(cross-posted at The Courage Campaign)

Last Thursday, dday wrote a great post over at GovernorPhil titled Arnold And The Traditional Values Coalition. It quoted an LA Times article that told of an unholy alliance that had formed in Sacramento.

Meanwhile, to drum up support for Schwarzenegger among evangelicals, the state party has hired Ben Lopez, a lobbyist for the Rev. Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition, a group that seeks to outlaw abortion and roll back gay rights.

Lopez and Anna Bryson, statewide coalitions director for Victory '06, the party's November election operation, plan to meet next week in the Sacramento area with roughly 200 conservative ministers — the first of several such gatherings to promote the governor, Bryson said.

The Traditional Values Coalition is no ordinary conservative group, you see.

More over the flip…

As dday went on to document, with the help of PFAW's great Right Wing Watch:

TVC founder the Rev. Lou Sheldon once said this:

“Americans should understand that their attitudes about homosexuality have been deliberately and deceitfully changed by a masterful propaganda/marketing campaign that rivals that of Adolph Hitler. In fact, many of the strategies used by homosexuals to bring about cultural change in America are taken from Hitler’s writings and propaganda welfare manuals.”

We at The Courage Campaign took this nugget of pure gold and ran with it, composing an e-mail that went out the following Monday calling on supporters to sign our petition demanding that Arnold Schwarzenegger fire Ben Lopez:

Ben Lopez's Traditional Values Coalition has…said this about gay rights activists: “Many of the strategies used by homosexuals to bring about cultural change in America are taken from Hitler’s writings and propaganda welfare manuals.”1

This one is simple: Governor, show us who you are. Do you side with the hate mongers who masquerade as religious leaders?

And then…

Call on the head of California's Republican Party, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to fire Ben Lopez.

Gov. Schwarzenegger can’t keep playing the moderate with extremists like Ben Lopez at his side.

How gratifying it was to wake up this morning to the headline: State GOP suddenly dumps newly hired evangelical lobbyist. The spin from the CRP was that Lopez was only meant to work

"…through the convention, and that work is now completed."

Yet according to the Chronicle:

on Sunday, Dorinson had given no indication that Lopez's job with the party would end.

Not to mention:

Lopez, reached Sunday by The Chronicle, didn't appear to know that his work was to end at the close of the convention.

As Courage Campaign Chair Rick Jacobs writes in the Huffington Post, our success at getting this "bad actor out of state politics" is a victory for good ole (or, rather, good new) fashioned people powered online organizing. Indeed it's a victory for all of us in the grassroots and netroots that worked together to bring attention to the governor's divided loyalties, get a big chunk o' hate out of Sacramento and force the governor to cut an important tie to the right wing base, an action that just might keep some of them home in November.

(Hey all you Calitics readers…can you do us a favor and recommend neutron’s dKos x-post of this diary.. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

I am very, very pleased to announce the launch of the website GovernorPhil.com. Inspired by Raising Kaine in Virginia, that helped elect Tim Kaine governor of Virginia (and soon, Jim Webb), and Lamont blog which recently helped win the nomination for Ned Lamont in the Connecticut Democratic primary.

GovernorPhil.com is another in a series of people powered grassroots websites. In this case put together by a dedicated group of blogosphere types, (aka: myself, Conan Newton, ex-director of Bands Against Bush, long time poster to dkos, mydd, and others, Brian Leubitz (aka: utbriancl) of Calitics, Jenifer Fernandez Ancona (aka: jra) of Power PAC, Dan Ancona (aka: da)of SpeakOutCalifornia.org, Frank D. Russo of The California Progress Report and many more.

Quite simply, this election is not just about the current California recall governor. Certainly that guy is odious, in the pocket of big business and the extreme right wing, all the while acting the part of a moderate. However, while pointing out the current govenor’s lies, misdirections, and dangerous policis, this site is designing to be about helping present the vision and character of California’s next Governor, Philip Nicholas Angelides. Or as we hope to call him soon. Governor Phil

More behind the cut.

The idea behind Governor Phil is two fold, first we want to fill in the gaps from the campaign site, and provide information, commentary and news that might otherwise be lost in the shuffle. Many in the lap dog are so enraptured by the Actor/Recall Governor that they will simply print his press releases as fact. GovernorPhil is designed to be more then just a cheerleading site, we are here for one of the things the blogosphere does best, rapid response as well.

We’re not under the impression we’re reinventing the wheel here, we just want to take what we’ve learned in Virginia and Connecticut and use it here in blue California.

The fact of the matter is that Phil Angelides is the man with the plan, he is a real reformer, his policies are excellent, and he will be the best governor this state has seen in quite some time, he is in it, to win it, but he needs our muscle to  help get there.

  Phil envisions a California:

  * Where people are always given more chances to climb the ladder of opportunity.
  * Where we truly support hard-working families rather than lavish more on those who have the most.
  * Where education is truly our first priority, so all of our kids have the best teachers, the best textbooks, the best technology, the smallest class sizes, and all the help they need to feed their hungry young minds.
  * Where higher education is truly affordable to everyone, so all of our young people can compete for and win the high-wage jobs of the future.
  * Where we expand health care for working Californians and their children, and then move on to universal health care — making our state a model for the nation.
  * Where we lead the fight against global warming, becoming a national leader in clean, alternative energy.
  * Where we have the courage and vision to achieve these goals by making sure that everyone contributes their fair share to our state.

That is the California we can build together.

It will not be easy. But Phil has the strength of conviction to lead this difficult task. In his own words, this is how he describes his motivation:

“My father always told me: for every advantage you have been given, remember, there are people who work fifteen hours a day just to survive, people who never get a break from anyone. He told me: don’t ever, ever forget them.

If you elect me as your Governor, I won’t forget. I will give everything I have to make this state the home to your hopes, your own California dream.”

Now, we of GovernorPhil.com understand that there are many Californians out there who are upset about how the primary played out. We also understand that there are many of you out there with strong opinions on how the campaign is being run, some of us share your concerns, but we are here to help fill in the gaps with a little elbow grease and people power.

In most situations, you will find there are three choices, you can be part of the solution, part of the problem, or part of the scenery. As far as this election goes, we of the Governor Phil group are determined to be part of the solution, and would love it if you all would come along.

You’ll notice a lot of answers to popular questions at the PhAQ.

And we have links to ways you can get involved.

So please check out and bookmark GovernorPhil.com, spread the word to whoever you know.

Together we can make Governor Phil a reality, and take back California.

-C.