Gordon Smith

You are currently browsing articles tagged Gordon Smith.

Shoot! Gordon Smith loses. The Senate will remain with five LDS Senators.

5 November 2008 @ 9:28 pm | No comments

The Newest LDS Senator

5 November 2008 @ 7:16 am | 2 comments

Congraulations also goes to Senator-elect Tom Udall of New Mexico. He will be joining Senator Reid as the second LDS Senator who is a Democrat.

His cousin, Mark Udall (who is not LDS) also won in Colorado.

Their second cousin’s fate, incumbent senator Gordon Smith, is still up in the air as his race is still too close to call.

And why of all GOP Senators does Stevens have to hang on? It’s been a cruel election.

Sen. Smith Learns that Polygamy ≠ Gay Marriage

18 June 2008 @ 3:48 pm | 15 comments

Senator Gordon Smith is under fire for apparently comparing polygamy with same-sex marriage.

During a gay rights forum in Washington, D.C., Gordon was asked to reconcile his support of domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples while also supporting a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. . .

“Part of what I fear, as you start defining marriage — we have a long history of doing that in this country, and my Mormon pioneer ancestors were the victims of that. They were literally driven from the United States in the dead of winter for following their religious beliefs.”

“I don’t want that coming back,” Smith continued. “But there are some on the front pages of your newspapers who are trying to now.”

On Friday, Smith issued a statement reaffirmed [sic] his support of gay rights while clarifying his stand on the definition of marriage. “I have been a strong proponent of gay rights — such as domestic partner benefits, ENDA (anti-discrimination laws) and stronger prosecution of hate crimes,” the senator said, “but I oppose changes in the current definition of marriage.”

On Tuesday Smith apologized for mentioning polygamy in the discussion of gay rights. “If you’d grown up a Mormon, and spent your life trying to get out from the shadow of that legacy — it’s an emotional scar that you carry,” Smith told his home state paper. “I meant no offense by sharing that part of my history.”

I’m not sure what the Senator meant by injecting his “emotional scar” into the discussion. But at the same time I don’t understand why polygamy can’t be mentioned alongside same-sex marriage.

If same-sex marriage should be legal by what standard should polygamy be barred? I’m sure Sen. Smith didn’t mean it like this, but if homosexuality is the civil rights movement of our day, modeled after black civil rights, what’s to stop polygamists from doing the same?

Sen. Gordon Smith reintroduces Domestic Partner Benefits Bill for Federal Employees he is co-sponsoring w/ Senator Lieberman:

Under the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act of 2007, a federal employee and same-sex domestic partner would be eligible to participate in federal health benefits, the Family and Medical Leave program, long term care, insurance, and retirement benefits. Such employees and their domestic partners would also assume the same obligations that apply to married employees and their spouses, such as anti-nepotism rules and financial disclosure requirements.

19 December 2007 @ 6:37 pm | 1 comment

Three Cousins Running for Senate

30 November 2007 @ 4:33 pm | 2 comments

Tom Udall has reversed himself and has announced his campaign for the New Mexico senate seat .  Strangely, this Associated Press article makes a big deal that Tom and his cousin, Mark Udall from Colorado, are both running for Senate but overlooks another cousin.  Gordon Smith will be defending his Senate seat in Oregon.

All three are considered to have very good chance of winning so the next Senate may have three cousins in it.   If so, Tom Udall would join Harry Reid as a LDS Senate Democrat.

Three Cousins in the Senate?

4 October 2007 @ 10:13 am | 1 comment

From RealClearPolitics:

The retirement of Sen. Pete Domenici, which he is expected to announce today from Albuquerque, sets up the possibility of a bid by Rep. Tom Udall (D-NM), son of the late Rep. Stewart Udall (D-AZ) and cousin of Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), who is running for Senate himself. But what we overlooked, which Taegan Goddard points out today, is that a third cousin to both congressmen, Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican, is running for re-election. Have three first cousins ever been on the ballot for Senate in the same year before?

If Rep. Tom Udall becomes Sen. Domenici’s successor, he will join Sen. Reid as another Democrat senator who is LDS.  Sen. Smith is also LDS while Rep. Mark Udall has no religious affiliation

UPDATE:  Alas, it’s not to be.  Rep.  Tom Udall opts not to run for the Senate.