Colorado Group Targets Republican Speaker Who Killed Civil Unions

Fight Back Colorado, the super PAC aimed at removing lawmakers who voted against civil unions legislation, wants the public to decide the future employment of Speaker Frank McNulty.

Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.

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Sunnivie Brydum

August 16 2012 2:33 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Fight Back Colorado, the super PAC created to unseat Colorado lawmakers who helped kill civil unions legislation launched a new campaign on Thursday targeting Speaker of the House Frank McNulty.

An email blast to supporters announced the start of "Farewell, Frank!" an online campaign encouraging supporters to decide McNulty's future employment. The tounge-in-cheek options listed on the site include "Hate chicken restaurant fry cook," "spin class instructor, because he tries to spin Coloradans on his antigay agenda," and "undertaker," since McNulty's shutdown of the House killed more than 30 bills along with civil unions legislation.

That email blast, from Treasurer Roger Sherman reads, "I'm looking forward to saying: 'Farewell, Frank!' It's time we have a new Speaker, someone who truly speaks for all of us. After all, a majority of Colorado residents support civil unions, and we need our representatives to represent our values."

This latest campaign follows last month's "Send 'Em Packin'" initiative, which asked supporters to decide which anti-equality legislators to target. While Fight Back Colorado has not officially announced which lawmakers it will target, McNulty is a figurehead for the partisan posturing that killed the bill in a dramatic, late-night shutdown of the House in May. Governor John Hickenlooper called a special session to discuss civil unions and other legislation killed at the same time, but the bill was sent to a kill committee and died of the first day of the special session.

Fight Back Colorado launched in June, and is funded in part by Denver-based activist Tim Gill. Gill also supported Fight Back New York, the independent expenditure campaign which in 2009 sought to replace state Senate incumbents in both parties who voted against marriage equality. That campaign relied heavily on unconventional online tactics and spent nearly $800,000 advocating for pro-equality candidates. In 2011, the New York State Senate became the first Republican-controlled chamber to pass a marriage equality bill into law, making New York the sixth and most populous state to embrace marriage equality.