WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Pro Family Group Tries To Go After Conway

Pro Family Group Tries To Go After Conway

By Tony Hyatt
Wave 3 Political Reporter

(LOUISVILLE, Thurs., September 12th, 2002, 8:30 p.m.) -- When you're a political reporter, from time to time one group or another will try to get you to do a story about what they think is important in a campaign. For me, the most recent group to try and do it has been the Pro Family Coalition of Jefferson County.

They wanted to let voters know a fund-raiser is being held Friday for Democrat Jack Conway. They also wanted to send a message to Conway not to take any money the group might raise.

The fund-raiser was being held by many supporters of the Fairness Campaign, a group that has been concerned about laws for gays and lesbians.

Somehow, the coalition got ahold of an invitation, and as a result, a newsletter went out to more than 1,500 people from the Freedom's Heritage Forum. The Forum is a group created by Dr. Frank Simon of Louisville, a well-known anti-gay rights activist.

When I came into work Thursday morning, my voice mail was full of messages. Oddly enough, they were all about the same thing. After a simple introduction by the person in the message and sometimes a telephone number, the message went on to say, "I have a copy of an invitation where Carla Wallace and other homosexual activists are having a fund-raiser for Jack Conway. Does this mean that Conway supports: homosexual marriages, homosexual boy scout leaders and the homosexual priests?"

It was obvious after the eighth message that they were all being read for some kind of script. I later found out by checking in the news room that other members of the staff had fielded similar inquires because my voice mailbox was full.

I learned the coalition was holding a news conference at noon.

I called the Conway camp to see if anyone there was aware of what was going on. They were. In fact, Conway's folks were sure his opponent was somehow connected.

"We call on Anne Northup to stand up and talk to Frank Simon and repudiate his vile, bigoted hatred," said Conway campaign manager Mark Riddle.

I asked if Jack Conway is in favor of same sex marriages. "He is not in favor of same sex marriages," Riddle said.

Riddle also showed me a copy of the Simon newsletter, and that's where I learned how my voice mailbox got so full of messages.

The newsletter encouraged whoever read it to call all of the TV stations in Louisville and the Courier-Journal. The letter then asked the reader to say exactly what I have already mentioned about the Conway fund-raiser. The idea was to make all of us in TV news, specifically political reporters, think the community was very concerned about this issue.

At the coalition's news conference, the Rev. Peter Hayes and Rev. Jerry Stephenson said the reason it was called was to get Jack Conway to say where he stands on same sex marriage and other gay issues.

Interestingly enough, the group called a press conference to criticize Conway if he takes money from a gay fund-raiser, but they admitted they had no idea where he stood on any of the issues they were concerned about.

"These are pro family kinds of things that we are desperately concerned with," Stephenson said.

When I told Stephenson that Conway was not in favor of same sex marriage he said, "That's good, glad to hear that, he has not told us that, but I'm glad if you say so."

I caught up with Congresswoman Anne Northup as she was coming back from Washington.

"What you have is a problem between Jack Conway and an organization in our community," Northup said. "I have never had contact with Frank Simon, none whatsoever. I have never talked to him -- from the first time I ran or anytime since."

Like many other candidates, Northup gave a strong indiction that she did not need Simon's help.

We ended up doing the story, but the focus was really what I have just written about. I didn't force the issue of where Jack Conway stood on gays because, quite honestly, any voter can pick up the phone and call his campaign office to get the answer. And you can decide one way or the other if you like the answer.

The point of the story was really to show what lengths a small group of people will go to in an effort to get free publicity on an issue which is not that important in the race for Congress.

I can only suggest that the next time Dr. Simon or any other family group tries this, I wouldn't be so obvious. In other words, if you want the media to believe the community is really concerned about an issue, try not reading off of a script.

And finally, find out where a candidate stands on an issue, then criticize if you have to.

Online Reporter: Tony Hyatt

Online Producer: Michael Dever