Bob Vander Plaats, the man behind an
effort to oust 3 Iowa judges who ruled in favor of gay marriage, says
it's a matter of freedom.
After failing to win the Republican
nomination for governor on a platform focused primarily on
overturning the state's 2009 unanimous Supreme Court ruling that
brought gay marriage to the Midwest, the Sioux City businessman
mounted a campaign to oust the judges who ruled in the case. He's
rented office space and hired staffers to man his Iowa for Freedom
campaign.
“They believe the only reason I'm
doing this is because of marriage – wrong,” he told a crowd at a
Taking Back America meeting in Cedar Falls, the Waterloo Daily
Courier reported. “Marriage happens to be the issue, but this
is about freedom.”
Vander Plaats, however, added that he
would push the next governor to end the gay marriages taking place in
the state with an executive order and lobby lawmakers to approve a
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Voters will decide in November whether
to keep Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and
Michael Streit. The remaining four judges are not on the ballot this
year.
The justices have already rejected the
idea of campaigning to keep their posts.
A poll released earlier this month
shows
a majority of Iowa voters (56%) would vote to remove at least one
justice from the bench.
Three Republican 2012 presidential
hopefuls have endorsed Vander Plaats' campaign.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick
Santorum are in favor of axing the judges for deciding in favor of
gay marriage.