Fundraising pitch from FAMiLY Leader

Many organizations make end-of-the-year pitches to potential donors. The newly-named The FAMiLY Leader is no exception.  Read the email Bob Vander Plaats, the group’s president & C.E.O., sent last night:

Good Evening Subscriber, 
 
Nearly two months ago, the people of Iowa spoke with resounding clarity by voting out three activist Supreme Court Justices up for a retention vote who all had a history of legislating from the bench.  We need your help to remove the remaining four Justices.
 
All seven Justices are guilty of overstepping the line by their votes in the Varnum decision, therefore we are asking for the remaining four Justices to resign in an orderly fashion. As long as the Iowa Supreme Court is comprised of justices that abuse their authority, the credibility of our court will be compromised.  
 
Will you help us raise $8,000 by January 1st to restore the credibility of the Iowa Supreme Court?  We cannot allow unelected judges to encroach on the authority of our duly elected legislature. 
 
If you agree with the call for the four remaining justices to resign in an orderly fashion, please contribute today.
 
Thank you for your ongoing support,
 
Bob Vander Plaats 

Vander Plaats and someone named “Matt” (there’s no list of staff on the website and he’s only referred to as Matt on the tour page of The FAMiLY Leader website) have scheduled a 99-county tour of the state from mid-January through mid-March.  It’s called the “Capturing Momentum” tour and it’s billed as an effort to “continue to build a (conservative) movement in Iowa that will impact generations.”

Justice Not Politics, one of the groups which formed this fall to try to convince Iowans to retain the three justices on the ballot in this fall’s retention election, has issued a strongly-worded rebuke of Vander Plaats and his call for the four remaining justices to resign.  Read it below.

STATEMENT FROM JUSTICE NOT POLITICS ON VANDER PLAATS’ APPEARANCE ON IOWA PRESS

“Bob Vander Plaats’ call for the remaining Justices to resign is just another example of continued outrageous rhetoric and political grandstanding by him and his allies since the unfortunate loss of the three Justices in the November election.

“Enough is enough. When Iowa voters rejected Bob Vander Plaats’ three bids for Governor, he didn’t listen to the ‘will of the people’ and leave public life.

“A small handful of politicians do not have a mandate to decide the future of our courts for the people of this state. They are imposing their will on Iowans, usurping our constitutional right to a retention vote. This is complete hypocrisy given the platform of their ouster campaign.”