James Holman a Liberal?

Is James Holman, publisher of the San Diego Reader, a left-wing liberal?

Holman? The man who’s also the publisher of a string of Catholic publications in California and the patron of anti-abortion initiatives?

But there he is, apparently, giving a political donation to Carl Romanelli, who’s running for a U.S. Senate seat as a Green Party candidate.

Why would Holman, an ultra-conservative, support a Green Party candidate? After all, this is Romanelli’s position on abortion – a topic Holman is passionate about:

Carl Romanelli will always defend the rights of women to control their own reproductive choices. It is shameful that both Rick Santorum and Bob Casey feel they can impose their own religious beliefs on the law of the land, at the cost of the legal rights of 51% of our population.

Seems like a strange candidate for Holman to support when you consider his anti-abortion efforts – most recently his support of the parental notification. For a refresher there’s this from the SacBee during last year’s campaign cycle.

James Holman, publisher of the San Diego Reader weekly and a chain of Catholic newspapers, loaned more than $2 million to pay for the petition drive that recently re-qualified the parental notification measure for the November ballot. Holman had spent over $1.1 million to get Proposition 73 on ballot. But proponents then spent little on campaigning while opponents – led by Planned Parenthood and affiliates – spent more than $4.5 million to defeat the measure.

It appears Holman and other conservatives are hoping to prop up the Green Party candidate to siphon support away from Democrat Bob Casey, who’s challenging (successfully?) Republican Senator Rick Santorum.

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

– SCOTT LEWIS