Voters need to beware of last-minute campaign mailers, phone calls or advertisements making negative claims about candidates. Often the claims are distorted or downright false. Especially beware of shadowy, third-party groups that aren’t officially tied to a specific candidate.
For example, an anonymous group called “Traditional Family Values of Kansas” sent a mailer this week that seems to objectively evaluate the top three GOP gubernatorial candidates and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on various issues (but clearly is promoting GOP candidate Ken Canfield). The group grossly mischaracterizes the other candidates’ positions on several issues, such as suggesting that Jim Barnett and running mate Susan Wagle may not really be pro-life and that Barnett supports civil unions. That’s not even close to the truth.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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49 Comments
Am I the only one who thinks the sign in the photo is definitely proof that Spirit One should lose its tax exemption?
Their Christian Rd and therefore can not deceive anyone! But of course as some may point out that a lie in the name of God is not a lie at all! After all W.W.J.D. never mind that… Jesus would not have sent out those mailers. I was raise to think that somehow being a Christian meant you had to be a better person. But today’s better Christian seem to fall short of even being a honest person little alone fall short of the gory of God.
“Am I the only one who thinks the sign in the photo is definitely proof that Spirit One should lose its tax exemption?”
Posted by: RD | July 28, 2006 at 01:08 AM
I am not a member of any church. Why do you liberals yell “FREEDOM OF SPEECH” except when it comes to someone you don’t agree with?
RA,But Spirit One IS a church with tax exampt status, and is therefore NOT allowed to be politically active. When they are, the can lose their tax exampt status. So again you show you have little or no intelligence.
RA is a typical Kansas Republican. All mouth and no brains.
IMHO this sign is pretty blatant support for one candidate over another which isn’t allowed. But I’m sure that they will claim they are only stating how the candidates stand on the issue, and NOT that they are endorsing one over another.
I am curious why they chose to print that picture… is Spirit One associated in some way with the folks that sent out the mailer?
I’m wondering who this “Traditional Family Values of Kansas” is? Who’s running it? Are they church connected? Is this so-called organization simply doing this to bypass tax exempt laws?
If this truly is an organization on the up and up, they would have no problem letting their targeted group know exactly who they are. I believe they are doing this to bypass tax exempt laws and should be investigated by the KBI, and if found to be in violation of the law, punished to the full extent of the law.
Only cowards hide behind a nameless facade.
And JM, did you notice that there is zero contact info for these sleazy liars.
I recieved that campaign mailer on Monday I believe. Yeah! You can tell it was a flat out endorsement for Canfield.
I did a whois search on ksvalues.com. They even set their registar information on private.
I even did a corporate search and a lobbyist search. Came up with nothing.
Who are these people? If it from the Spirit One church. Well! That’s not surprising that the “born again” cult church would do this. I guess I need to speak in tounges to find out their legal status.
Joe, good try.I did the same.Is this some unfair smear or what?
Churches masquarading as political organizations?
Say it isnt so…
Any other 501(c)3 would be under IRS investigation. But churches? Nope. They have bushgod’s protection to thumb their noses at the IRS. Pass petitions DURING a service? No problem. Fund sleazy hit calls? No problem.
And apparantly they also have protection at the Kansas Ethics Commission. Someone funded this, someone had to report it. Surely we can find out AFTER the blackout period. heheheheh. If anyone cares after the election. They go back to their crypts until the next election cycle.
I mean, SURELY they wont be ashamed of what they are doing in the darkness. Surely they wont mind if it comes into the light and we see who they are and where their cash originates. Surely…?
WWJD.
What Would Jack (abramhoff) Do?
Oh, and BTW, Barnett supports civil unions? ROFLMQAO!!!!!!!!
He is as big of a homophobe as his little dog susan the bingo empress.
I shouldnt say that though, ’cause that will get him even MORE of the right wing bigot vote. You know…
… the one canfield is courting?
And courting with truthiness? I cant say lies, since the holy rollers here are truth challenged. But make no mistake, lies are what canfield’s campaign is all about.
I guess lying about others, smearing, and then hiding in the shadows is, um, what?
A Kansas Republican Traditional Family Value?
heheh. Good thing MY family doesnt have a tradition of lying….
Having been targeted by these liars in the past I know their tactics all to well. I guess they figure they are exempt from the Commandment “thou shalt not bear false witness”
Ben..So do you KNOW who these people are? Everyone seems to be accusing Spirit One because of the picture, but I haven’t seen anywhere that they are tied to the ksvalues web site. It is odd that the WE board used that picture if they don’t have some sort of inside information though!If someone can actually produce the evidence, then I would say KFG and company have a valid case.
My specific group (back in 1994) called itself GodArchy and was tied to various local churches.
Interesting thing is how quickly when I attacked them it was communicated to Les Donovan (my opponent). These politicians use groups like that to give themselves “plausible deniability”
It is wrong to hide in the shadows. That is normally done when you have a lot to hide and are ashamed of what you are doing.
Here is part of an email they sent out:
my husband, Cedric, and I are emailing you; it is simply the fastest and best way to get the word out on candidates before the primary vote on August 1st. We were uncertain as to who we should support in the GOP Primary race for the Governor’s position until just a few weeks ago.
We had been told that there was more than one candidate that we should consider because “they are all conservatives.” So, we looked at all of them as well as at the sitting governor, Sebelius. We looked at each of their views on the following eight issues: Life, 2nd Amendment Rights, Marriage, Taxes, Education, Property Rights, Illegal Immigration, and Gambling. We thoroughly checked each candidate’s voting records, their statements to the media, legislative journals, etc. In addition, we checked to see who they were willing to receive money from……………AFTER THIS INVESTIGATION INTO THE FACTS WE HAD NO DOUBTS ABOUT WHO WE WERE TO SUPPORT. However, you will need to make your own decision.
Because of the confusion in the GOP primary race as to who really espouses biblical, conservative values several of us decided to come together, and put together an “issues advocacy voter’s guide” which is on the web. Please access it at http://www.ksvalues.com . After reading it please help us in getting the word out. We want to elect a candidate who desires to weigh all decisions in light of God’s principles that cannot change and upon our U.S. Constitution which is also based on God’s absolute Truth.
This is what you can do to help:
1. Please pray.
2. Go to the web site http://www.ksvalues.com, print it, and distribute it to your church, home school friends, and others in your community. Or you may call me at 316-778-1100 or 316-393-9459 or Donna at 316-744-7889 or 316-516-0777 and we will send you postcards with ALL of what is on the web.
3. Call all of the evangelical churches in your area and ask them how many voter’s guides they can pass out and use this next Sunday, July 30th. Then call us ASAP and we will mail that number of voter’s guides. Important: This voter’s guide is totally non-partisan, covers the 3 leading GOP candidates & Sebelius, and does not tell the voter who to vote for. It covers all of the pro-family issues that Christians need to be aware of not just the pro-life issue.
4. Email your friends (ANYONE WITHIN KANSAS) and point them to http://www.ksvalues.com. They can then print and distribute in their sphere of influence.
5. Call your friends, and get them informed and involved…..(This is a great way to get your youth trained in making a difference. Ask your home schooled children to help by calling pastors, handing out information at churches, the town grocery store, putting up signs, etc.)
We pray that God will continue to maintain our freedom to teach and train our children as the Lord leads us. Please call me with any questions.
In His grace,
Cedric and Sandi Boehr
“..let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty. If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted…”–Noah Webster
“He that governs over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the tender grass from the earth.” II Samuel 23: 3-4 (David, King of Israel)
An 1892 Supreme Court Decision said, “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind….In this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian…”
What about the wonderful people who may happen to be jewish, muslim, buddhist, etc.?
I guess that even though they are fine people who espouse the same values as christians,THEY MUST GO TO HELL FOR NOT BEING LIKE YOU?
Tracy I am only supplying information. I am not supporting what they are doing. If you want to hollar at someone give the people that are doing this a call.
If you goggle the names Ruby provides above you get a bunch of hits to the Kansas Constitution Party. The pair are even Kansas electors (as in the electoral college for the Constitution party). See this candidate’s nomination acceptance speech to get an idea of what these folks are all about.
http://www.constitutionparty.com/news.php?aid=58
They are clearly Christian Nationalists/dominionists who think lying in the name of God is not only acceptable, but a good idea. They are fighting the secular-humanist enemy, don’t you know.
These folks would be laughable, if they weren’t so effective.
Cedric and Sandi Boehr constitute the constitution party. A so-called political party whose goal is to implement a religious (theirs) based government in Kansas.
They are part of the neo-con religious right that thinks ID is the answer to all man’s developement, that God watches over this country, even though we seem to enjoy invading countries and killing people. Quite a barbaric outfit, what?
“Lying to fulfill the greater glory of God”. Can I hear an “amen”, please.
I have met Sandi – she is really something! (I won’t say what)
Are we really surprised that a right wing group would distort the facts . . . even against some of it’s own? I got one of those mailings and noticed there was no return address, no indication of who paid for it or really sent it out, and reading it the bias was drippingly obvious. Got to love liars who claim to be christians.
Ruby, that was not directed at you.However, I might say that I was not quite sure if you were just the messemger.
The Neo-Con movement is not about God’s work. These people are using any means necessary to promote their own agenda. They wrap up their beliefs in the Bible and the American flag in hopes that people will just follow them without investigating the truth.
Oh, good, Ruby is back to move us back to the Victorian Age–”An 1892 Supreme Court Decision said . . .” Well, Ruby, an 1894 Supreme Court Decision said that blacks and whites could be legally separated in Plessy v Ferguson, thus enshrining 50 years of American apartheid, and tacitly approving lynchings, civil rights and voting abuse, and racism of the most virulent kind.
But don’t forget where Paul says that a slave should obey his master.
Now, if there were just some way I could make YOU the slave, and I could be the master, maybe you’d finally GET IT!
Leo Strauss called it the “Noble Lie” and that it is not wrong to lie if it is what it would take to achieve your goals. Many in the Neo-cons and for that matter in the Bush White House are followers of the teachings of Strauss. But on a related note, I have said many times that the only ones who could destroy the Christian faith are Christians. We are seeing some of my brothers in Christ going down that path to destruction.As I have said of Bush I say of the Religious Right, “No power on earth, no country that wishes us harm can do the damage to the faith as the faithful can do!”.
“RA,But Spirit One IS a church with tax exampt status, and is therefore NOT allowed to be politically active. When they are, the can lose their tax exampt status. So again you show you have little or no intelligence.”
Posted by: J M Walker | July 28, 2006 at 06:01 AM
THAT IS THE ISSUE I DISAGREE WITH IS WHY SHOULD THEY GIVE UP THEIR FREEDOM OF SPEECH JUST BECAUSE THE HAVE A TAX EXAMPT STATUS?
So, religious politicians lying, churches and televangelists advocating theocracy and aligning themselves with worldly politcal parties and christian jihads? Sounds like they’re trying to create their own “end times,” since god hasn’t gotten around to it yet! This is Traditional Family Values? It’s certainly traditional, but the mafia has better, and more compassionate family values!
Obtuse Angle,”THAT IS THE ISSUE I DISAGREE WITH IS WHY SHOULD THEY GIVE UP THEIR FREEDOM OF SPEECH JUST BECAUSE THE HAVE A TAX EXAMPT STATUS?”
Nobody has said they should give up their freedom of speech, but if they become a political advocacy group, then they must, under law, give up their tax-exempt status, just like every other PAC. These guys want to have it both ways! All they have to do is pay their rightful taxes, just like the rest of us!
“Having been targeted by these liars in the past I know their tactics all to well. I guess they figure they are exempt from the Commandment “thou shalt not bear false witness”"
Posted by: Ben Huie | July 28, 2006 at 09:29 AM
Ben, what did they say about you that wasn’t true?
Cedric and Sandi Boehr
You should check the public record on these two. What a treasure trove of deadbeats.
RA – that I was running on the gay rights agenda because I was a closet gay. (a) my platform in 1004 had no mention whatsoever about gay issues and (b) I am a married (35 years now) heterosexual.
Boehr certainly loves Coulter.
1994, not 1004
cannot type
Since the 1970’s these mega churches have been about one thing – money. And they have used their “tax exempt” status to keep all that money! It is nothing but big business waving a Bible.
CM, I was not endorsing their message. I was only supplying the information I received about who part of this group was. I don’t care what side you are on, it is not right to hide in the shadows. If you are proud of your message then you should be just as proud to say who you are.
These folks are sending out this garbage mail and running radio commercials without providing contact information (we know their facts are off) or saying who they. This should not be legal and the church with the sign should not be allowed to continue their non-profit status!
How do you do that OHG?
oops I meant OMG
I found this site somewhat by mistake, but can’t seem to resist joining in on the name calling…
You guys are pitiful.
As long as we all are wasting valuable electronic assets to create and distribute this dribble, I might as well waste a few moments to feed my insatiable need to listen to myself talk too. This can’t possibly be about anything more worthwhile than that, but now you all will have something else to talk about and some new guy to disparage for the next few days.
I happen to have a favorite in this gubernatorial race but for the sake of this discussion, it really doesn’t matter who it is. None of these guys (Barnett, Canfield, Jenison or even the other 4 guys) deserve any of the unmerited junk you people write. We should thank them for even being in the arena, and our thanks should go to our political opponents in other political parties as well. All these candidates and those who currently serve, regardless of their ideology, willingly expose themselves to the ferocity of this trash, disrupting their otherwise fine and peaceful lives, and they do it for the sake of public service. Who among us has ever done anything so valiant?
Grow up. Read and study Aristotle or Plato or Socrates and learn what it means to be a good citizen and a real rhetorician (the good and proper kind). It is wonderful when citizens employ sound logic in thoughtful debate about real issues, but this is a joke.
Seems to me that the people who come to an internet place like this are usually young political staffers who have the faulty impression that people actually read and/or believe this stuff, and the few folks who have nothing better to do, thinking this is a meaningful venue for discussion. Unfortunately, I may now be counted among that second group, but hopefully my foolishness is only a temporary malaise – I don’t plan to make a habit of this, although I am having quite a fun time listening to myself!
For those of you who may be political staffers – your time would be much better spent actually doing work that matters (as would mine right now…). Go do something truly anonymous and forget about your ego – you might actually help your candidate get elected. After all, it is his or her name that is on the ballot, not yours. Get a half a dozen yard signs placed and sticker a few cars – that will have more impact at the polls than anything “brilliant” you might write at a blog like this. People will actually drive by your signs, but most won’t invest the time I have in a blog like this.
That’s a good reminder that it is time for me to go do something that matters. Bye for now.
Churches having tax exempt status is clearly defined by the seperation that they have from the state.
By not taxing churches, the government is prevented from directly interfering with how churches operate. By the same token, those churches are also prevented from directly interfering with how the government operates in that they cannot endorse any political candidates, they cannot campaign on behalf of any candidates, and they cannot attack any political candidate.
But the Neo-Cons do not believe in separation of church and state. So, why are they claiming tax exempt status? It’s about money…..follow the money!
Is what is said in the Spirit One sign unture? If it is, what recourse do Barnett and Wagle have?
From Wikopedia on neocons:
“Within American conservatism, neoconservatism is particularly contrasted to isolationism, especially as found in paleoconservatism. While the neoconservatives share some of the Christian right critique of a purely secular society, this is not as central to their politics as it is for the Christian right.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-conservative
The folks behind these anonymous smear campaigns are more than “the Christian Right”.
See this description of Michelle Goldberg’s work on this group:
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2006/05/12/goldberg/index_np.html
Welcome O self-rightious Tobydog.
Yep, you are quite correct: We are all uncouth, polarized, ignorant scum, who may have read a total of one half a book between us all.
Aw, shucks, Toby; just kidding. Actually we are people who work raise families, VOTE, and care about what happens to this country, which at the moment is run by a moron. We argue, sometimes heatedly, but for the most part with conviction.
I, myself, have read and studied Aristotle and Plato and Socrates. Seems all three expressed interest in debating issues. Kind of what we do here, only we jazz it up a bit. Of course, if you feel discussions with passion are above you, feel free to move along. If not, rub some salt on your psyche and join in the fun. In fact, feel free to knock us all you want, but be prepared to handle the verbal retaliation:-)
TobyDog,O yes, about those politicians who “sacrifice” everything to serve the people: Most of them start out that way, but quickly become slaves to the power their status gives them. Ask Tiahrt about his “contract” to serve only two terms. Hmmm . . .
Most, if not all, politicians who serve two terms or more, are interested in one thing only: getting re-elected.Of course money sticks its hooks in the sides of these upstanding citizens all the time, and they resist all the time, don’t they? (That’s rhetorical)
And look at the commander in chief: Lying to the public who elected him in order to invade a sovergn nation. Iraq, over WMD and Al-Quida excuses, when all the time its been about oil. Yep, he’s another upstanding citizen.
Tobydog, though I have from time to time suspected some posters on the message boards as being “political staffers”. I at worst here suspect some as just being blinded by their partisanship, the difference to me is the willingness to answer the questions that their post brings up. In answer I mean to at least engage in a discussion of the topic. A political staffer simply repeats they view over and over to answer the question and states that it is the smart way to believe, they have nothing else to say. It is unfortunate that it works to some degree, following the old “Repeat a lie long enough and hard enough it becomes the truth”.
Also I would be willing to meet anyone here for lunch, I would prefer a greasy hamburger to a tire iron. The hamburger is a lot easier to swallow! Be cause I know these people even if I will not agree with everything they say. Believe in what they say, they are not hollow enough to simple spout a view they do not believe for pay or because it is part of someone else’s agenda. If you are looking for true Americans you have come to the right place.
Like many professions, teacher, Police officer, a political candidate may actually start out with a idealistic view of what they are doing. But is would be simple minded to think that by the time they are running that they have not been clued in. They would never have made it to a ballot if they were not favored by the party. G.W. Bush had not desire to be President, he was pick and groomed by others. The idea was planted in his head before he ran in 2000.
Cedric and Sandi Boehr are affiliated with Operation Save America whose local chapter is headed by Mark Hollick, self-proclaimed pastor at Spirit One Christian Center (the photo in question).
The voter guides were written by David Hart and a woman identified only as Sherri.
Plato was a fascist who believed in the “noble lie” and that a utopian society is one in which people are designated into classes. What I found most ridiculous in his work about the ideal society is that the three classes of people he assigns are little more than mindless automatons ruled over by the “Philosopher-Kings”! Oh yeah Tobydog, I really wanna live in a society in which everybody is either a artisan/worker or a soldier and government is dictated by a Know-it-All-Royal-Pain-in-the-Ass!
that last one is should be about Aristotle by the way.