Free Republic

YOU KNOW the Rev. Lou Sheldon as the anti-gay leader of the California-based Traditional Values Coalition, but star lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- now the sultan of pleading guilty -- knew Sheldon as "Lucky Louie." The Washington Post reported in October how Sheldon helped gambling interests who did business with Abramoff -- and Sheldon. In 2000, eLottery, an Abramoff client -- sent a $25,000 check to the Traditional Values Coalition, as per Abramoff's instruction. Then, the anti-gambling Sheldon lobbied enthusiastically against a bill to curb online gambling. At Casa Sheldon, grease is a traditional value. When the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act...

In May of 1990, Newsday's syndicated columnist Jimmy Breslin received an e-mail criticizing one of his columns as "sexist." That so outraged Mr. Breslin that he denounced the sender, a female Korean-American reporter, as a yellow, slant-eyed cur. And he went on the Howard Stern filth show to further discuss his displeasure. Newsday, Long Island's daily newspaper, which at one time had a New York City edition, suspended Breslin for two weeks without pay, even though he apologized to the young reporter. They should have fired this New York thug who has now been charged with fabricating quotes in order...

NEW YORK - The head of a conservative lobbying group accused Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin of making up quotes attributed to him in Wednesday's column. The newspaper's editor said Breslin, a Pulitzer Prize winner, told him the quotes came from a 1992 interview, and that it would have been better if the columnist had made that clear. The Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition (news - web sites), said he has "never met Jimmy Breslin, never had the conversation described in his column today and never said those sentences to anyone in my life." In the column,...

Worse than Davis? Reverend Lou Sheldon sent out the following press release: Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, said today Arnold Schwarzenegger would create a "moral vacuum" in Sacramento if he became California's governor. "As Governor, Mr. Schwarzenegger would be a darker villain than any he has faced in his movies. And when it comes to the moral issues that Californians really care about - he gives us inaction not action.... "It is hard to imagine a worse governor than Gray Davis but Mr. Schwarzenegger would be it. California has enough problems without adding a...

TVC, Unrepentant Claims FDA’s on its side in the drug-importation fight. Last week, I wrote on NRO about the Traditional Values Coalition's sleazy campaign against pro-life congressmen. The pharmaceutical lobby got TVC to mail out attacks on these congressmen for supporting a bill to allow Americans to import prescription drugs from Canada. The bill, according to TVC, would let 14-year-old girls order RU-486 over the Internet legally; it would make RU-486 "as easy to get as aspirin." That claim is without foundation. Now TVC has issued a letter to congressmen defending its position. The letter is disingenuous. The Rev. Lou...

Todd Akin, Jo Ann Davis, Randy Forbes, Virgil Goode, Jim Demint, John Shadegg, Pat Toomey, Tom Tancredo: All of these congressmen had 100-percent ratings from the National Right to Life Committee for the last Congress. They have something else in common, too: They're the targets of a direct-mail campaign by the Traditional Values Coalition that questions their commitment to the unborn. That campaign has other social conservatives questioning the TVC's motives. At issue is a bill, sponsored by pro-lifers Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota and Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, that would allow people to import prescription drugs from other countries....