Gary Bauer
From dKosopedia
Category: Right wing religious whack-jobs
Gary L. Bauer is a Relgious-Right public spokesman and politician notable for his ties to several fundamentalist and evangelical Christian groups and campaigns. He was the founder of and served as President for the Family Research Council (FRC) from 1988 to 1999. In 2000, Bauer ran for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.
Bauer, represents the nexus between the Christian right and the neoconservatives. A close friend of neocon bigwig William Kristol, Bauer's dossier of political activities dates back to the Reagan Administration, where he served in a number of posts under Education Secretary William Bennett. From this perch he lambasted "moral decay in public schools" and advocated controversial policies like school prayer. According to a 1986 Washington Post article, Bauer blamed "the public schools for what he called the decay in the nation's morals," criticized textbook publishers "as soft on the Soviet Union for saying that Russians enjoy some freedoms," and criticized teacher unions for promoting "leftist indoctrination aimed at turning today's students into tomorrow's campus radicals."[1]
Bauer received his law degree from Georgetown University Law School in Washington D.C. in 1973 but went on to become a senior policy analyst in the Reagan/Bush campaign. After Reagan won the election Bauer became a policy analyst in the Office of Policy Development, then became Deputy Assistant Director for Legal Policy. Later he was nominated and became Under Secretary of Education beginning in July 1985 and held the post until 1987.
While serving at the Education Department, Bauer was named Chairman of President Reagan's Special Working Group on the Family. His report, "The Family: Preserving America's Future," was presented to the President in December 1986." [2]
Finding himself out of a job when Bush won the White House in 1988, Bauer founded the Family Research Council (FRC) and also became president of the lobbying arm for its sister organization Focus on the Family. Both of these groups became prominent propaganda mills for the relgious-right, pushing its version of "traditional family values."
Bauer later founded the Campaign for Working Families (CWF) in 1996 to "represent the interests and values of America's traditional families in the political arena. CWF is a non-partisan political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing pro-family, pro-life and pro-free enterprise candidates to federal and state offices." [3][4]
Despite his evangelical crusades, Bauer's personal behavior has been the subject of sharp criticism from his employees and political allies. He was accused of adultery by his 2000 presidential campaign staff, who "charged Bauer with ill-advised private meetings with a 27-year-old female campaign aide. In October, campaign manager Charles Jarvis and almost half the campaign staff left Bauer over the charges of impropriety." [5]
When Bauer called his own press conference to combat the rumors of adultery, he refused to answer questions about which campaign he thought was spreading the rumors (although he had claimed a rival campaign was doing it), and whether or not any of his former colleagues had approached him about his seemingly inappropriate behavior with the female aide. [6]
According to the People for the American Way, after Bauer dropped out of the 2000 presidential race, The Family Research Council "Board of Directors quickly confirmed that [Bauer] would not be back -- no surprise, as FRC had previously given Bauer a thinly-veiled notice of expulsion when it released the results of a poll conducted among their staffers. . In addition, Bauer had reportedly angered James Dobson, founder and head of Focus on the Family, mentor to Bauer, and underwriter of much of the FRC, when he decided to run for president." [7]
When Bauer dropped out of the presidential race, he endorsed the campaign of Sen. John McCain, which drew criticism from conservative leaders: "On his 700 Club television show, Pat Robertson, who himself sought the GOP's presidential nomination in 1988, said, 'I don't think the Bauer thing makes one hill of difference. He didn't do anything anywhere all over the country... I would think, frankly, that his political activity is pretty much over." [8]
Despite his attempts to become a leading member of the religious right, he has been known for "scaring the hell out of the Republican establishment... Bauer is leading his flock toward a moralist economic philosophy that often seems more Democratic than Republican...The China debate drew Bauer into an open alliance with liberals. He coordinated strategy with House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), attended a Kennedy family dinner, staged a press conference with the AFL-CIO, and dined with Richard Gere after they shared the same stage at a rally." [9]
"In the final days of the 2000 campaign, CWF spent tens of thousands of dollars on a massive 12-state Get-Out-The-Vote drive on behalf of George Walker Bush and Republican candidates down the ballot."[10]
Bauer is currently the president of another organization named American Values. He was also a signatory on the Project for the New American Century's letter to Bill Clinton advocating an overthrow of the Iraqi government.
Affiliations [11]
- American Alliance of Jews and Christians — Co-founder, 2002
- Campaign for Working Families — Co-founder, Chairman
- Foundation for the Defense of Democracies — Board of Advisers
- American Values — Founder, President
- Council for National Policy — Member
- Beliefnet — Columnist
- African American Republican Leadership Council — May be on Advisory Council (see citations)
- Project for the New American Century — Signatory to founding statement and several others open letters
- American Renewal — Former chairman
- Family Research Council — President, 1988-1999
- Focus on the Family — Vice President, 1988-1992
- Republican National Committee — Assistant Director of Opposition Research, 1969-1973
- Reagan-Bush Committee — Senior Policy Analyst
Government Posts/Panels/Commissions
- Reagan Administration — Director, Office of Policy Development, 1987-1988; Deputy Assistant Director for Legal Policy, Office of Policy Development, 1982; Policy Analyst, Office of Policy Development, 1981-1982
- President's Special Working Group on the Family — Chair, 1986
- Department of Education — Under Secretary of Education, 1985-1987; Deputy Under Secretary for Planning and Budget, 1982-1985
- Office of President-elect Ronald Reagan — Assistant Director for Policy/Community Services Administration, 1981
Corporate Connections/Business Interests
- Direct Mail Marketing Association : Director of Government Relations, 1976-1980; Deputy Director of Government Relations, 1973-1976
Related articles
External links
- Gary Bauer's Skeleton Closet, RealChange.org. Includes links to primary source documents.
- Bauer Warns Bush, After Saddam capture, threats from conservatives not to back Geneva. James D. Besser - Washington Correspondent, The Jewish Week
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