Christine O'Donnell - Career

Career

O'Donnell first became involved in politics in 1991 when she worked the polls for the College Republicans. She was a youth leader for the Bush-Quayle campaign and attended the 1992 Republican National Convention. While there she began making media contacts, meeting daily with a CNN producer and giving television interviews that offered a college student's perspective on the convention. The following year O'Donnell worked for three months in Washington, D.C. for the anti-pornography organization Enough is Enough. She then spent two years working in the communications office of the Republican National Committee (RNC) in Washington D.C. Disappointed that the Republican Party had shifted its emphasis away from pro-life issues after the 1994 election, she quit the RNC and worked briefly for the Christian Coalition as a media consultant with its President Roberta Combs. O'Donnell then became the Press Secretary for conservative Christian group, Concerned Women for America. Christine O'Donnell appeared regularly on C-SPAN including as Concerned Women for America's Press Secretary in 1995.

In 1996 O'Donnell attended the Republican National Convention in San Diego, moved to Los Angeles, and founded her own advocacy organization, The Savior's Alliance for Lifting the Truth (SALT), serving as its president. SALT lobbied the U.S. Congress on moral issues and promoted Christian values, including sexual abstinence before marriage, to the college-age generation. In the 1990s, O'Donnell took a public stance against masturbation, calling it "sinful" and equating it with adultery. Some commentators have noted her comments are consistent with official Roman Catholic doctrine, which condemns masturbation and other forms of non-procreative sex. O'Donnell appeared on Fox News, MSNBC and C-Span as a representative of SALT. She also appeared on MTV's Sex In The 90s, advocating sexual "purity". and was a regular guest panelist on Bill Maher's ABC show Politically Incorrect, appearing in 22 episodes. In a 1996 discussion on CNN, O'Donnell advocated the teaching of creationism in public schools and criticized Darwin's theory of evolution on the ground that it is "merely a theory" or "a myth". She asserted that "there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting ." In the late 1990s O'Donnell moved back to Washington, D.C., where she continued her advocacy work. In 1998 she published an article in Cultural Dissident entitled, "The Case for Chastity". In 2003 she wrote an article, "The Women of Middle Earth," for the Catholic Exchange.

In February 2003 O'Donnell moved to Delaware to work for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), a non-profit conservative publisher of educational materials and bought a house in Wilmington. In 2004, she filed a complaint against ISI with the EEOC saying that she had been demoted due to gender discrimination. Later, on February 26, 2004, she was fired, and in 2005 she sued ISI in federal court for $6.9 million for wrongful termination, claiming gender discrimination and that her firing was retaliation for talking to the EEOC. She said ISI's actions caused her mental anguish and were a consequence of "ISI's conservative beliefs". She also claimed that she had lost future financial earning power because ISI's actions had offered a flexible work schedule to allow time for a Master's program while recruiting her to Delaware at half the salary she expected in Washington, D.C., then redefined her employment after she had moved and bought a house. ISI defended its action by alleging that O'Donnell had used company resources for her own media consulting work while on their time for Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ, which O'Donnell contends was agreed to before she was hired, and that ISI cited this reason only months later after the firing as a pretext. O'Donnell dropped the suit in 2008, stating she could no longer afford an attorney.

After leaving ISI, O'Donnell started her own media consulting and marketing company, and worked for both commercial clients and non-profit organizations and other clients. She founded the Catholic Advocacy Network and again began making media appearances. In 2006 she was approached by supporters of the pro-life movement who asked her if she wanted to run against Delaware Senator Tom Carper and ultimately ran three times for a U.S. Senate seat, in 2006, 2008 and 2010. In-between the 2006 and 2008 elections, she did pro bono advocacy work opposing the disconnection of a feeding tube for a young woman who was in a persistent vegetative state.