Targeted By The Right

When you request to be on the Connecticut list of charitable that state employees can have deductions from their pay checks you must agree to not discriminate against any protected class.

COMPTROLLER LEMBO INVESTIGATES WHETHER AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION BROKE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION RULES OF STATE CHARITABLE CAMPAIGN
Wednesday November 30, 2016

Comptroller Kevin Lembo today announced an ongoing investigation into whether the American Family Association (AFA) may have violated the regulations governing the Connecticut State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving (CSEC) that broadly prohibits discrimination.

Lembo serves as administrator of the CSEC, an initiative to enable and encourage state employees to donate to charitable organizations. State employees donate millions of dollars every year through the CSEC, benefiting hundreds of charities that provide services to the homeless, children, senior citizens, as well as funding to cure diseases and protect the environment.

All recipient organizations, as a condition of participating in the CSEC, must submit an anti-discrimination certification each year and comply with all relevant state laws.

In a letter to the American Family Association today, Lembo raised questions about what, if any, charitable services the AFA is delivering and said there are indications that the AFA may be violating the campaign’s anti-discrimination prohibitions.

“The AFA’s actions and statements are extremely troubling to me,” said Lembo, who is Connecticut’s first openly gay statewide elected official. “The AFA’s public statements and mission not only appear to discriminate against the LGBTQ communities, as well as Muslims who choose to serve and protect our country by enlisting in the U.S. military, but it remains unclear what actual charitable services the AFA provides that qualifies it to participate in the CSEC. I am, therefore, initiating an investigation to determine whether AFA is in compliance with the requirements of the CSEC.
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Lembo has asked AFA to provide written documentation of its stated policy of non-discrimination, and documentation affirming that the AFA is in compliance with all federal and state laws regarding equal employment opportunity and public accommodations with respect to its programs, clients, officers, employees and volunteers.

Lembo also asked that AFA provide documentation demonstrating that the AFA is engaged in the delivery of charitable and public health, welfare, environmental, conservation or service purposes.

What was the AFA response?

Extremist group “blows up” Comptroller’s phone lines
CT Post
By Ken Dixon
December 6, 2016


HARTFORD — A Mississippi-based charity known for its anti-gay boycotts is targeting state Comptroller Kevin Lembo with a deluge of calls and emails from out-of-state locations.

The move follows a letter Lembo sent to the American Family Association noting that Connecticut law prohibits the state employees’ giving program from donating to groups that discriminate. Lembo said he was launching an investigation into the practices of the organization, which has called for boycotts of Target for its transgender restroom policy and Zales jewelers for advertising same-sex wedding bands.

The email and phone campaign began Monday and by Tuesday morning, after an American Family Association broadcast about the action on its radio affiliate, calls have swamped the comptroller’s switchboard, and complaint have filled his email and Facebook page.

Instead of replying to the inquiry just like any bully they fight back with bullying tactics.

The Southern Poverty Law Center list the American Family Association as a hate group.

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In disclosure: I have donated to Kevin Lembo’s campaign and PAC