In this article about the Human Rights Campaign’s most recent Congressional Scorecard, I noted that Congressman Nick Lampson received a score of 0 percent, making him the lowest-scoring Democrat from Texas behind Rep. Chet Edwards at 60 percent.
What I didn’t realize at the time is that Lampson was once a darling of the gays. When Lampson ran for re-election in District 2 in 2004, LGBT groups reportedly contributed about $10,000 to his campaign. HRC itself actively solicited money for Lampson on its Web site and called him one of the top six equality candidates nationwide. And with good reason. Lampson was running against Republican Ted Poe (who also scored a 0 percent in 2008), and Lampson had scored a 100 percent on the Scorecard in 2002. According to HRC, Lampson co-sponsored the Employment Nondiscrimination Act as well as a hate crimes bill that included sexual orientation. Lampson also opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment.
During the 2004 race, Lampson took some heat over HRC’s support. A Web site, www.liberallampson.com, accused him of being “bought and paid for by the homosexual lobby.” And someone erected a billboard in Beaumont that said “Nick Lampson supports homosexual marriage. Do you?”
Lampson lost the race, and apparently he blamed HRC. In 2006, he was elected to represent District 22, which is one of the most socially conservative districts in Texas and was previously represented by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Since then, Lampson has sold us out, voting against the very same legislation that he once co-sponsored, including ENDA and hate crimes. Needless to say, we don’t get our money back!game mobiузнать тиц пр