Posted on 11/04/2008 10:02:06 AM PST by nickcarraway
Congresswoman gets contributions from GOP pro-choice PAC
On Sunday morning, West Virginians for Life Inc. targeted Democratic congressional candidate Anne Barth by placing red-and-white campaign leaflets on car windshields in church parking lots throughout the Charleston area.
Printed by the National Right to Life Committee based in Washington, D.C., the leaflets urged voters to back Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.
The group portrayed Capito as pro-life and Barth as pro-choice.
Capito, however, has received nearly $52,000 in campaign contributions from a national organization created to back pro-choice Republicans, called the WISH List.
State Democratic Party Chairman Nick Casey said, "Capito has obviously misled the good people of the WVFL Inc., not to mention the pro-choice WISH List which has made such generous contributions to Capito's campaigns over the years."
Today, Capito is one of four women in Congress featured on the front page of WISH List's Web site.
The organization's vision for the coming century, its Web site states, is "to create a powerful force of political partners whose financial support ensures the continuous election of pro-choice Republican women to positions at all levels of government across America."
Casey said the group "has been Capito's third highest donor, having given her $51,837 throughout her tenure in Congress. ..."
"This continues a long-established pattern by Shelley Moore Capito of trying to convince voters in the state of one thing while voting another way back in Washington," Casey stated in a recent news release.
Kent Gates, a spokesman for Capito's campaign, said on Monday, "The endorsement was based on votes the congresswoman made. The National Right to Life group supports banning partial birth abortions and preventing people from taking minors across state lines.
"She always has an open door. She listens to people and finds a way to work with people. She finds what is in the best interests of West Virginians."
Gates also said, "Like on most issues, Anne Barth has refused to tell the voters where she stands.
"Anne Barth has also been endorsed by some extreme liberal groups like Emily's List and the National Organization for Women and received money from them. That is troubling to people who are pro-life.
"The difference here is that Capito has an eight-year record of working with people," Gates said.
The leaflets targeted to Charleston churchgoers also urged them to vote against Barack Obama.
West Virginians for Life, based in Morgantown, has sent mass mailings to voters throughout the 2nd Congressional District endorsing Capito as a pro-life candidate.
The leaflets distributed on Sunday said Capito voted to ban partial-birth abortions, opposed using tax dollars to pay for abortions for poor women and backed legislation to prevent "minor daughters from being taken across state lines for secret abortions without parental notice or consent."
Casey stated, "The longer you are in Congress, the more votes you have to answer for. You can try and have it both ways for a while, but eventually your record will catch up to you.
"I think Shelley Moore Capito's record of saying one thing in West Virginia and voting another way in Washington has finally caught up with her."
West Virginians For Life also stapled a list of 19 national, state and local candidates it endorsed to the larger leaflet.
That list included Republican candidates, with two exceptions: Joe Manchin for governor and Menis Ketchum for West Virginia Supreme Court.
A woman who answered the WVFL telephone number in Morgantown on Monday would not comment, but forwarded a message to the group's political action committee. No one returned that call.
A telephone call to the National Right to Life Committee, based in Washington, D.C., was also not returned.
She did, and I did.
I live in the Potomac Highlands of WV, not in Capito’s district, but anecdotally I can say that judging from the turnout at my polling place, Right to Life may be a far bigger factor in the turnout than the media has recognized. This probably won’t matter in WV, but in rural Pennsylvania and Ohio, and in the western part of Virginia, it may bring people to the polls for McCain and Palin, who have stuck with the Right to Life position throughout the campaign. Here’s hoping they will add just the additional numbers necessary to tip the election to the Republican side.
I voted for her.
Why do you say Right to Life will be such a factor?
I for one will never vote for a party that uphold, promotes and condone the killing of life in the womb. Nothing anyone can say will change my mind except God Almighty himself, and He hates the shedding of innocent blood and no abortion is possible without the shedding of blood.
I didn’t see any more young voters or minority voters than usual; did see more Catholics voting early than usual, and did see more Christian fundamentalists than usual. This county would usually go Republican by a little. Pocketbook issues could favor Obama; gun control concerns could be a factor against Obama; patriotism and military matters resonate with the voters here as they do elsewhere in this state, but I think the post-election analysis of the West Virginia vote will see a strong right-to-life impact which surged unnoticed by the media.
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