Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio Campaigns Employ Gay Marriage Supporters
The campaigns of Republican presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are employing Republicans who signed onto a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court last year arguing that state bans against same-sex marriage are unconstitutional.
In the lead up to last June's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that struck down state bans against same-sex marriage, a group of over 300 Republicans representing various conservative, moderate and libertarian viewpoints signed onto an amicus brief supporting Jim Obergefell and the rest of the petitioners.
Among the hundreds of people who signed that particular brief are two individuals who are actively involved in the presidential campaigns of Rubio and Cruz, candidates who both have stated that they disagree with the Supreme Court's decision and that the decision is not the "settled" law of the land.
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Rubio's deputy campaign manager Rich Beeson, who worked as a political director for Mitt Romney during his 2012 campaign, signed the brief, as did the Cruz campaign's legal counsel Chris Gober.
"Although amici hold a broad spectrum of socially and politically conservative, moderate, and libertarian views, amici share the view that laws that bar same-sex couples from the institution of civil marriage, with all its attendant profoundly important rights and responsibilities, are inconsistent with the United States Constitution's dual promises of equal protection and due process," the brief argues.
"The bans are accordingly inconsistent with amici's understanding of the properly limited role of government."
The media arm of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, the Baptist Message, first reported that Beeson signed the brief in an article last week.
The article states that it cross checked the list of signatures with the names of campaign staffers from the campaigns of Donald Trump, Cruz and Rubio. Other than finding Beeson, the article states that "no other staff members from the three leading Republican campaigns were among those listed."
The Baptist Message likely did not check for the name of Gober, a lawyer who represents more than 100 active clients including U.S. senators, representatives, multibillion-dollar companies and the Cruz campaign. Gober's name is included on page 8a of the brief's list of amici curiae.
In an attempt to get his evangelical and social conservative followers to question a potential Rubio presidency, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, the head of the pro-lifers for Cruz coalition, sent out a tweet Thursday linking to the Baptist Message article that indicted Beeson for his involvement in the brief.
"Troubling if true," Perkins tweeted, along with a link to the article. "Would top advisors in a Rubio administration be the same?"
Eric Teetsel, the director of faith outreach for the Rubio campaign, responded to Perkins' tweet by pointing out that Cruz campaign legal counsel was also included in the brief.
"@tperkins... @tedcruz's legal counsel is on pg. 51 on the list," Teetsel tweeted. "Must have missed that."
Additionally, a Cruz campaign year-end Federal Election Commission filing that was submitted on Jan. 31 indicates that Ted Cruz for President paid over $245,000 to the campaign strategy firm Targeted Victory in 2015.
While Targeted Victory has helped various campaigns raise hundreds of millions of dollars, the president and senior director of the firm, Zac Moffat and Abe Adams, were both listed as signatories in the same brief with Beeson and Gober.
