Special Interest Endorsements

When I ran for office one of the things I did to plan out my campaign was to make a list of all the special interest groups that I might have been able to get an endorsement from. One of the was Garden State Equality, a NJ gay rights group. A Republican could never get their endorsement, especially with candidates like Joe Pennacchio who maintains the stance that a state that would legalize marriage can't be trusted. Just a couple of days ago Garden State Equality gave their endorsement to Frank Lautenberg. Surprise, Surprise. The organization knows that Lautenberg is not going to fight for gay marriage or anything else that might jeopardize his campaign, the only reason they are endorsing him is because they know he has the best chance of winning and by endorsing him they will have special privileges come election day.

This to me seems counter to the whole idea behind endorsements. I always thought that the purpose was to support the candidate you believe would best represent the interests of your organization rather than bet on the winning horse and hope that you get a favor in return. Garden State Equality should know by now that the Libertarian Party believes that the government should not have the power to decide who can marry who when it comes to consenting adults. Libertarians such as myself believe that they have the right to get married and obtain the same benefits that every other married couple retains.

But will this ever get me an endorsement, probably not. Maybe a pat on the back behind closed doors but that will probably be it. I wish these organizations had more faith in themselves and less faith in the system and would support the underdogs who really wish to change the government. Boy am I a hopeless romantic.