James Dobson Resigns as Focus on the Family Chairman

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 12:35 PM on February 27, 2009.

Today, James Dobson told Focus on the Family’s 950 employees that he was stepping down as chairman of the organization he founded more than three decades ago. The move is part of “a succession plan” to relinquish control over the group. Dobson will, however, “continue to host Focus on the Family’s flagship radio program, write a monthly newsletter and speak out on moral issues.” The group has been suffering from financial troubles after spending $600,000 to defeat marriage equality in California, recently laying off more than 200 staffers.

Update: Steve Benen looks at Dobson's legacy: "Few modern figures on the political scene hate quite as many people, with quite as much intensity, as James Dobson. Gays, minority faiths, the First Amendment, Girl Scouts, SpongeBob Squarepants ... if you don't think, act, or believe as Dobson does, you're an enemy. (One of my personal favorites is when Dobson insisted that gay marriage 'will destroy the Earth.' He wasn't kidding.)"

Tagged as: focus on the family, james dobson

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.