Speakers tout principles at Family Council award dinner

ORLANDO (FBW)—The Florida Family Policy Council honored Ken Connor, a member of Celebration Baptist Church in Tallahassee, with the 2007 Daniel Webster Award at the organization's annual policy awards dinner May 19.

John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, said he worked with Connor four years and has known him for more than 20.

"He has been a mentor to me and a true example of what it means to be a Christian and a lawyer," Stemberger said. "He is committed to principle before politics."

The Webster Award is given annually by the Florida Family Policy Council board of directors for extraordinary principled service and is named after the example and service of Florida State Senator Dan Webster.

Stemberger and U.S. Senator Mel Martinez presented the award following speeches from Republican presidential candidates U.S. Senator Sam Brownback and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

Connor, who has served as president for organizations such as Florida Right to Life, and the Family Research Council, also was a "key player" in orchestrating the national congressional effort to sustain Terri Schiavo's life, Stemberger said.

"[Connor is] concerned with truth and is animated by principle, primarily the principles defining human dignity and respect for all human beings born and unborn because we're all made in the image and likeness of God Himself," Stemberger said. "On one hand, he's the most gracious, winsome and thoughtful man you'll ever meet. On the other hand, I've watched him dress down and stand face to face with congressman, governors, and even the president of the United States ... [in cases involving] moral courage."

Stemberger said Connor "exemplifies exactly the type of principled leadership that this award was founded for," calling him "one of the great moral leaders of our day."

Martinez, who introduced Connor to the nearly 800 people attending the dinner, said Connor motivated him to enter into public service. Martinez said he met Connor while they both attended Florida State University in Tallahassee.

"When we were in class at FSU back in the late 60s, we thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if one day we could make a difference?" Martinez reminisced. "Ken Connor has made a difference. Ken Connor has led by principle each and every day."

Martinez said he could think of no better recipient for the award than Connor, who he termed, "a dear friend, a great American and great man and great human being, a man who humbly follows his Lord."

Connor, an attorney serving as chairman for the Center for a Just Society in Washington D.C., said he was "honored" to receive an award bearing Webster's name.

"I will tell you that without exception, Daniel Webster is the longest-serving public official who is today no different than he was when he first entered public life," Connor said. "Primarily I believe [that is] because of one reason, and that's ... his commitment to principle."

Conner also applauded Martinez, Stemberger, Brownback, and Huckabee for their commitment to principles.

That the Republican Party has produced two presidential candidates "who stand with the fidelity to principle and to the sanctity of life ... is really quite remarkable," Connor said.

Connor focused attention on the abortion issue, reminding attendees of his adopted child.

"The American people should not have to choose between a woman and a child, Connor said. "Our hearts are big enough to love them both. Adoption is a loving and compassionate alternative to abortion."

Brownback and Huckabee also spoke about pro-life issues.

Randall James, assistant pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, introduced Huckabee, former president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention as well as a 2008 presidential candidate.

James thanked Huckabee for being a strong pro-life, pro-family leader. Citing a 2005 Time Magazine article that named him one of the five best governors in the country, James said if he'd had a vote Huckabee would have been number one.

Reading a message from David Uth, senior pastor of First Baptist, who was unable to attend the event due to family commitments, James said the Uths and Huckabees had been friends since the late 80s.

"He is a gifted leader who leads with insight, integrity and conviction," Uth wrote. "I've had the privilege of spending time in private with him as well as watching him in public as he spoke the truth in love and led the state of Arkansas in some of it's greatest days."

Huckabee described the importance of pro-life and marriage issues as "landmarks" which guide the nation.

Recounting a trip to Israel in which he took his children to Yad Vashem, a memorial to victims of the holocaust, Huckabee talked about the stark images from World War II. Approaching the end of the memorial, Huckabee's then 11-year-old daughter wrote in the guestbook: "Why didn't somebody do something?"

Referring to Proverbs 22:28, Huckabee said God tells us not to move the landmarks our forefathers have placed.

"I'm convinced that one of the reasons America today seems confused and lost is because we have all but systematically tried to remove the landmarks that have given us our bearings as a country," Huckabee said

Citing the extensive search and rescue efforts after September 11, Huckabee said America's elevation of human life, treating "the life of one as if it was the life of all," is one of the United States' landmarks.

"We didn't look for them because it was cost-efficient," Huckabee said. "We did it because in this country we believe that life is important ... When this country forgets what separates us from the Islamic jihadists who would strap a bomb to the belly of their own child, march it into a room of innocent people, detonate the bomb and celebrate the death; than we have forgotten what our landmark is in this nation."

The sanctity of marriage, defining it as one man and one woman in a lifetime relationship, is another landmark, said Huckabee, who celebrated his thirty-third wedding anniversary May 25.

Traveling to Israel and visiting Yad Vashem, seeing what happens when people do nothing in the presence of evil, confirms the importance of landmarks, Huckabee said.

"I don't ever want there to be a day when some father takes his daughter to a museum dedicated to the memory of a country called America and has to watch as his daughter writes words that asks of this country, 'Why didn't somebody do something?'" Huckabee said. "We have determined that we will be the somebodys and we will do the something and we will say, 'Don't move that landmark.'"

Brownback, a father of five with two adopted children, said the importance of life—in or out of the womb—strikes close to home.

"We're one justice away on the Supreme Court from being able to overturn Roe vs. Wade,' Brownback said. "We need to get that justice."

Marrying righteousness and justice, Brownback said that both must "travel together" for a healthy society.

"It's both right and just to be pro-life and whole life, that we should stand for innocent lives whoever it is, wherever that person is, no matter what their age, no matter what they're position," Brownback continued. "They are beautiful; they're unique; they're a child of the living God. Period."

This translates into protecting not only the "child in the womb," but also the "child in Darfur," Brownback said.

Pursuing righteousness and justice in America means that marriage must be protected in order to rebuild the family, [so] that God is honored, Brownback said.

"We've spent the last 40 years ... trying to drive God out of the public square and any nation in the history of mankind that's walked away from God has walked away from their own future," Brownback said.

Calling Florida a "key state" in the nation, Brownback encouraged those in attendance to continue "rebuilding the family, renewing the culture in standing for the beauty of the God that loves us all."

"America will remain great as long as she remains good," Brownback declared. "Our goodness is the root, is the base of our greatness."