Many Lawmakers Oppose Anti-Gay Initiative But More Candidates Did Not Respond To Poll, Foes Say

Opponents of the Idaho Citizens Alliance’s anti-gay initiative say their survey has found widespread bipartisan opposition to the proposal from candidates for the state Legislature.

Seventy-two of the 103 candidates responding to the survey over the past six weeks, 70 percent, said they were against the initiative while only 16 said they supported it. The other 15 refused to publicly state their position.

Mary Rohlfing of the Decline To Sign Campaign, which is trying to discourage voters from signing the petition to put the initiative on the November ballot, admitted concern that the other 130 legislative candidates did not respond to the survey.

Rohlfing contended voters have a right to know where politicians stand on the proposition whose constitutionality was called into question by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week.

The high court, in a 6-3 decision, voided a 1992 Colorado constitutional amendment that prohibited state or local laws protecting homosexuals from discrimination similar to what Attorney General Alan Lance has said the alliance initiative attempts to do.

The survey showed the initiative opposed by 45 of the 46 Democrats responding - the 46th refused to take a public stand - and 24 of the 52 Republicans. The two independents split while all three Libertarians were against the measure.

Despite Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling, alliance leaders have said they are pressing ahead with the campaign to gather 41,335 registered voter signatures by July 5 to put the initiative on the fall ballot. A similar proposal was defeated by less than 3,100 votes in 1994’s record non-presidential election turnout.

But Rohlfing argued that moving ahead with the initiative only sets Idaho up for a costly court battle if it passes, a battle that she is confident will end as Colorado’s did with the proposition being voided.

In related news, a letter written by Idaho Citizen Alliance founder Kelly Walton endorsing the primary opponent of Republican state Sen. John Andreason of Boise may have jeopardized the alliance’s tax-exempt status.

But Walton, who signed the letter under the alliance letterhead, called the apparent violation of the Internal Revenue Code an honest mistake. He said the endorsement of Mark Stahl was intended to come from the alliance’s political action committee, or PAC.

Attorney General Alan Lance said his office is looking into the legality of the letter under Idaho tax laws.