Day: April 14, 2005

Republican state Senator Paul Koering (right) of Minnesota came out of the closet during a phone interview with journalist Mike Rogers of blogActive. Rogers had placed the call to Koering after receiving photos of Koering in a gay bar.

With Rogers on the line and his political career in the balance, Sen. Koering – who had recently caused a stir by being the only Republican in the Minnesota senate to vote against a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage – decided not to weasel. He admitted that he was gay.

Koering, 40, hails from farm country, some 150 miles north of Minneapolis. He says his decision to come out was a complex one, but that the marriage amendment vote—aligned with the two year anniversary of his mother’s death—finally led him to believe the time was right…

As a proud Republican legislator who stood alone against his party to take a stand against what he sees as discrimination, Koering’s support for reporting on “hypocritical” gay politicians—including Republicans—is certain to send a shockwave through the Washington gay community.

“Somebody who is possibly in the closet and uses their bully pulpit or their position to bash gay people or to make gay people’s lives difficult… and are in essence leading a double life — people like that need to be exposed for the hypocrite that they are,” Koering says.

Koering is well aware coming out may cost him his job.

“The only thing I’m worried about are the 83,000 people that I represent,” he continued. “And I did talk to the chair of the Crowing Country Republicans and he said that the executive committee might consider asking for [my] resignation.”

“I said, I don’t think that would be a good idea on your part,” he added.

Koering says he supports the Defense of Marriage Act Minnesota has on its books, which prevents the state from recognizing gay marriages. But he feels that a constitutional amendment takes things too far. He says legalizing gay marriage at this point would be moving “too fast.”

The results are in, and one thing is certain: Floridians wouldn’t want the next reality show to feature a comatose woman whose husband and parents are battling each other to take her off life support.

According to multiple reports, including the Miami Herald,

From the president to the governor to legislators to judges to reporters, nearly every outsider involved in the Terri Schiavo tragedy is viewed unfavorably by Floridians, who frown most heavily on those who intruded the most…

The research was conducted by Quinnipiac University. For some reason, the news media took the biggest hit, and rightly, the Supreme Court got the least criticism. Personally, I still blame Jeb for getting involved early and often.

”I think this is a case of shooting the messenger,” Clay F. Richards, pollster for the university, said Wednesday. “And there was fatigue. This was on television and in the newspapers constantly and people just wanted this to go away. The Supreme Court got a pass because it just stayed out.”

Following the news media in descending order, Floridians viewed these entities less favorably than ”favorably:” Congress, the Florida Legislature, Gov. Jeb Bush and President Bush, the federal courts and the state courts. The poll showed, however, that both Bushes’ job-approval ratings in general held constant.

Jeb’s reaction to the news? Pure Jeb:

”I don’t know where Quinnipiac University is, for starters,” Bush said Wednesday. “Secondly I didn’t do it for polls or politics. When you are in this position you can’t be driven by polls. It’s just not appropriate.”

Of course, party affiliation made a difference. Republicans, as their puppet-masters knew they would be, were more evenly split.

However, the actions of the Republican lawmakers in Washington and Tallahassee proved almost as popular as it was unpopular with GOP voters — underscoring the logic behind a well-publicized ”talking points” memo that noted the case was “a great political issue.”