Video: Republican candidate supports EXECUTION of GAYS

You've got to watch this video.

My Democratic state Senator here on Maui, J. Kalani English, has a Republican running against him named Robb Finberg, a Pastor for the Christian Fellowship Church.

In this video, Finberg actually says that he would support a law for the execution of people found guilty of performing homosexual acts.

Yes, that's right, he favors the death penalty for gays.

Watch the video here:

http://mikegabbard.info/rob_finberg.htm

More background and details after the jump...

First, a little background:

Finberg was interviewed by Forrest Bradford, who has a show called "Bible Phonies" on local cable access channel AKAKU.

After explaining his creationist views of history's timeline and how gays don't actually exist, Finberg was asked: "If there was a law that supported the execution of people found guilty of performing homosexual acts, would you support that law?"

After stating "Unfortunately, nearly 300,000 Americans have suffered the death penalty as a result of homosexual activity," Finberg answered, "Yes, if it were the law of the land. Yes."

The video is hosted on a site exposing Republican Congressional candidate Mike Gabbard, who is challenging my congressman, Rep. Ed Case, for HI-02 (Rural Oahu and neighbor islands). Gabbard was endorsed by Finberg, who said they "share the same beliefs." Gabbard was a leading figure in the Hawaii constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. See The Gospel According to Gabbard.

Okay, go watch the video here (Windows Media file):

http://mikegabbard.info/rob_finberg.htm

This is a downticket race, but this video needs to be seen. Finberg is part of a much larger pattern, consistent with Coburn's lesbians in school restrooms, and DeMint's gay and single mom teachers - just admitting a more extreme view when put on the spot. And it shows the type of people the Hawaii Republicans like Linda Lingle (right, the one who Triumph told to go back to Stepford) are recruiting and putting forward in these downticket races. (His website: finbergforsenate-dot-com)

There was also an article in Saturday's Maui News about a sort of mini-Willie Horton campaign tactic, a mailer with a letter from a woman whose house was broken into, attacking English as "soft on crime" for supporting treatment and rehabilitation rather than imprisonment for nonviolent drug offenders. The article notes that "even county prosecutors say the claim is inaccurate."

For his part, Sen. English is a real progressive, chair of the Senate Energy and Environment Committee, who has a 92% rating last year from the Sierra Club, and has introduced and supported bills such as an environmental workforce, renewable energy portfolio standards, ethanol fuel requirements, Hawaii air ambulance, Hawaii discount drug program for seniors, and also Native Hawaiian issues.

Sen. English's website has more background, including news articles, and a list of bills and resos that he introduced and passed through his committee.

Even though this is a downticket race, if you have a little extra love to send his way, I know Sen. English would appreciate it and can use it to help counter the smears and lies the Repugnants are pulling on him to try to get into office someone who would support the execution of gays.

I'm working on setting up PayPal for him to receive donations, but meantime you can send a check with the required donor info to:

J. Kalani English Election Committee
PO Box 791146
Paia, Maui, HI 96779
[e-mail]

Meanwhile, spread this video link!

Update [2004-10-25 21:53:3 by scottmaui]: Okay, you can make a PayPal donation here or on his website. Mahalo!

Update [2004-11-12 3:58:44 by scottmaui]: Election result - good news - Finberg only earned 26% of the vote, to English's 70%, as part of a Major Setback for the GOP in Hawaii.

•  Is English likely to lose?

  I see that he has a Green in the race who will do her best to make sure he loses. That's what Greens do best.

  Given how far to the right the HIGOP is, and how anti-gay most HI residents are, I guess this isn't really a surprise.

  So are the HI media just ignoring this entirely? How pathetic. He says he wants to kill gays - he confirms on tape the fondest wish of every Republican, especially the gay-bashing governor - and nobody cares.

  More of our "liberal" media.

  by JamesB3 on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:18:15 AM PDT

  •  targeted seat

    I'm not really sure. It is a pretty odd district, spanning three islands - Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i (and actually Kaho'olawe too, though the "target island" is still uninhabited from being bombed by the Navy for a couple decades), and is very rural, but being spread out is diverse and hard to get a handle on.

    I'm have to check with English, but I think the Green candidate might have been intentionally planted as a way to try to siphon off votes from English. I'll have to confirm that, though. But I know that Finberg has a lot of funds coming from outside the district, and English is one of a handful of senators who was targeted by the state GOP to try to win back enough seats in the state senate to at least make the governor's veto override-proof.  

    As far as I know, the Hawaii media is ignoring this item, but I'm hoping that a little 'net attention might help...

    by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:26:41 AM PDT

    •  District isn't really all that odd

      when you consider that each Senate seat has to represent about 50K people.  Molokai has only 10-15K, Lanai 8K....(IIRC)

      But what a wingnut.  Maybe I'm nuts but I can't see how this guy could win barring mass insanity.

      by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:39:19 AM PDT

      •  odd

        but i don't think most folks know what a wingnut he is.

        and by odd, that's what i mean - in order to get the population, they had to stick together all the remote areas and small islands of Maui county, so it is just very spread out, isolated and diverse, and that makes it more challening to try to figure out what kind of support he really has.

        by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:43:11 AM PDT

        •  He'll get good support on

          Molokai from what I saw when I was there.  There is a big Hawaiian population that (in my limited experience) has a healthy percentage of fundies and a long standing link to the Rep. team.  You'll have to beat him on Maui.

          Get a letter in the paper.  People really read them from what I've seen here on Kauai.

          by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:48:49 AM PDT

          •  LTEs

            yes, Maui News publishes a lot of letters, and they get well read. That is a good idea.

            And I'm going to get this moving in local email circles and try to get as many folks aware of it here as possible.

            by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:52:32 AM PDT

  •  Why Not the Best?!

    >>>
    I see that he has a Green in the race who will do her best to make sure he loses. That's what Greens do best.
    >>>>

    Well, here's a novel idea for you--rather than whining about how Green Party candidates "steal" votes from Republican-Lite "Democratic" candidates, why not check out the Green candidate's positions on the issues and consider voting for her.  May the best candidate win!

    by aybayb on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 10:40:04 PM PDT

•  Didn't a

  Thug state senator or rep get busted for grabbing a cop's crotch earlier this year? Then he blamed it all on grieving for his dead wife, ugh. I guess Finnberg will give him a pass, since they're in the same party.

  Do you think Case will win?

  by JamesB3 on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:21:17 AM PDT

  •  yeah

    i don't know the details of that case either, but I did hear something about it.

    I think Case will win, but I am shocked by the number of Gabbard yard signs I see. At the same time, I also see a number of yards with both Gabbard AND Case signs, so I think some folks just stick up whatever anyone asks them too. But there are a lot of Gabbard supporters, and I don't know how many of them really know what he stands for.

    But overall, this is a very Democratic district, and Gabbard is pretty widely seen as an anti-gay bigot, while Case is a fiscally moderate sort of pro-business Democrat who, and while maybe not everyone's ideal candidate, seems to be respected and have a solid reputation, so I think he'll not have much trouble.

    by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:31:37 AM PDT

    •  It's just outrageous how the media

      can ignore something like this. Have you e-mailed this clip to any TV stations or newspapers in that area?

      It must be awful for you, seeing your state become more and more bigoted. I've always lived in vile states so I'm used to it, although it's still painful, but you probably don't know what's happened that people who want to kill homosexuals are such powerful forces in the government.

      by JamesB3 on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:42:52 AM PDT

      •  Media = Oahu

        to get a TV crew from one of the TV stations requires a big fire or a helicopter crash.  Maybe you can get a page 3 article in one of the 2 Honolulu rag newspapers if he was caught frisking a goat (or a Honolulu undercover cop!)

        by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:07:27 AM PDT

    •  I'm betting 70/30 Case win.

      Even my Bush loving friends think Gabbard is a nutjob.   There are enough fundigelicals and hyper catholics to give Gabbard 30% despite his insane, single issue campaign.  Case has a good radio ad pointing that all Gabbard has to offer is homophobia  without ever mentioning the subject which seems to drive the older Asians into the arms of the wingers.

      Re the signs, most people here just hate to say no to a friend or acquaintance.  The outer islands are too small socially to offend people without repercussions.

      by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:44:45 AM PDT

      •  Are younger or middle-aged

        Asians in HI also this desperate to kill gays? In most states, older and middle-aged people hate gays and younger people don't like them but don't care as much. I'm not sure how it is there though.

        by JamesB3 on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:06:44 AM PDT

        •  All depends on your point of view!

          From your vantage I'm fading fast! (sub 50 but not by a huge amount).

          Older Asians just seem uncomfortable with sex in general or at least talking about it.  The younger generations all seem to screw like minks as there are girls that look about 14 pushing baby carriages everywhere.  There is a huge problem with intra family sexual abuse.

          Homosexuality??  It really doesn't come up much with my older asian friends.  I don't think many people would accept punishment for gays but they probably find the whole concept disgusting and just wish gays would go back in the closet and let them get back to their soaps.  The only people who gay-bash out loud are old assholes from Oklahoma who've moved here...  The Hawaiians call gay males Mahus and from what little I've heard, thought they were special in a good way.  This just from books so take with a BIG grain of salt.

          My few gay friends are younger.  They struggle to find people to date as the population is so small.  There really isn't a decent club here for straights other than a few hotels throwing dance parties maybe once a week.  

          Our local D party chair is a flamboyantly gay man who is also pretty abrasive.  He replaced Inouye's fixer in a contested election and it may hurt the D's with the older crowd.  I don't socialize with that crowd and I stopped going to council meetings out of disgust so can't give too much real info.

          by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:17:14 AM PDT

        •  who defines traditional

          i think like a lot of places it is more the older generations. They try to pass it on to the younger, but despite have this bigoted undertone, Hawaii is actually very culturall open and tolerant about a lot of things, including homosexuality. Which is why it upsets them so much.

          Homosexuality was also an open, natural part of traditional Hawaiian culture as well, so among some in the Hawaiian community this does lend to a greater acceptance.

          In Hana, there is an older woman named Auntie Val who is transgender. She's a kupuna and has lived like this for a long time.  A lot of folks who know her don't even realize it, and she is just totally accepted as she is, and people sometimes joke about it, but not at her expense, if anything at the expense of people who don't know it.

          Kalani has a good, funny response when asked if he supports traditional marriage. He says, yes, I support 'Aikane - which is a traditional Hawaiian cultural practice of same-sex relationships among men practiced even by kings and chiefs.

          So who gets to define what is traditional, anyway?

          by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:21:20 AM PDT

    •  We miss Patsy Mink...

      I met her once--tough lady with an amazing bio. Although she was getting older anyway and as I mentioned last week, it's always good to get some new blood into the party.

      by JMS on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 06:22:35 AM PDT

      •  case isn't all that inspiring

        but compared to the other choice, he's a hero.

        My one visit to a town hall left me very cold toward him.  Milquetoast that apologized for Bush for the Iraq war.  "no one said it would be this bad" -- I nearly choked.

        by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 06:46:59 AM PDT

    •  On the Big Island

      Case and Gabbard signs were about even in the Hilo and southeast areas this weekend. The Hilo newspaper endorsed Case. In the Windward Oahu area of the District, Gabbard signs have been more common than Case signs around Kaneohe over the last month.

      Info for mainlanders: The State of Hawaii has two CDs. The first has 80% of Oahu, the second hyas all the other islands and 20% of Oahu. Oahu is the population and the media (such as it is).

      by Rolfyboy6 on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 07:49:16 AM PDT

      •  2 polls today

        Advertiser

        HI-01
        Abercrombie 62%
        Tanonaka 28%

        HI-02
        Case 62%
        Gabbard 24%

        Star-Bulletin

        HI-01
        Abercrombie 52%
        Tanonaka 35%

        HI-02
        Case 58%
        Gabbard 29%

        by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 09:38:34 AM PDT

•  i'll recommend this

  let's show the US what GOP has become.

  by Joe B on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:29:08 AM PDT

  •  mahalo

    appreciated, i think it needs to get out.

    by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:32:20 AM PDT

•  What?

  What does this guy even mean when he says that 300,000 Americans have suffered the death penalty due to homosexuality? That's far larger, I'm sure, than the number of people who have been executed since the colonial period. What the hell is he talking about?

  by Marshall on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:38:31 AM PDT

  •  Faith based statistic

    It's found somewhere in the book of Ezra I think.

    by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:45:55 AM PDT

  •  HIV/AIDS

    He said that 300K had died because of homosexual activity.

    What he's doing is blaming every AIDS death on homosexuality.

    by opendna on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:46:22 AM PDT

  •  AIDS?

    i thought he was referring to AIDS victims, though I'm not sure if that's what he means, and that number is actually over 450,000, so... Any other idea what the hell he's talking about?

    by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 02:47:18 AM PDT

  •  "The wages of sin are death"

    I think his idea is that since the very fact that we are gay, we are inherently sinners.  Therefore, we are going to hell.

    I don't agree with that, but I think that is his argument, and a lot of fundies believe that as well.  They seem to think that we go to orgies every night, and engage in degrading sexual practices.  

    This is why they do think two men or two women holding hands are flaunting their homosexuality, yet a person talking about the romantic evening with his wife isn't flaunting their heterosexuality.
    

    by Khun David on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 01:11:51 PM PDT

•  Targeted Senate Seats

  We have another.  Our whole island only gets one Senator.  Currently Gary Hooser (D) has the seat but has only been in office 2 years.  He was a fairly ineffective councilmember (in my opinion) who beat out a total waste of space 2 years ago.  He's been tagged as a rubber stamp for the D leadership and is a haole that's been here 15-20 years.  Has some issues with non-payment of excise taxes 10 yrs ago and stiffing free lance writers for his small mag from the same era.  He's not all that bright...

  The R's pulled out Maryanne Kusaka, the ex Mayor to take him on.  She has a huge advantage of being local (half Hawaiian) and has 100% name rec.  But her admin had "issues" with poor use of funds, incompetence etc.  And she's not running that great of a race.  From what I see, they have real trouble getting sign wavers and canvassers.  My wife is a personal friend of hers (and had a run in with Hooser) and even she's not that motivated when she gets roped into working on her campaign.
  I only got a very small ration of shit for voting against her.    

  Hoosier seemed pretty confident when I asked him about the race but there has been no polling so no way to tell.

  by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:04:18 AM PDT

  •  Hooser

    That's good to hear. Hooser is a good guy and a good senator. I was worried about this one, because Kusaka does have name recognition and local appeal. (She is from Hana actually, or at least her family is.)

    by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:09:11 AM PDT

    •  think u are rt

      Her mom is 100% Hawaiian and was raised as an orphan by a haole judge (if I have the story rt).  Maryanne is actually a pretty nice lady but not really very with it.  She's probably like most 65 year old religious types.  Cold to gay rights, death with dignity laws etc.  She says she accepts Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, but I don't believe she means it down deep.  

      I like her and did consider voting for her due to old issues with Hooser, but she has nothing substantive to say.  Her speeches are just a string of motherhood and apple pie (just like the shrub).

      I'm not saying Hooser is a shoe in.  but he did get about 8k votes in the primary and figures he only needs 12k ish to win.  She only got 2K ish IIRC.

      by HiD on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 03:22:34 AM PDT

•  Hitler did it, so it must be good

  That's the new GOP motto, it seems.
  What's next? Eugenism? Killing all the disabled people of the land? Rounding up all the liberals and shipping them into the New Detention Facility that W will create in his ranch at Crawford? Burning all the mosques? Invading Poland?

  by Clueless Joe on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 04:47:06 AM PDT

•  Thank You...

  ...for posting this diary. It's people like you who will make sure that local fascism is exposed nationally.

  I've recommended this diary and am going to do some further legwork to get it/this issue noticed.

  PLEASE keep us updated. And maybe you could fill us in on the tourist industry's impact on this part of Hawaii... for future planning.

  by couldbeanyone on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 07:12:03 AM PDT

  •  mahalo

    for spreading the word, and the link at the top of the new open thread. much appreciated. i think this needs to get our far and wide.

    by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 10:04:38 AM PDT

    •  I recommended this too

      Mike Gabbard is a little scumbag. I find his candidacy astonishing in Hawaii. Thank god he's way behind.

      by Rolfyboy6 on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 10:28:49 AM PDT

    •  If I knew the proper reply to Mahalo...

      ...I'd give it.

      But just in case you hadn't heard, you're now a media star.

      by couldbeanyone on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 04:15:29 PM PDT

      •  sullivan

        in Hawaiian one would say "a'ole pilikia" which means basically no problem.

        great to see sullivan has picked it up, thanks for pointing that out.

        by scottmaui on Mon Oct 25, 2004 at 05:37:22 PM PDT

•  This is such nonsense

  and it reminds me of a post on Andrew Sullivan's blog that said, " 'I'm voting for Kerry.' When I asked why she said: 'Bush doesn't scare me but the people who support and defend him do.' "

  by Adrock on Tue Oct 26, 2004 at 10:13:20 AM PDT