FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jamal Raad / jamal [at] dpo [dot] org / (503) 239-8631
Today, the Democratic Party of Oregon released the following statement after it was reported that Newt Gingrich, leader of the Republican revolution in 1994, and failed Presidential candidate, has endorsed Monica Wehby for Senate.
“Does Monica Wehby’s campaign team know they are running for Senate in Oregon? Newt Gingrich stood by Todd Akin even after Akin made offensive remarks about ‘legitimate rape’, and told the Republican Party to rally around Akin," said DPO Chair Frank Dixon. "Of course, at this point we shouldn’t be too surprised that Monica Wehby is touting the support of radical right-wingers. She has the support of folks like Loren Parks, Ben Carson, and Senator Tom Coburn, who are infamous for their extreme comments on women’s health and LGBT issues. Wehby may be over the moon about Newt’s endorsement, but here on earth, Oregonians are scratching their heads over why Wehby is associating herself with such extremists.”
Newt Gingrich said that rallying around Todd Akin after his comments about “legitimate rape” was a “moral obligation.”
Ben Carson has said the Affordable Care Act is the worst thing to happen to the country since slavery and has compared gay marriage to bestiality and pedophilia.
In February, Wehby invited Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to Oregon. She has said that Tom Coburn is her mentor. He thinks doctors who perform abortions should face the death penalty and opposes abortion even in cases of rape. He claims that access to emergency contraception jeopardizes the health of women. When Coburn was elected to the Senate he said the “gay agenda” is the “greatest threat to our freedom we face today.”
On Friday, the Washington Examiner reported that Loren Parks has advocated using a “buzzer” to cure “sex guilt” and other “women’s sex problems,” as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
###