It appears that Randall Terry is backing Operation Rescue XX. Terry, who was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Florida State Senate, eighth district in 2006, was really last seen in full bloom during the Terri Schiavo Affair in the Spring of 2005.

Terry, who founded Operation Rescue in 1987 and led the group for its first 10 years, and is now president of the St. Augustine Florida-based The Society for Truth and Justice, was brought on board by Terri Schiavo's parents who hoped that he would help mobilize Christian fundamentalist support for their daughter.

"Our family asked Randall Terry to come, and we gave him carte blanche to put Terri's fight in front of the American people," Bob Schindler, Terri's father, said at the time. "He did exactly what we asked, and more. Randall organized vigils and protests, he coordinated the media, he helped us meet with Governor [Jeb] Bush."

As a family spokesperson, Terry spent a good part of his time railing against Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband. Terry claimed that Michael Schiavo had deserted his wife. Somewhere along the way, Terry apparently forgot his own spotty record of marital infidelity: A few years back, Terry deserted his wife and children for a young woman that had worked on his failed congressional campaign.

Later, when Terry's son, Jamiel, revealed in Out magazine that he was gay, Terry responded with a diatribe in the Rev. Son Myung Moon-owned Washington Times, criticizing his son, writing that: "He is no longer welcome in my home."  

Dialing for Dollars

One of the few links at Operation Rescue XX that is working is the one labeled "Donate."

Yes we need your help!   Please send Financial Contributions to:
The Society for Truth and Justice: Operation Rescue XX
3501-B Ponce de Leon Blvd. Suite 394
St. Augustine FL, 32084
(Donations are non tax-deductible)

In April 2005, in a piece for Media transparency titled "Deathbed Dollars," I wrote about the fundraising opportunities the Schiavo case opened up for Operation Rescue and Randall Terry:

A coalition of anti-abortion Christian right groups -- including representatives from Priests For Life, the Christian Defense Coalition, the National Clergy Council, the Pro-Life Action League, Operation Rescue, Generation Life and the Family Life Educational Foundation -- formed Voice for Terri to raise money for their work around the Schiavo case. According to the [New York]Times, these groups sent e-mail messages and set up Web sites attacking Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband.

Troy Newman, a spokesperson for Voice for Terri and the president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue -- the group founded by Randall Terry, who also resurfaced in Florida as an invited spokesperson for the Schindler family -- said that the money raised was going to cover the costs of their Florida activities as well as e-mail and letter-writing campaigns.

"This is not something you make money off of," Newman told the Times. "It is a tragedy."

Randall Terry "asked his friends and fellow conservative activists, William Greene and Philip Sheldon - the son of Lou Sheldon of Traditional Values - to help raise money through RightMarch.com, whose organization whose slogan is "Patriotism in Action."

Greene is President of RightMarch.com PAC and Strategic Internet Campaign Management (SICM), an organization whose mission is "Helping nonprofit organizations, corporations and political candidates to achieve a better bottom line by using the Internet for fundraising and grassroots activism."