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Koering target of mailings Advocacy groups focus on stance on marriage issue Associate Editor Two Minneapolis family advocacy groups, in mailings that arrived in Senate District 12 homes Thursday, are targeting Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, for his refusal to sign the marriage protection pledge.
Both Koering and his opponent in Tuesday's Republican primary, Brainerd City Council member Kevin Goedker, expressed surprise at the mailings.
Goedker said his campaign had nothing to do with mailings by the Minnesota Family Council and the Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage but said they appeared to be factual in the information they distributed.
"I'm appreciative of other people working to help me," Goedker said.
Koering said the mailings represented negative campaigning that would not go over well with most voters.
"It's pretty clear to me they're playing fast and loose with the truth and are trying to twist my record," Koering said. "This isn't the Minnesota way. The majority of people are going to be upset by this kind of garbage."
The Minnesota Family Council literature is titled the Pro-Family News and features bold headlines noting Koering's support for same-sex unions and his refusal to sign the marriage protection pledge. Headlines in the same publication note Goedker's signing of the pledge and support for the Defense of Marriage Act.
The mailing from the Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage features a picture of five children with the headline "You must vote in the September 12th primary if you want to protect our kids." The headline on the other side of the mailing asks, "What could our kids be learning if Paul Koering is re-elected to office?" The beginning of the text reads, "From redefining marriage to indoctrinating our children, homosexual activists are hard at work trying to force us to accept their lifestyle and silence anyone who dares to disagree. Senator Paul Koering's record shows he has failed to oppose this radical homosexual agenda."
Later in the text of the MCDM literature, it states, "Kevin Goedker is a family man who supports traditional family values."
Koering said he voted three times to bring the Defense of Marriage Act to the Senate floor and voted one time to return it to committee because he felt that was the proper procedure for the issue.
He said Thursday he would vote in favor of placing the Defense of Marriage Amendment on a statewide ballot.
"It appears the majority of my constituents want the right to vote on this," he said.
Asked whether his support would depend on the wording of the amendment, Koering declined to expand upon his comment.
Chuck Darrell, director of communications for the Minnesota Family Council, reacted by saying "good for him" when he was told Koering said he would vote in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act.
"The best thing he can do is contact us and tell us where he stands on the marriage amendment, if he still supports same-sex civil unions, does he support the bill language without reservation and lastly would he take the marriage pledge?"
Darrell declined to say how much the Senate District 12 mailing cost.
"We don't share that information," he said. "It's just simply not public."
Asked if other legislators were being targeted with similar mailings, Darrell would only say that the organization was doing work in different districts and working to turn out the vote.
Officials with the Minnesota Citizens for the Defense of Marriage could not be reached Thursday for comment on its mailing.
In May, when Minnesota Citizens for the Defense of Marriage endorsed Goedker in the primary, Jeff Davis, president of the organization, explained his group's tactics when the marriage amendment had stalled in the Legislature.
"We're going to take people out," he told the Brainerd Dispatch. "Our goal is to basically elect candidates this November that are going to support the marriage amendment - fully support it."
MIKE O'ROURKE can be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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