Escondido attorney continuing battle with Planned Parenthood

By JUDY ERICKSON

A long-time defender of pro-life, pro-family values is in danger of closing its doors. On March 4, an appellate court in California ruled that Escondido-based United States Justice Foundation must pay Planned Parenthood more than $60,000 in attorney fees.

“Planned Parenthood would like nothing better than to shut us down,” said foundation Executive Director Gary Kreep. “We believe it to be useless, given the present makeup of the California Supreme Court, to appeal.”

Kreep, 53, said he has a peace about the financial stress placed upon the foundation he co-founded in Escondido in 1979 with James Lacy, now mayor of Dana Point, and Norman Olney, an estate planning attorney in San Diego. “I pray about it all the time,” he said. “If God wants USJF to survive, he will motivate people to contribute.”

Neither the foundation nor its founder has the funds to comply, so they are asking the Body of Christ to help. Although he works full-time for USJF, Kreep went without a salary from the foundation last year. He lived off his savings and private practice in family law, education law, and general civic litigation, whereby he represents other businesses in the area.

Richard Ackerman was the lead attorney arguing the appellate case with Planned Parenthood before he left USJF last year to go into private practice. The original case centered on apparently trumped up charges using non-conclusive evidence of photos against abortion clinic picketers who maintain they were within their First Amendment rights.

Planned Parenthood’s attorney, James McElroy, who had faced Kreep in court before, asked the court to award the $60,000 personally against Ackerman and Kreep. The court chose to award the sum only against USJF.

The trial court had originally denied Planned Parenthood’s demand for attorney’s fees, but the appellate court overruled the judge. When the case came back to the trial court, the original judge on the case had retired. The new judge, Kevin Enright, originally denied the request also. Planned Parenthood had waited beyond the statutory requirements to re-open their case, but Enright allowed, over objection, attorney McElroy to introduce new arguments and evidence for the first time, and he convinced Judge Enright to award the $60,000 in fees.

When USJF appealed, Judge Enright in court said he never should have awarded the fees, but because it was up on appeal there was nothing he could do. Then, March 4, the appellate court relieved Planned Parenthood of their requirement to comply with the statutory filing deadlines, disregarding Judge Enright’s admission of error, and conferred upon Planned Parenthood the original $60,000 award of attorney’s fees.

“James McElroy, attorney for Planned Parenthood in San Diego, told me personally that by mid-April we owe $80,000 or he’ll come after USJF or me,” Kreep said. “If we file bankruptcy they’ll fight the bankruptcy.” Because of the award of an additional unspecified amount in attorney’s fees, USJF and Kreep personally could be liable for as much as $120,000.

Kreep said his foundation has hundreds and hundreds of pages of allegations against Planned Parenthood. In August 2002 they told the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services that Planned Parenthood is not complying with federal laws regarding reporting of molestation of minors. A high-ranking department official told Kreep that the last time anyone in the department tried to shut off funds for Planned Parenthood, that person, who was high up in the department under the George W. Bush administration, was fired.

“They hate us,” Kreep said. “There’s a deep-seated hatred against Christians in the body politics.” Kreep’s life verse is Ezekiel 33: 1-6, which refers to the responsibility of believers to be watchmen on the wall. “I think we’re supposed to protect people like picketers, and warn of evil coming,” said Kreep, who has defended up to 60 pro-lifers at a time. “We can’t sit there and say nothing, or their blood will be on our heads. I include that Scripture when I speak, even to secular audiences. It’s important, whether they’re Christians or not. We all have to turn to God.”

Last year, USJF filed a class action suit to force Planned Parenthood to report child molesters. Two local judges, including Enright, said that Planned Parenthood is not required to report, and sanctioned Kreep, Ackerman, and USJF $15,000. The foundation raised $10,000 and obtained $5,000 in loans, including personal loans from Kreep.

Planned Parenthood admitted to treating a 5-year-old child for a sexually transmitted disease. The judges would not consider federal law, and said that state laws allow Planned Parenthood to not report, even though Planned Parenthood has been cited by the County Department of Health for not reporting child molestation.

“If an alternative pregnancy clinic or emergency room or hospital did what they (Planned Parenthood) did, they’d be shut down,” Kreep said. “It’s time for the pastors and the elders and Bible-believing Christians to stop putting their heads in the sand. I believe we should be proselytizing, witnessing, but also fighting and resisting evil. If pastors turn away and let a 5-year-old child be abused, how can you say a 5-year-old should be molested? They can pretend they don’t know about it, but they can’t escape responsibility.”

Kreep said he left the large Escondido church where he came to faith in Christ, after the pastor vehemently denied the church’s responsibilities for civil action, saying that political action by Christians lowers us to the world’s standards. After that sermon, the pastor said, “I guess I overdid it a little, didn’t I, Gary.” Kreep and his wife never went back.

Among Kreep’s supporters is Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue West, who has worked with Kreep and the USJF on three cases since 1992. Newman said he found Kreep’s whole law firm to be extremely helpful to pro-life and pro-family causes. “They are always even handed and give excellent counsel,” Newman said. “It seems to me this case proves that Planned Parenthood will stop at nothing to silence the pro-life position that exposes their hypocrisy and desire to take human life.”

Another person who has worked with Kreep and Newman in Operation Rescue West is Cheryl Sullenger, director of Heartland Life Network. Before she moved to Wichita, Kan., to help Newman attack the biggest abortion mill in the world, Sullenger was director of San Diego Life Coalition. “Gary’s represented me off and on for almost 20 years,” Sullenger said. “Whenever we’ve needed counsel, he’s always been there for us. So we appreciate him and USJF a lot. He and Rich and other attorneys there have helped us a lot and we really appreciate them. We think that (what’s happened to USJF) is just a shame. They are good people and it’s really wrong what’s going on. Planned Parenthood really misrepresented facts.”

Sullenger referred to the Wilkerson vs. Scott case that started around 1997 with photos that Planned Parenthood used to bring charges of blocking an abortion clinic against the San Diego Life Coalition. “What happened is a couple came over and said they were having twins and had decided to not have an abortion,” Sullenger said. “It took just a couple of minutes. They had sued us for blocking. It was totally fabricated. They lied through their teeth and misrepresented what the pictures showed.”

Ron Brock is another supporter of life who was involved in the case with Sullenger and Kreep, and who is appalled by the decision against USJF. A former Encinitas hair salon owner, Brock, like Kreep, sees Ezekiel’s call for watchmen on the walls as his life’s calling. Brock said he’s thankful that USJF exists to defend people who have been unjustly accused. “This is crazy, absolutely crazy. You’ve heard of judicial tyranny - that’s Judge Enright. ... There’s no evidence for it, no reason he should have decided to put USJF out of business. Judge Enright is protecting child molesters. ... This judge is like the other judges by protecting Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is the sacred cow.”

Brock cites Romans 1 as the best reference to make any sense of the insanity he sees in our society. “We’ve walked away from God and his principles,” he said. “Those who go to church and know better are cowards. ... Is the church rallying around Gary Kreep? No! The church is deserting him.”

Kreep has reason to believe there often is a bias in our justice department against conservative, pro-life people. A judge once invited his bailiff, court reporter and clerk to join him in publicly criticizing Kreep for supporting pro-life picketers. The bailiff and court reporter complied, but the clerk just hung her head and said nothing. In a one-man, one-vote case where USJF sued and won, the judge cut USJF’s attorney’s fee by 2/3. And, because Kreep wears a cross in the courtroom, other attorneys have referred to him as wearing a swastika.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Kreep said, “to be salt and light. We’re not really popular. There are not many conservative judges in California and most don’t publicize their position. Conservatives and Christians are under attack.”

For example, in 1996, USJF sued the city of San Jose for taking $1 million in public money to erect a statue of an Aztec god, where they used school children to perform religious ceremonies. “Hispanic parents were very upset,” Kreep said. “So I sued on behalf of (these) Catholics. The judge said if the statue were of Jesus Christ, he would have ruled in our favor.”

Kreep came to San Diego from his native San Francisco-Bay Area to go to college in 1968, and has lived in San Diego County ever since. His wife, Carol, died of a rare lung disease in 2001. Another strong ally, attorney Burt Shamsky of Del Mar, also died recently, leaving Kreep feeling somewhat outnumbered in his battles for the unborn. He encourages anyone who believes in what he is doing to contribute to his foundation by mailing support to USJF, 2091 E. Valley Parkway, Suite 1-D, Escondido, CA 92027. Or call his offices at (760) 741-8086 to give by credit card.

Information on Kreep and USJF is available at www.usjf.net.