investigating for a crime would itself be a crime. As of this date, G. K. Butterfield has not returned the $4,000. I demand in the name of the good people of the 1st district that Rep. Butterfield return that money immediately.
Rangel is charged with failure to pay taxes on income earned on properties he owns in the Caribbean. He will also be charged with allowing corporations to pay for his trips to the Caribbean. Rep. Butterfield has also allowed corporations to pay for his trips to the Caribbean at the same time.
Butterfield was first elected to congress in a 2004 Special Election to fill the unexpired term of convicted felon Frank Ballance, who pled guilty to embezzling taxpayer monies through a sophisticated money-laundering scheme.
There is a wind sweeping across this great nation that will cleanse our political system. Greed and corruption is destroying our great country. Washington needs to be cleaned from top to bottom and I want to be part of that cleanup.
I promise to honestly and faithfully represent my friends and neighbors in the First District.
If you want change and honest representation in Washington, then remember me, ASHLEY WOOLARD, when you vote on November 2.
http://www.woolardforcongress.com/
For further information or to schedule an interview with Ashley Woolard call:
Bill Tarpenning - 252-944-5377
Friday, July 23, 2010
'Lose Christianity or face expulsion'
BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A lawsuit against Augusta State University in Georgia alleges school officials essentially gave a graduate student in counseling the choice of giving up her Christian beliefs or being expelled from the graduate program.
School officials Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, Paulette Schenck and Richard Deaner demanded student Jen Keeton, 24, go through a "remediation" program after she asserted homosexuality is a behavioral choice, not a "state of being" as a professor said, according to the complaint.
Also named as defendants in the case that developed in May and June are other administrators and the university system's board of regents.
The remediation program was to include "sensitivity training" on homosexual issues, additional outside study on literature promoting homosexuality and the plan that she attend a "gay pride parade" and report on it.
Where has higher education in America gone? Find out in "Freefall of the American University"
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys working with the Alliance Defense Fund, asserted the school cannot violate the Constitution by demanding that a person's beliefs be changed.
"ASU faculty have promised to expel Miss Keeton from the graduate Counselor Education program, not because of poor academic showing or demonstrated deficiencies in clinical performance, but simply because she has communicated both inside and outside the classroom that she holds to Christian ethical convictions on matters of human sexuality and gender identity," the law firm explained.
School spokeswoman Kathy Schose today declined to address the allegations in the case but agreed to discuss the counselor teaching program in general.
She cited the American Counseling Association's code of ethics and said students would be required to adopt its provisions.
"There is a code of ethics that govern counselors," she said. "They have to abide by the code of the profession."
Ethics codes generally govern behavior, and Schose denied the school was attempting to alter any student's beliefs or moral values.
But the lawsuit specifically charges the faculty members targeted Keeton's biblically based belief system and values, not her behavior regarding the treatment of any clients, which had not yet happened.
"Schenck told Miss Keeton that it was unethical for her to believe that her convictions should also be shared by other persons. … Schenck explained that while Miss Keeton was free to have points of view about how she personally should conduct and define herself, she may not believe that others should adopt the standards she personally is convinced are true," the lawsuit said.
Anderson-Wiley confirmed that Miss Keeton will not be able to successfully complete the remediation plan and thus complete the ASU counseling program unless she commits to affirming the propriety of gay and lesbian relationships if such an opportunity arises in her future professional efforts," it continued.
ADF Senior Counsel David French contended a public university student "shouldn't be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that's exactly what's happening here."
"Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform," he said. "Abandoning one's own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop. Jennifer's only crime was to have the beliefs that she does."
Keeton's own e-mail response to the faculty members who allegedly were pressuring her to adopt a pro-homosexual belief system defines the dispute.
"At times you said that I must alter my beliefs because they are unethical. … other times you said that I can keep my beliefs so long as they are only personal and I don't believe that anyone else should believe like me. But that is just another way of saying that I must alter my beliefs, because my beliefs are about absolute truth. ….. in order to finish the counseling program you are requiring me to alter my objective beliefs and also to commit now that if I ever may have a client who wants me to affirm their decision to have an abortion or engage in gay, lesbian, or transgender behavior, I will do that. I can't alter my biblical beliefs, and I will not affirm the morality of those behaviors in a counseling situation," she wrote.
Faculty members had demanded she "attend at least three workshops … which emphasize … diversity training sensitive toward working with GLBTQ populations." They also wanted her to "develop" her knowledge of homosexuality by reading 10 articles and increasing her exposure to homosexuals and lesbians by attending "the Gay Pride Parade."
According to the complaint documentation, which also seeks a preliminary injunction in the case, Keeton asked Anderson-Wiley how her Christian convictions are any less acceptable than those of a Buddhist or Muslim student. Anderson-Wiley responded, "Christians see this population as sinners."
The complaint alleges Anderson-Wiley specifically told Keeton she was being asked to alter some of her beliefs. The "remediation" program included a statement that Keeton would be dismissed from the program if she chose not to comply, the lawsuit said.
"Unless and until defendant's unconstitutional speech-regulating policies and threatened … actions against Miss Keeton are enjoined, Miss Keeton will suffer and continue to suffer irreparable injury to her constitutional rights," the lawsuit said.
Among the alleged violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments are viewpoint discrimination, compelled speech, equal protection and freedom of speech, it said.
"By conditioning Miss Keeton's continued enrollment in the ASU school counselor masters degree program on her waiver of rights to speech and free exercise of religion … by requiring that she alter her beliefs and speech, and that she … commit to affirm in a hypothetical future context the ethical propriety of transgender and homosexual identification and behavior by others, as well as other values and behaviors she now disapproves, and which violate her religion convictions, defendants have imposed an unconstitutional condition on Miss Keeton," the complaint alleges.
"The First Amendment never permits the government to penalize beliefs in this manner," the complaint said.
The ADF said it also is litigating a case involving a Georgia counselor fired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because she would not agree to affirm homosexual behavior. While an earlier similar case at Missouri State has been resolved, there is another in which Eastern Michigan University is defendant on similar allegations.
In the Missouri State case, a social work professor, Frank Kauffman, eventually was placed on leave as part of a settlement of the lawsuit brought on behalf of student Emily Brooker. The student had refused his assignment to lobby on behalf of homosexual adoptions because it violated her religious beliefs. She then was brought up on ethics charges in the school.
The settlement also included monetary damages and the removal of the charges against her from her record. The school's own commissioned conclusion in the case found "many students and faculty stated a fear of voicing differing opinions. … In fact, 'bullying' was used by both students and faculty to characterize specific faculty."
In the still-pending case involving Eastern Michigan, lawmakers there considered calling top school officials on the carpet after they expelled from a counseling program a Christian student who refused to argue in support of the homosexual lifestyle.
As WND reported, trouble began for master's program student Julea Ward when she refused to accept a client whose issue concerned a homosexual relationship.
The school expelled her from the counseling program March 12, 2009, for refusing to abrogate her own personal religious beliefs and support the homosexual lifestyle.
Since then, Ward has brought a lawsuit through the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom.
Members of the Michigan Senate shortly later approved legislation that includes a provision calling on university counseling programs to evaluate and affirm how they can accommodate the religious beliefs of students.
State Rep. Tom McMillin told WND at the time the case was "extremely alarming," and there was growing support for an effort to penalize universities that don't accommodate religious beliefs.
"This is a state-taxpayer-supported university," he said. "She's got a court case. Hopefully that will be resolved."
In the case, the judge refused to dismiss the complaint, determining there were "genuine issues of material fact" about the school's "true motivations" for dismissing Ward from the program. Further, the judge concluded, the student's actions to avoid in advance a counseling session for which she had reservations probably followed professional ethical guidelines.
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=182441
'Lose Christianity or face expulsion' -- Georgia student told to read 'gay' lit, attend 'pride parade,' change beliefs
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
A lawsuit against Augusta State University in Georgia alleges school officials essentially gave a graduate student in counseling the choice of giving up her Christian beliefs or being expelled from the graduate program.
School officials Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, Paulette Schenck and Richard Deaner demanded student Jen Keeton, 24, go through a "remediation" program after she asserted homosexuality is a behavioral choice, not a "state of being" as a professor said, according to the complaint.
Also named as defendants in the case that developed in May and June are other administrators and the university system's board of regents.
The remediation program was to include "sensitivity training" on homosexual issues, additional outside study on literature promoting homosexuality and the plan that she attend a "gay pride parade" and report on it.
Where has higher education in America gone? Find out in "Freefall of the American University"
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys working with the Alliance Defense Fund, asserted the school cannot violate the Constitution by demanding that a person's beliefs be changed.
"ASU faculty have promised to expel Miss Keeton from the graduate Counselor Education program, not because of poor academic showing or demonstrated deficiencies in clinical performance, but simply because she has communicated both inside and outside the classroom that she holds to Christian ethical convictions on matters of human sexuality and gender identity," the law firm explained.
School spokeswoman Kathy Schose today declined to address the allegations in the case but agreed to discuss the counselor teaching program in general.
She cited the American Counseling Association's code of ethics and said students would be required to adopt its provisions.
"There is a code of ethics that govern counselors," she said. "They have to abide by the code of the profession."
Ethics codes generally govern behavior, and Schose denied the school was attempting to alter any student's beliefs or moral values.
But the lawsuit specifically charges the faculty members targeted Keeton's biblically based belief system and values, not her behavior regarding the treatment of any clients, which had not yet happened.
"Schenck told Miss Keeton that it was unethical for her to believe that her convictions should also be shared by other persons. … Schenck explained that while Miss Keeton was free to have points of view about how she personally should conduct and define herself, she may not believe that others should adopt the standards she personally is convinced are true," the lawsuit said.
Anderson-Wiley confirmed that Miss Keeton will not be able to successfully complete the remediation plan and thus complete the ASU counseling program unless she commits to affirming the propriety of gay and lesbian relationships if such an opportunity arises in her future professional efforts," it continued.
ADF Senior Counsel David French contended a public university student "shouldn't be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that's exactly what's happening here."
"Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform," he said. "Abandoning one's own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop. Jennifer's only crime was to have the beliefs that she does."
Keeton's own e-mail response to the faculty members who allegedly were pressuring her to adopt a pro-homosexual belief system defines the dispute.
"At times you said that I must alter my beliefs because they are unethical. … other times you said that I can keep my beliefs so long as they are only personal and I don't believe that anyone else should believe like me. But that is just another way of saying that I must alter my beliefs, because my beliefs are about absolute truth. ….. in order to finish the counseling program you are requiring me to alter my objective beliefs and also to commit now that if I ever may have a client who wants me to affirm their decision to have an abortion or engage in gay, lesbian, or transgender behavior, I will do that. I can't alter my biblical beliefs, and I will not affirm the morality of those behaviors in a counseling situation," she wrote.
Faculty members had demanded she "attend at least three workshops … which emphasize … diversity training sensitive toward working with GLBTQ populations." They also wanted her to "develop" her knowledge of homosexuality by reading 10 articles and increasing her exposure to homosexuals and lesbians by attending "the Gay Pride Parade."
According to the complaint documentation, which also seeks a preliminary injunction in the case, Keeton asked Anderson-Wiley how her Christian convictions are any less acceptable than those of a Buddhist or Muslim student. Anderson-Wiley responded, "Christians see this population as sinners."
The complaint alleges Anderson-Wiley specifically told Keeton she was being asked to alter some of her beliefs. The "remediation" program included a statement that Keeton would be dismissed from the program if she chose not to comply, the lawsuit said.
"Unless and until defendant's unconstitutional speech-regulating policies and threatened … actions against Miss Keeton are enjoined, Miss Keeton will suffer and continue to suffer irreparable injury to her constitutional rights," the lawsuit said.
Among the alleged violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments are viewpoint discrimination, compelled speech, equal protection and freedom of speech, it said.
"By conditioning Miss Keeton's continued enrollment in the ASU school counselor masters degree program on her waiver of rights to speech and free exercise of religion … by requiring that she alter her beliefs and speech, and that she … commit to affirm in a hypothetical future context the ethical propriety of transgender and homosexual identification and behavior by others, as well as other values and behaviors she now disapproves, and which violate her religion convictions, defendants have imposed an unconstitutional condition on Miss Keeton," the complaint alleges.
"The First Amendment never permits the government to penalize beliefs in this manner," the complaint said.
The ADF said it also is litigating a case involving a Georgia counselor fired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because she would not agree to affirm homosexual behavior. While an earlier similar case at Missouri State has been resolved, there is another in which Eastern Michigan University is defendant on similar allegations.
In the Missouri State case, a social work professor, Frank Kauffman, eventually was placed on leave as part of a settlement of the lawsuit brought on behalf of student Emily Brooker. The student had refused his assignment to lobby on behalf of homosexual adoptions because it violated her religious beliefs. She then was brought up on ethics charges in the school.
The settlement also included monetary damages and the removal of the charges against her from her record. The school's own commissioned conclusion in the case found "many students and faculty stated a fear of voicing differing opinions. … In fact, 'bullying' was used by both students and faculty to characterize specific faculty."
In the still-pending case involving Eastern Michigan, lawmakers there considered calling top school officials on the carpet after they expelled from a counseling program a Christian student who refused to argue in support of the homosexual lifestyle.
As WND reported, trouble began for master's program student Julea Ward when she refused to accept a client whose issue concerned a homosexual relationship.
The school expelled her from the counseling program March 12, 2009, for refusing to abrogate her own personal religious beliefs and support the homosexual lifestyle.
Since then, Ward has brought a lawsuit through the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom.
Members of the Michigan Senate shortly later approved legislation that includes a provision calling on university counseling programs to evaluate and affirm how they can accommodate the religious beliefs of students.
State Rep. Tom McMillin told WND at the time the case was "extremely alarming," and there was growing support for an effort to penalize universities that don't accommodate religious beliefs.
"This is a state-taxpayer-supported university," he said. "She's got a court case. Hopefully that will be resolved."
In the case, the judge refused to dismiss the complaint, determining there were "genuine issues of material fact" about the school's "true motivations" for dismissing Ward from the program. Further, the judge concluded, the student's actions to avoid in advance a counseling session for which she had reservations probably followed professional ethical guidelines.
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=182441
Friday, June 25, 2010
Big Victory for Taxpayers
Americans for Prosperity and Mayor Pat McCrory Team Up To Defeat Expansion Of Welfare For Politicians
Section of Ethics Bill that would raise taxes and fees to fund political campaigns removed from bill after massive grassroots uprising
Taxpayers will save millions of dollars that would have been spent on political campaigns after a grassroots uprising lead by Americans for Prosperity along with Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory caused state senate democratic leaders to pull the controversial “welfare for politicians” section out of the ethics bill.
North Carolina State Director of Americans for Prosperity, Dallas Woodhouse, today praised the grassroots effort of its members and taxpayers across North Carolina for burning up the phone lines at the General Assembly in a successful effort to stop the tax increases and taxpayer funding of political campaigns that was in the bill.
“I want to thank the thousands of people from across North Carolina that have contacted their state senators to oppose the expansion of taxpayer funding of elections and the tax increases that would have funded the scheme,” said Woodhouse. “This is clearly a victory for taxpayers all across North Carolina and it would not have happened without the efforts of our grassroots members and the leadership of Mayor Pat McCrory. Mr. McCrory recorded phone messages to tens of thousands of voters across North Carolina in an effort to educate taxpayers about this bill. We thank him for this successful call to action that has spared taxpayers additional tax increases.
North Carolina State Senate Majority leader Martin Nesbitt (D-Buncome) is quoted in the Raleigh News and Observer as saying the AFP phone project created a “firestorm” at the General Assembly.
State Senator John Snow (D-Murphy) told the Associated Press his office received over 70 phone calls on the issue as well as e-mails from Americans For Prosperity members.
"Public financing is very popular with hard leftists in Raleigh, but when people back home found out about this, they reacted very viscerally and negatively," Woodhouse said.
“We knew our grassroots effort was working because thousands of people are calling and e-mailing their state senator and asking them to not support the part of the ethics bill that would raise taxes to fund political campaigns. While I support efforts to clean up state government and believe we need a strong ethics bill, House Bill 961 would have raised fees and taxes on job creation at the worst possible time,” said McCrory. “It was also a mistake to add this provision at the last minute in the middle of the night to what should be a bi-partisan ethics bill.
Americans for Prosperity® (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP has more than 1,000,000 members, including members in all 50 states, and 30 state chapters and affiliates. More than 55,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial investment in AFP or AFP Foundation. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org
Section of Ethics Bill that would raise taxes and fees to fund political campaigns removed from bill after massive grassroots uprising
Taxpayers will save millions of dollars that would have been spent on political campaigns after a grassroots uprising lead by Americans for Prosperity along with Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory caused state senate democratic leaders to pull the controversial “welfare for politicians” section out of the ethics bill.
North Carolina State Director of Americans for Prosperity, Dallas Woodhouse, today praised the grassroots effort of its members and taxpayers across North Carolina for burning up the phone lines at the General Assembly in a successful effort to stop the tax increases and taxpayer funding of political campaigns that was in the bill.
“I want to thank the thousands of people from across North Carolina that have contacted their state senators to oppose the expansion of taxpayer funding of elections and the tax increases that would have funded the scheme,” said Woodhouse. “This is clearly a victory for taxpayers all across North Carolina and it would not have happened without the efforts of our grassroots members and the leadership of Mayor Pat McCrory. Mr. McCrory recorded phone messages to tens of thousands of voters across North Carolina in an effort to educate taxpayers about this bill. We thank him for this successful call to action that has spared taxpayers additional tax increases.
North Carolina State Senate Majority leader Martin Nesbitt (D-Buncome) is quoted in the Raleigh News and Observer as saying the AFP phone project created a “firestorm” at the General Assembly.
State Senator John Snow (D-Murphy) told the Associated Press his office received over 70 phone calls on the issue as well as e-mails from Americans For Prosperity members.
"Public financing is very popular with hard leftists in Raleigh, but when people back home found out about this, they reacted very viscerally and negatively," Woodhouse said.
“We knew our grassroots effort was working because thousands of people are calling and e-mailing their state senator and asking them to not support the part of the ethics bill that would raise taxes to fund political campaigns. While I support efforts to clean up state government and believe we need a strong ethics bill, House Bill 961 would have raised fees and taxes on job creation at the worst possible time,” said McCrory. “It was also a mistake to add this provision at the last minute in the middle of the night to what should be a bi-partisan ethics bill.
###
Americans for Prosperity® (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP has more than 1,000,000 members, including members in all 50 states, and 30 state chapters and affiliates. More than 55,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial investment in AFP or AFP Foundation. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
