Posted on 08/06/2010 7:17:02 AM PDT by jeffq73
The nation’s oldest anti-abortion group is lending its first-ever political endorsement to Colorado Senate candidate Jane Norton less than a week before the Republican primary.
The president of Americans United for Life said the group chose to back Norton for her work defunding Planned Parenthood while she was lieutenant governor.
Arguing that the abortion-rights group could not separate funding for abortion and other reproductive health services, Norton used a two-decade old state law that barred money to abortion providers to revoke a Planned Parenthood contract.
“These things are always a tough call, but we were just very impressed with her,” AUL President Charmaine Yoest told POLITICO.
Norton is engaged in a highly contentious primary fight with Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, who is against abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother.
AUL, a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) that has never endorsed a candidate before, is able to officially throw its support behind Norton as a result of a portion of the landmark Citizens United Supreme Court decision, according to Yoest. In a controversial 5-4 ruling earlier this year, the court found that corporate funding of political advertisements in elections could not be limited. It also addressed the role of 501(c)(4) groups in political campaigns, hence, AUL’s foray into endorsements. The AUL does not plan on providing any resources to aid Norton in the final days before the primary.
“It’s just the endorsement. It’s something we’ve been considering ever since the Citizens United case. We just see it as a new tool that we’ve been handed,” Yoest said.
A spokesman for Sen. Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund, which is backing Buck’s bid, said the timing of the endorsement should raise eyebrows.
"This doesn't make sense. Ken Buck is stronger on life issues than Jane Norton and over half the ballots have already been cast. There's something fishy about this. It's not clear who got to them, but it sure smells like the establishment. It will be pretty embarrassing if their second-ever endorsement goes to Buck a week later,” said the spokesman, Matt Hoskins.
Yoest said the decision was in part based on timing but mostly driven by Norton’s anti-abortion record.
“This is a new thing for us; we’ve been working to be part of this cycle. There’s a short window for her,” she said.
AUL is already exploring which other races it wants to weigh in on this cycle, as well as its options with independent expenditures.
“We’re particularly interested in the health care vote and people who voted in favor of the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade,” Yoest said.
Jane Norton is a big time tax and spend RINO
anointed by Juan McAmnesty
If you have even the smallest bent towards conservatism, Buck is the ONLY choice.
Norton is Colorado's RINO poster child.
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