Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:49 pm
Colorado Government Watch reports that anti-gay extremist state Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt was confronted at the state capitol with questions about his “controversial, tax-exempt charity.”
In what is becoming a familiar scene when Republicans are questioned, rather than actually responding, Klingenschmitt pulled a Michele Bachmann and fled the scene as fast as his feet could carry him.
To add to the insult, he called security to eject the Colorado Government Watch team from the building.
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Because questions.
Colorado Government Watch explains what happened:
Flanked by a uniformed Colorado State Patrol officer, the first-term Colorado Springs legislator refused an interview when approached outside the chamber of the state House of Representatives by CoGW Executive Director Dede Laugesen. Klingenschmitt then stormed off as Laugesen called out questions about whether the lawmaker was using his nationwide nonprofit religious ministry—which has raised more than $1 million since 2010—to drum up business for his parallel for-profit operation.
The state trooper blocked Laugesen and an associate from following Klingenschmitt—into a common area used by the public on the State Capitol’s second floor—and he ushered them out of the building.
Watch Klingenschmitt flee scrutiny courtesy of Colorado Government Watch:
Klingenschmitt’s charity is a big deal because, as is explained,
Persuade the World Ministries, also known as Pray in Jesus Name—a 501(c)(3) Colorado nonprofit corporation whose only officer is Klingenschmitt—took in more than $850,000 in tax-deductible contributions in 2014 and over $1 million since 2010, its latest tax returns show.
Perhaps he should rename it “rake in money in Jesus’ name” because as we all know, Jesus was all into raking in the dough, running for office, and then denying people the rights he himself enjoyed. Oh wait, no, that’s pretty much any Republican politician you care to name.
But Klingenschmitt is a special case. In 2014, the disgraced former Navy chaplain, who had already said he wants to kill liberals, brought his demonic obsessions to the Colorado State Senate and things haven’t been the same since.
This is a man who has claimed Allah is Satan, that if you’re not welcome in a church you can’t use a public rest room, and that a suitable replacement for the Affordable Care Act is – God.
Because the world is full of people who have never died while praying to God for healing. Overpopulation is due to these people whom God stubbornly refuses to let die, not new births. Seriously. It’s a problem.
The real problem, of course, is Republican corruption. There are admittedly a great deal more corrupt Republicans than people who refuse to die of disease without health insurance. Look at Red State after Red State if you want evidence.
But here is a man who claims to represent the “Almighty” while lying for a living and screwing over not only the people he pretends to represent but people unwittingly lining his pockets while he claims (without evidence) to support an orphanage in India.
He won’t even release his tax returns, which he is required to do by law. State capitals in America are full of people like Klingenschmitt. Trump should not have been a surprise to anyone.
This is the Religious Right, America. Right here in the person of Gordon Klingenschmitt, who has sanctified his foul deeds by claiming he is serving God. Don’t expect him – or the Religious Right – to away any time soon.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
