John Stoos, a key advisor in the gubernatorial campaign of Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, has a dream:
"I dream of the day when a strong Christian majority is elected to a city council somewhere in America. This council could then pass a resolution declaring that abortion is now illegal in their city," Stoos wrote this year in a conservative religious journal.
"Of course, the city attorney would quickly tell them that they cannot do this, at which point he should be fired and a good pro-life attorney should be hired to replace him," he continued. "Next up would be the police chief, who would likely say he could not enforce such a law. Again, the council should accept his letter of resignation and hire someone who would ... "
Over the past two decades, Stoos has been an activist on issues from abortion to gun control to the primacy of the English language in the United States. Many of his views are reflected in essays in the Chalcedon Report, published by a conservative religious organization in Calaveras County. The group envisions a society in which biblical law is the law of the land.
McClintock, who employs Stoos as his deputy campaign manager and until recently paid him $93,720 a year as his top legislative analyst, said in an interview last week that he was unaware of Stoos' writings.
"I completely disagree," McClintock said, with Stoos' vision of the anti-abortion city council and "completely reject" the idea that the nation's modern laws should be biblical.
"I was not aware that he was writing for this journal and I'm upset to find that out," McClintock said Friday in an interview at the Sacramento airport, between campaign appearances. "That disturbs me greatly."
John Feliz, McClintock's campaign manager, said he had been aware of Stoos' religious views for years but had no information that McClintock knew of them.
Stoos said he has not discussed his religious views with McClintock, adding: "He didn't hire me as his pastor. He hired me as his political advisor."
In an essay published in the Chalcedon Report in the summer of 2002, Stoos wrote: "Before you commit your time and talent to particular candidates, you should ask them some basic questions." Among the questions is whether the candidate "understand[s] the biblical principles upon which our nation was founded," and whether he or she subscribes to "serious magazines or journals like the Chalcedon Report."
