Bob Vander Plaats’ Unhealthy Unwarranted Obsession With Gay Marriage

Dan Moore, the past president of the Iowa State Bar Association, and former adviser on three of Bob Vander Plaats’s campaigns, authors a brilliant guest column for the Des Moines Register, Moore arguing that Vander Plaats is nursing a dangerous and deeply disturbing obsession with gay marriage, one that threatens to destroy the state’s judicial system. “Bob is obsessed with the gay marriage issue,” writes Moore. “He is so obsessed that he would rather see the Iowa judicial system destroyed, instead of pursuing a change in the law within the channels provided (a constitutional amendment). Iowa's judicial system has been held in high regard by the entire United States. The Iowa judicial branch has a long history of exceptional service, distinguished and acclaimed decisions - and now it is being raked through the mud, disparaged, criticized and harangued daily.” Vander Plaats (and a coalition of conservatives; natch) want the four remaining state Supreme Court Justices who ruled unanimously that the Iowa ban on gay marriage violated the constitution be impeached. Three of the seven were voted off the bench in November, led by Vander Plaats, who stoked the fires of bigotry with fear, and somehow convinced a majority of Iowans to remove the aforementioned three, an indefensible assault on the courts. Moore states “Justice should not be for sale. Justice should not be based upon which way the political winds may be blowing. Bob Vander Plaats, who is highly regarded by many conservatives in Iowa, is quite simply wrong to encourage Iowans to support the resignation or impeachment of the remaining four justices of the Iowa Supreme Court. He is grasping at political relevance using daily sound bites of misinformation to intentionally mislead. I hope all Iowans step back and objectively analyze the damage to the Iowa judicial branch that Bob has already caused. The talk and rhetoric of resignation and impeachment should die.”