Rally to oppose gay marriage morphs into Vander Plaats event

DES MOINES — It was billed as the beginning of a legislative fight to overturn last year’s Iowa Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. But a Tuesday afternoon rally on the Capitol steps quickly turned into a campaign event for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.

Gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats shakes hands will state Rep. Kent Sorenson, R-Indianola, shortly before speaking at a rally opposing gay marriage (photo by Jason Hancock/Iowa Independent).

The Iowa Family Policy Center‘s political action committee, which organized the event, used it as an opportunity to formally endorse Vander Plaats in the GOP primary. But in doing so, the group’s chairman, former state lawmaker Danny Carroll, explicitly ruled out endorsing or assisting the man favored to win the party’s nomination, former Gov. Terry Branstad.

“[Gov. Branstad] has failed to boldly address the values that we embrace,” he said. “And even if he were to win the nomination, the Iowa Family PAC would not support him.”

Branstad has had trouble winning over a suspicious social conservative community since entering the race several months ago. But in recent weeks numerous conservative leaders have made statements that they will not support Branstad if he defeats Vander Plaats.

In a primary that’s already had its ugly moments, a sharp divide is forming in the Republican ranks that could hurt the eventual nominee in the general election. In 2002, GOP candidate Doug Gross squeaked out a victory in a three-way primary, but the nearly two-thirds of Republican voters who didn’t support him never truly came home, and Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack was able to easily win a second term in office.

Carroll said he spent 25 years supporting the Republican machine, “but where has it gotten us?”

“You are not answering to a party,” said Carroll, who nearly became the party’s state chair after the 2008 elections. “You are not answering to a political machine. You are not answering to people who sit in high buildings downtown and tell you what you ought to think and how you ought to vote. You are answering to God almighty.”

Opponents of same-sex marriage rallied outside the state Capitol Tuesday (photo by Jason Hancock/Iowa Independent).

State Rep. Kent Sorenson, R-Indianola, also spoke at the event. Last week he followed down a similar path as IFPC, using his endorsement of Vander Plaats to pledge that he wouldn’t support Branstad if he is nominated by the GOP.

Tuesday, his focus was on same-sex marriage, specifically demanding lawmakers pass a marriage amendment. If Iowa allows the courts to decide what it means to be married, he said, they will next turn to issues like gun laws, taxes, free speech and property rights.

“Gov. Culver and the legislature will either listen to us now or listen to us in November,” he said.

When it was his turn to speak, Vander Plaats once again promised that on day one of his administration he will sign an executive order stopping same-sex marriage until the public gets to vote on it. It’s a pledge that’s become the centerpiece of his campaign and something he said he expects to be impeached over. And despite constitutional scholars and each of his Republican primary opponents agreeing that such an executive order is not possible, Vander Plaats has stuck to his guns.

“The Supreme Court does not get to amend the Constitution,” he said, to rousing applause.

IFPC President Chuck Hurley vowed that opponents of same-sex marriage will not rest until a constitutional amendment is passed. And even thought most conservatives concede a ban will not be possible in 2010, Hurley said Christians must keep pushing.

“The homosexual activists have been more diligent than the church of Jesus Christ,” Hurley said, later adding: “If we want Godly laws, we need a diligent church.”