With a sparkling blue Pacific Ocean backdrop at his Laguna Beach house before sunset tonight, Republican presidential candidate Fred Karger delighted a politically diverse crowd with his trademark humor and determination to make gay and lesbian equality an acceptable stance within the GOP during the 2012 race for the White House.
Given the likes of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, Karger–once a senior campaign aide to President Ronald Reagan–knows he has an uphill battle. But he told supporters that he remains enthusiastic that his underdog campaign can impact the public debate. If nothing else, he said his optimistic message is to youth, especially gay youth, that anybody can run for president and make a positive difference.
Hollywood actor/Versace model Rib Hillis (Port Charles, Ugly Betty and CSI Miami), the guest of honor at the gathering, said he has liberal leanings, but is impressed by Karger’s political stances as well as his vocal opposition to California’s anti-gay marriage Prop. 8.
“I think Fred is a candidate who can be attractive to Republicans and Democrats and I like his positive message,” said Hillis, who attended the event with his gorgeous Russian-born girlfriend, Elena Grinenko of Dancing With The Stars fame.
Laguna Beach Mayor Toni Iseman, a Democrat, also attended with a mostly Republican crowd and praised Karger for his political “bravery.”
“I respect Fred so much for what he is doing,” said Iseman.
Karger, who was profiled in a June 2 OC Weekly cover story, worked for decades as a closeted gay man for powerful Republican politicians and came out of the closet about seven years ago when he retired from political consulting. Then, as is apparently required of newly out gay people, he entered the campaign to be the next president of the United States.
Actually, in fairness, Karger first led the effort to save the Boom Boom Room, a gay bar/restaurant/hotel in Laguna Beach, from developers who wanted to destroy the historic landmark.
And, unlike the last two Orange County figures to run for president: Larry Agran (in 1992) and Robert K. Dornan (in 1996), Karger’s having fun doing it.
You can visit his presidential campaign website HERE.
–R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.
I recently tried CBD gummies from this website https://www.cornbreadhemp.com/collections/cbd-cream in search the pre-eminent prematurely and was pleasantly surprised past the results. Initially skeptical, I start that it significantly helped with my dread and sleep issues without any remarkable side effects. The lubricator was effortless to speak, with legible dosage instructions. It had a indulgent, earthy leaning that was not unpleasant. Within a week, I noticed a marked convalescence in my total well-being, feeling more languorous and rested. I cognizant the ingenuous approximate to wellness CBD offers and plan to go on using it.