Monday night, Operation Rescue sent out a fundraising letter that, among other things, admitted Dr. George Tiller’s death cost them money.
You see, this summer has been brutal for Operation Rescue. Not only did George Tiller's death throw everybody in the pro-life movement for a loop (and especially us), but the economic crisis our nation is suffering from has brought our financial support to nearly a halt.
We're now so broke (as the saying goes), we can't even pay attention.
Seriously. We struggle to pay every bill. I had to borrow money just to send you this letter[.]
Troy Newman told
The Associated Press they’ve cut back their staff from 9 to 4 employees in the last year and that they typically operate with a $600,000 budget but donations are down 30-40% this year. According to their 990s through 2006, Operation Rescue’s largest year was 2005 when they used Terri Schiavo’s name to rake in $500,000. The Pitch points out that in 2007, Newman sent out a fundraising letter insisting they were several thousand dollars in the hole and about to close, which is only
slightly different than this time.
Thursday, Newman made the anti-choice media rounds announcing
the AP article he was interviewed for exaggerated, their demise is
”grossly overrated,” and on their Twitter account,
fundraising letter went out two weeks ago but the email was delayed. You see, they received an overwhelming amount of support from their donors so the doors are staying open. After all, “in the next 30 days, we're planning to launch the most ambitious and most significant project in our entire history.” They’re really upset
the media is reporting on their email, not on their work. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell their work is that costs $600,000 a year. Harassment is expensive, yo.
The “pro-life” movement continues to distance itself from Roeder. Obviously, finding convicted domestic terrorist Cheryl Sullenger’s name and phone number in Roeder’s car doesn’t make Operation Rescue look very good. At first, she denied contact and later admitted it. Roeder insists he has donated thousands to Operation Rescue, though Newman has denied this saying he can’t find Roeder’s name in their database of 50,000 donors. LifeNews.com referred to Roeder as a “militia activist” as if the militia doesn’t have anti-abortion beliefs. OneNewsNow.com doesn’t even report on Roeder though does quote Newman as saying Dr. Tiller’s death was not the public relations nightmare the AP made it out to be. Though having ties to Shelley Shannon and Paul Hill (while he was here for Shannon’s trial) along with having a convicted domestic terrorist on staff might have damaged their reputation long before Roeder called Sullenger so he could better stalk Dr. Tiller.
There remains little doubt Operation Rescue played a part in Roeder’s decision and ability to assassinate Dr. George Tiller. A federal investigation was announced in June though we haven’t heard anything about that one yet. Several Wichitans are
protesting outside Operation Rescue’s headquarters, a former abortion clinic they
falsely claim to have closed, to remind them of their part in this heinous crime and for the years of harassment they volleyed at Women’s Health Care Services and its employees over the years.
As for Roeder, his trial has been
postponed until January. That gives him plenty of time to further incriminate himself in the media.
Also of interest, Representative Todd Tiahrt sent out a mass fundraising request for his Senate campaign. It talks about fighting “for the right of the unborn”. Who was it addressed to? Scott Roeder, of course! Stay classy, Republicans!
Operation Rescue desperate for money. Or not.
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