Randall Terry | |
---|---|
Born | 1959 (age 64–65) New York City, New York, U.S. |
Occupation | Author |
Known for | Anti-abortion activist (Operation Rescue) |
Political party | Republican (before 2011), Democratic (2011–12), Independent (2012–present) |
Spouses | Cindy Dean (div. 2001)
|
Children | 6 |
Randall Allen Terry (born 1959) is an American activist and perennial candidate. Terry founded the anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue. Beginning in 1987, the group became particularly prominent for blockading the entrances to abortion clinics; Terry led the group until 1991. He has been arrested more than 40 times, [1] including for violating a no-trespass order from the University of Notre Dame in order to protest against a visit by President Barack Obama. [2]
In 2003, Terry founded the Society for Truth and Justice and conducted a program which he called Operation Witness. In 1998, he ran for Congress in Upstate New York, and in 2006, he ran for a seat in the Florida State Senate, both times, he lost in the Republican primary.
He ran in the 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
In 1986, Terry was arrested for the first time for chaining himself to a sink at an abortion clinic. Terry was frequently in the news because of his activities as the leader of Operation Rescue.
Terry was named as a co-defendant in the 1994 Supreme Court case, NOW v. Scheidler , a class-action suit to compel anti-abortion leaders to compensate clinics for loss of business. Terry settled out of court with the National Organization for Women. Rather than pay the settlement, Terry promptly filed for bankruptcy, prompting Senator Charles Schumer to propose an amendment to a bankruptcy bill in Congress which would "specifically ... prevent abortion opponents from using the bankruptcy code to avoid paying court fines." The amendment was not included in the final bill. In 1998, NOW obtained more than 25,000 "frequent flyer miles" which were held by Terry in order to help satisfy a legal judgment. [3]
In 1990, Terry helped to organize protests outside the hospital where Nancy Cruzan was a patient, around the time when her feeding tube was removed. The group Missouri Citizens for Life was also involved in the protests, along with the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, a former Operation Rescue staffer. He was also involved in protests which were related to the Terri Schiavo case. In 1994, Terry was a named defendant in Madsen v. Women's Health Center Inc. which ultimately made it all the way to the US Supreme Court. The Justices sided with Aware Woman Clinic and upheld a Buffer Zone. In 1998, Randall Terry ran for the United States House of Representatives in Upstate New York. Terry competed with radio station owner William "Bud" Walker for the Republican nomination to face Democratic incumbent Maurice Hinchey. Terry received the endorsement of Focus on the Family head James Dobson; however, national and state Republicans were not supportive of Terry's candidacy. [4] Terry was defeated by Walker 53% to 35%, but he was the Right to Life Party's nominee in the general election. [5] Terry came in third place, winning 7% of the vote, with Hinchey and Walker winning 62% and 31% respectively. [6] In 2000, Terry and his son Jamiel promoted the candidacy of Steven Forbes in the Republican presidential primary. [7] In June 2005, Terry announced plans to run in the primary against Florida Republican state senator James E. King, citing King's attempt to block legislation which would have kept Terri Schiavo alive. In August 2006, in an attempt to undermine King's support in a Republican primary the next month, Terry publicized an endorsement of King by "Bill Clinton" — actually, robo-calls by a professional impersonator of former president Bill Clinton. The two "Clinton" scripts each contained a disclaimer. One was, "Hello friend, Bill Clinton here – not really!" The other was "This is a celebrity impersonation." Terry used the scripts and the impersonator in 43,000 calls. The "no amnesty" line was a reference to immigration reform proposals which were an issue in many campaigns in 2006. On September 5, 2006, Terry was defeated in the primary, with King receiving over two-thirds of the votes which were cast.
On March 20, 2009, the White House announced that President Barack Obama was going to speak at the May 17 Commencement of the University of Notre Dame. Terry declared that Notre Dame, which is one of the foremost Catholic universities in the nation, should not have allowed Obama to speak. Terry objected to Obama's speech because Obama supports abortion rights. In an article which was published in the university's newspaper, The Observer, Terry was quoted as stating that he planned to turn the commencement into "a circus." On the Notre Dame campus on May 1, 2009, Terry was arrested for violating a no-trespassing order. He posted a bond of $250 at the St. Joseph County Jail, was released that same day, and was assigned a court date later that month. [2] [8] In a statement which he released to a Christian news service, Terry claimed that Notre Dame's invitation to Obama was a betrayal of Catholic teaching, comparing it to Judas' betrayal of Jesus Christ. [9]
When Kansas obstetrician George Tiller was murdered while he was serving as an usher in his Wichita church on the morning of May 31, 2009, Terry immediately issued a statement in which he denounced Tiller. [10] [11] On the same day, June 1, Terry released a video in which he called president Barack Obama and pro-choice politicians "child killers", and he also stated that Tiller was a "mass murderer" who "reaped what he sowed." He voiced regret that Tiller wasn't able to "get things right with his maker" and he also stated that it was unfortunate that Tiller didn't get a "trial of a jury of his peers and to have a proper execution." [12] Terry's comments provoked a backlash. In an editorial, the Albany Times-Union , accused Terry of undermining the credibility of the "generally peaceful" anti-abortion movement. [13]
In 2013, Terry appeared on an episode of MTV's True Life and during his appearance on the show, he advocated the criminalization of all forms of birth control. During the course of the episode he stated, "Do we want to make the pill illegal? Yes. Do we want to make the IUD illegal? Yes. The morning after pill? Yes. The patch? Yes. Anything that's a human pesticide, they all have to be made illegal. A woman has to go to jail if she kills her baby." [14]
Terry produces and hosts a television program which is titled Randall Terry: The Voice of Resistance, which airs on The Walk TV [15] and can be seen on his website "Voice of Resistance". [16]
Randall Terry for President Campaign Committee | |
---|---|
Campaign | 2012 United States presidential election |
Candidate | Randall Terry |
Affiliation | Democratic Party |
Headquarters | 101 Cantwell Court PO Box 408, Purgitsville, WV 26852 [17] |
Key people | Mario G. Paveglio treasurer [17] |
Receipts | US$28,043 (05/09/2014 [17] ) |
In January 2011, Terry announced his intention to challenge President Barack Obama in the Democratic Party primaries for the presidential election of 2012. [18] [19] His campaign strategy was based upon a commercial during Super Bowl XLVI featuring graphic photographs of aborted fetuses; [18] historically, the networks have refused all political and issue-related advertising during the Super Bowl, citing equal-time rules, and the advertisement did not air. [20]
The attempt to air the ads led to legal action [21] and a statement by the Democratic National Committee that Terry was not a legitimate candidate, [22] and thus should be forbidden privileges given others running.
In December 2011, he became the physical target of candidate Vermin Supreme, who sprinkled glitter over his head during a debate claiming he was turning Randall homosexual for a period of time. [23]
According to unofficial results, Terry received 18% of the vote in the 2012 Democratic Oklahoma presidential primary. He also won 12 counties in the state, including the entire panhandle, and was awarded two delegates in the Democratic primary. [24] Kansas TV station KDGL-LD [25] channel 23, is an Independent TV station serving Southwest Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. It and its sister stations carry Randall's Walk TV program, broadcasting the length of the Panhandle. It was the only primary in which Terry won any counties or delegates. He had also appeared on the ballots in Alaska, Missouri, and New Hampshire. He got 22,858 votes or 0.3% in the democratic primary.
Detailed below are the FEC-filed finances of Randall Terry for President Campaign Committee as of 05/09/2014 [17]
Financial Source | Amount (USD) |
---|---|
Federal Funds | 0 |
Itemized Individual Contributions | 10,012 |
Unitemized Individual Contributions | 13,006 |
Party Committees Contributions | 0 |
Other Committees Contributions | 0 |
Total Contributions | 23,018 |
Transfers from Authorized Committees | 0 |
Candidate Loans | 0 |
Other Loans | 0 |
Total Loans | 0 |
Offsets to Operating Expenditures | 5,025 |
Fundraising Offsets | 0 |
Legal and Accounting Offsets | 0 |
Total Offsets | 5,025 |
Other Receipts | 0 |
Total Receipts | 28,043 |
Disbursements | Amount (USD) |
---|---|
Operating Expenditures | 30,274 |
Transfers To Authorized Committees | 0 |
Fundraising | 0 |
Exempt Legal and Accounting | 5,500 |
Candidate Loan Repayments | 0 |
Other Loan Repayments | 0 |
Individual Contribution Refunds | 0 |
Political Party Contribution Refunds | 0 |
Other Committee Contribution Refunds | 0 |
Other Disbursements | 0 |
Total Disbursements | 35,774 |
Category | Amount (USD) |
---|---|
Beginning Cash On Hand | 7,731 |
Current Cash On Hand | 2,802 |
Net Contributions | 401,939 |
Net Operating Expenditures | 379,678 |
Debts/Loans Owed By Campaign | 0 |
Debts/Loans Owed To Campaign | 0 |
Although he lives in West Virginia, Terry paid his filing fee and ran as an independent candidate for Congress in Florida's 20th District. Incumbent Democrat Alcee Hastings won that election with 88% of the vote on November 6, 2012. [26]
He is running in the 2024 United States presidential election. [27]
Terry's personal life has frequently come under public scrutiny, some of which he has welcomed, going so far as to put his foster children on his curriculum vitae as part of his anti-abortion "bona fides". Terry has been married twice, and he has fathered children during both of his marriages. With his first wife Cindy, he had a daughter and then he fostered two additional daughters and a son. He adopted the two youngest foster children. He has four sons with his second wife, Andrea. [28]
The son of public school teachers, Terry was raised in Rochester, New York. After dropping out of high school, hitch-hiking around the United States, and returning home to work in various jobs, he attended Elim Bible Institute, graduating in 1981. [28] He later earned degrees from Empire State College and Norwich University. [29] In the early 1980s, Terry married Cindy Dean, a woman who he had met in Bible school. [7] [30] In 1985, he met a woman who had borne her second child in prison and was planning to have an abortion rather than have a third child. Terry persuaded her to continue with the pregnancy and a daughter named Tila was born later that year. In 1987, Cindy and Randall Terry had a daughter together, whom they named Faith. [30] In March 1988, they took in Tila, then aged three, and her siblings Jamiel, 8, and Ebony, 12, as foster children. All three of them are biracial; their mother was white. Terry formally adopted the two younger children in 1994 and on his résumé, he began to describe his family as: "Children: One by birth and three black foster children," although Ebony had left home at the age of 16 in 1991. [7] Ebony, who was not adopted by Terry, uses the surname Whetstone, but Jamiel and Tila took and retained the surname Terry. [7] [30] She converted to Islam, a religion which Terry has preached is composed of "murderers" and "terrorists." [7] In 2004, Terry described his relationship with Ebony as "good." [7] However, Terry banned Tila from his home after she became pregnant outside of marriage twice by the age of 18; her first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. [7] [31] In 1998, when Terry was accused of advocating racism while he was running for Congress, his son Jamiel stepped forward to defend him. [7] In 2000, Jamiel worked with his father on Steven Forbes' campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. president, and he campaigned with his father against gay marriage in Vermont. [7] In 2004, Jamiel publicly announced that he is gay and he also wrote an article for Out Magazine , for which he was paid US$2,500. [7] When he learned that the Out article was going to be published, [7] Terry pre-empted Jamiel by writing an essay, "My Prodigal Son, the Homosexual", in which he writes of pain and disappointment, blames Jamiel's homosexuality and his other troubles on his childhood experiences, and contends that much of the Out Magazine article is false and was written by other people. Jamiel's response was, "My father's first and foremost aim is to protect himself. He talks about how I prostitute the family's name, but he's used the fact that he saved my sister from abortion and rescued me from hardship in his speeches and interviews. What's the difference?" [7]
In 2000, Terry divorced Cindy Dean, his wife of 19 years, [7] and married his former church assistant, Andrea Sue Kollmorgen. [30] [31] [32] Kollmorgen, born c. 1976, was approximately 25 years old at the time of their nuptials; [33] As a consequence of the divorce, the home on 119 acres (0.48 km2) where he had lived with Cindy and their four children was going to be sold. [32] In 2000, some in the press unfavorably compared his decision to divorce Cindy Dean and marry Kollmorgen to the opinion which he expressed in his 1995 book, The Judgment of God: "Families are destroyed as a father vents his mid-life crisis by abandoning his wife for a 'younger, prettier model.' " [7] [34] His sentiments against divorce had been so strong that when his own parents got divorced, "Randall refused to let his children speak with their grandfather for three years," according to interviews which were conducted with the family by the Washington Post. [7] As a result of Terry's divorce from Cindy Dean, the pastor of the Landmark Church of Binghamton, New York, "unceremoniously tossed him out" [7] although Terry had been a member there for 15 years. [35] That church had previously censured him because he had abandoned his wife and the two children while they were still living at home in preparation for divorce, and it also censured him by claiming that he was engaging in a "pattern of repeated and sinful relationships and conversations with both single and married women." [31] [35] After the censure and expulsion, Terry joined the Charismatic Episcopal Church, a denomination which was established in 1992. [35] After a period of study which commenced in 2005, Terry formally converted to Roman Catholicism in 2006, taking the confirmation name "David Mark." [36] After his conversion, he disavowed his first marriage and divorce, saying, "There were tragic problems that were inherent to the marriage. According to Catholic doctrine as it has been taught to me, those problems made it an invalid sacrament." [36]
In 2004, the Washington Post reported that Terry and Cindy's daughter was in college. [7] Five years into his second marriage, a 2006 article in the National Catholic Register described his current family as "his three, soon to be four, rambunctious young boys." [36] Terry's second wife, Andrea, is also an anti-abortion activist and in 2008, she was arrested for trespassing while she was leafleting a Roman Catholic cathedral parking lot with campaign fliers for a fictitious candidate who was advocating the enslavement of African-Americans. Randall Terry stated, "The piece was intended to be incendiary and basically a satire," a protest against vehicles in the church parking lot which, he said, carried bumper stickers supporting pro-choice political candidates, particularly Rudy Giuliani. [33]
Terry's son Jamiel was killed in an automobile accident in November 2011. They had reportedly reconciled prior to Jamiel's death. [37]
In 2012, Terry moved his growing family to Romney, West Virginia, to focus on his campaign. [38]
Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician who served as the 21st United States Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius was instrumental in overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Before becoming secretary, she served as the 44th governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the second woman to hold that office. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Sebelius was the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address and is chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors Association. She is CEO of Sebelius Resources LLC.
Alan Lee Keyes is an American politician, political scientist, and perennial candidate who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1985 to 1987. A member of the Republican Party, Keyes sought the nomination for President of the United States in 1996, 2000, and 2008.
Phillip D. Kline is a former American attorney who served as a Kansas state legislator, district attorney of Johnson County, and Kansas Attorney General. Kline, a member of the Republican Party, lost re-election as attorney general to Democratic challenger Paul J. Morrison in 2006. Kline was appointed by the Republican County Central Committee to fill the vacancy left by Morrison's election as Kansas Attorney General, becoming district attorney of Johnson County on the day he left office as attorney general and essentially switching jobs with Morrison. Kline then ran for a full term as district attorney, but was defeated in the 2008 Republican primary.
Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See. She teaches and writes on bioethics, comparative constitutional law, property, and human rights in international law. She supports government bans on abortion services and "writes forcefully against the expansion of abortion rights."
Operation Rescue, the operating name of Youth Ministries Inc., is an American anti-abortion organization. The organization originated in California and is now based in Kansas.
Robert J. "Bob" Sullivan Jr. is an American politician from Oklahoma and a Republican candidate in the 2006 Oklahoma gubernatorial election. Sullivan had previously served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Energy under Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating from 2002 to 2003.
George Richard Tiller was an American physician and abortion provider from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which, at the time, was one of only three abortion clinics nationwide that provided late-term abortions.
Catholic Democrats is an American not-for-profit organization of Catholics to support the Democratic Party, based in Boston, United States. The Catholic Democrats have more than 60,000 members in all 50 American states and Puerto Rico. It claims no authorization from the Catholic Church, or any Catholic bishop, Catholic diocese, candidate or candidate committee.
Douglas William Kmiec is an American legal scholar, author, and former U.S. ambassador. He is the Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University School of Law. Kmiec came to prominence during the 2008 United States presidential election when, although a Republican, he endorsed Democrat Barack Obama. In July 2009, he was nominated by President Obama to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Malta. He was confirmed by the Senate and served for close to two years as ambassador to Malta. He resigned his post effective May 31, 2011.
Alfred Clifton Hughes, KCHS is a retired American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of New Orleans from 2002 to 2009.
The Laetare Medal is an annual award given by the University of Notre Dame in recognition of outstanding service to the Catholic Church and society. The award is given to an American Catholic or group of Catholics "whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity." First awarded in 1883, it is the oldest and most prestigious award for American Catholics.
Gregory Michael Aymond is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the Archbishop of New Orleans since 2009.
Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin, is an American perennial candidate who has never been elected to office, running as both a Democrat and a Republican.
Wiley S. Drake is a California-based minister and radio host. He was the vice-presidential candidate for the American Independent Party ticket in California in 2008. Drake has drawn controversy for his use of imprecatory prayer. He is the pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park in Buena Park, California.
From January 3 to June 5, 2012, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2012 United States presidential election. President Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2012, after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2012 Democratic National Convention on September 5, 2012, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In 2008, Virginia, for the first time since 1964, cast its electoral college presidential votes for a Democrat, Barack Obama. It also elected a United States senator, members of the United States House of Representatives, and local officers such as county board and school board members.
Thomas John Joseph Paprocki is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois since 2010. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois from 2003 to 2010.
On May 31, 2009, George Tiller, a physician from Wichita, Kansas, who was nationally known for being one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late terminations of pregnancy, was murdered by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion extremist. Tiller was shot to death at pointblank range during a Sunday morning service at his church, Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was serving as an usher. Tiller had previously survived an assassination attempt in 1993 when Shelley Shannon shot him in the arms.
Mary Pilcher-Cook is a former Republican member of the Kansas Senate, representing the 10th district from 2009 to 2020. She was a representative on the Kansas House of Representatives from 2000 to 2002 and from 2004 to 2006. She was elected to the Kansas Senate 2008 and re-elected in 2012 and 2016. On December 27, 2019, she announced that she would resign from the Senate effective January 16, 2020, a year before her term expired.
The 2012 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election, in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Indiana voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. Romney and Ryan carried Indiana with 54.13% of the popular vote to the Democratic ticket's 43.93%, thus winning the state's 11 electoral votes.