If, like me and the Gipper, you lean libertarian and believe the basic watchword for any political movement should be “freedom” (or “liberty”), you naturally cringe when you hear of an organization turning to the state to mandate “equality.”  While the ideal of equality is perhaps noble in concept, the historical record of the past century has shown that when the state seeks to promote equality, it does so at the expense of liberty (and oftentimes prosperity as well).

Conservative and libertarian political philosophers have long recognized the tension between the two ideals.  Laws to promote equality often nibble at our liberty.

This thought comes to mind every time I receive an e-mail from “Equality California” (EqCA) touting their legislative achievements.  Given how successful this Democratic group has been at lobbying the Golden State’s Democratic legislature over the years, you’d think that they would no longer need to push bills in Sacramento.  By now, that is, they should have passed enough laws to advance gay equality.

But, the laws keep coming.  EqCA mentioned seven in an e-mail earlier this month, four which the Governor signed, three which he vetoed.

Now, to be sure, some laws do indeed advance liberty (such as a bill downgrading “possession of an ounce or less” of marijuana “from a misdemeanor to an infraction.”)

Three days after receiving that electronic missive from EqCA, I received one from Log Cabin, heralding “pro-equality Republicans.” Four days later, they touted a candidate as advocated for equality while running on a “freedom-based platform”. Were they even aware of the contradictions between that supposed advocacy and his platform?

If Log Cabin wishes to be a genuinely Republican organization, it, like the GOP nationally, must understand what freedom means.  It would be nice if, instead of aping the watchword of the gay left, Log Cabin leaders could craft a real gay conservative agenda, one where the guiding principle is the same one which inspired the founders of our nation  – and our party:  freedom or liberty.

NB:  Tweaked the title to make it more concise.

I just read this email:

Log Cabin Republicans National Board of Directors to Meet in Washington, DC

(Washington, DC) – The Log Cabin Republicans National Board of Directors will convene in Washington, DC on September 22nd for a quarterly board meeting.

For further information, contact Christian Berle, cberle@logcabin.org.

I’m just wondering if Patrick Guerriero will be there.  Or Tim Gill?  Or George Soros?  I mean will the Leftist money men reveal their hands up the backsides of their “gay Republican” puppets?  Or will the show go on and the LCR-dues paying members just be told to “move along, nothing to see.”

Oh, I’m not going… I’ll be in New York City that weekend.  More interesting gathering and people.  No disguised Socialism-as-gay-Republican-group.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

File this in the category of things we already know, but were waiting to have acknowledged.

Just after the 2004 after the ostensibly Republican organization he headed quite publicly acknowledged its refusal to endorse the Republican nominee for president, Patrick Guerriero refused to tell a Washington Blade reporter which candidate he picked in the general election matchup.  You think that a Republican, even one unhappy with George W. Bush, would have a lot of trouble backing the then-Democratic nominee, a Mr. John Kerry.  

He might have said he pinched his nose and voted Republican, given the alternative.

But, not the man who would soon go to work for Tim Gill!

Now, he admits what we already know.  In traveling to his native Bay State to “endorse Democrat Katherine Clark for State Senate“, our Patrick fesses up and says he’s left the GOP, changing his registration to Independent.

Does that make him an IINO?  Independent in Name Only.  Seems his real allegiance lies with the party of Tim Gill.  

Will be interesting to see how the current leadership of Log Cabin responds.

If Patrick Guerriero had truly been concerned about the integrity of the organization he headed in 2004, the Log Cabin Republicans, he would have resigned his position as president immediately after George W. Bush was re-elected to a second term in the White House in 2004.  Instead, he lingered for nearly two years.  Since he was so closely tied to Log Cabin’s non-endorsement of Bush in that election, his resignation would have cleared the decks and allowed the organization’s board to tap someone who did not have such bad blood with the then-Republican Administration in Washington.

With that in mind, when I first read that Clarke Cooper was elected head of Log Cabin in May, it struck me that the organization’s head had long-standing ties to the Bush family, even having served eight years, W’s entire tenure, in that good man’s Administration.  It was as if his appointment was a tacit acknowledgment that the organization had erred in 2004.

I met Clarke Cooper last night at a meeting of the Los Angeles chapter of Log Cabin — at which gathering congressional candidate Mattie Fein was also present (more on that anon) — and was reasonably impressed.  Time will only tell if he can show a greater commitment to building the GOP than did the first two executive directors of the organization.  In his speech he pretty much said all the right things; he was willing to listen to some of the criticisms I had leveled against the organization when I approached him after his talk.  While in the manner of his distingished predecessor, Patrick Sammon, he was open to criticism, he did seem a tad defensive at times.

I was impressed that he said log Cabin need to “resynchronize” with the GOP.  He even called the organization a GOP auxiliary.  Thanks to his Bush connections, he was able to secure meetings at the RNC.  He indicated that in 2010, that process of resynchronization should be relatively easy, given that all conservatives are “on the same page” with a focus on jobs and the economy, standing up to the big-spending policies of the incumbent Administration. (more…)

One reason the headline Log Cabin v. USA so struck me is that in nearly emptying all my e-mail boxes these past few days, I’ve been struck by the absence of independent thinking among gay organizations in coming up with “solutions” to the problems and difficulties gay people face in contemporary society. And it seems that Log Cabin is no different.

Instead of considering how conservative ideas could benefit gay individuals, they have (all too often) simply deferred to the agenda of the various left-leaning national gay organizations on gay issues as if all gay people must back them because, well, these are the gay issues. And in almost every case (save for legislative repeal of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT)), they back policies which either expand the size of the federal government (and, in some cases, state governments as well) and increase its scope. Or both.

Many of the leaders of Log Cabin have, like all too many Republicans, alas, not realized how much the world changed with the inauguration of Ronald Wilson Reagan now nearly thirty years ago. When he spoke these words, he indicated a new approach to addressing our nation’s problems (an approach which neither his vice president nor that future president’s son fully understood):

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

In fashioning a conservative approach to gay issues, gay Republicans should ponder those words. Do we really need more laws to address the issue at hand?  Or, would free-market reforms benefit gay people?

We first saw Log Cabin consider this approach at its national “convention” in 2005 when Chris Barron, then the Political Director of the organization, promoted then-President Bush’s proposed Social Security reforms, noting how they would particularly benefit gay people.  But, with Chris moving to GOProud, his new organization, in many ways, represents the Reagan “revolution” while his old one, in many ways, represents the old Republican guard. (more…)

Save for the bracketed word in the title, every word in quotation marks in the title above comes from an e-mail Log Cabin sent out to its list earlier this week.  Did they even consider how that sounded?

In the e-mail primarily a fundraising appeal, the organization discusses the court challenge it brought against Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT), “Log Cabin Republicans is proud to have brought this case, and is committed to fighting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on all three fronts – on Capitol Hill, within the executive branch, and through the courts.”

While I share their goals of overturning DADT, I don’t share their commitment to fighting this in all three branches of the federal government.  I’m concerned about the precedent this would set of having a federal court interfere in military policy, something the Constitution clearly delegates to the executive.  Recall that it was President Harry S Truman who desegregated the military.   And when President Bill Clinton punted on keeping his campaign promise in 1993, he agreed to legislative intervention.  Until he signed that bill, the president could have, with the stroke of a pen, repealed the ban.

Instead of bringing this suit in a court of law, Log Cabin should deploy its resources to lobbying wavering Republican Senators and to working with Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN) to push the Senate to move forward on repeal.

In a week when I find it tough to focus on the world of politics, much is happening in that realm.  A decision is expected imminently in the latest Prop 8 trial, this one held in a San Francisco federal court.  Should Judge Vaughn Walker decide that the courts can impose social change, watch for the legal drama to continue until this reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.  Expect further social divisions on gay marriage and further whining from gay activists, with little discussion of the meaning of the institution and why its benefits and responsibilities are good for married couples in general and gay people in particular.

With the Senator who stole Christmas now signed up to vote for the Democrats’ financial overhaul legislation, this 2,000-plus page bill is set for passage, further regulating the banking industry, providing additional paperwork responsibilities on small banks, is all but certain to pass.  This will discourage rather than encourage small banks from making loans to small businesses, the enterprises the most net new jobs, thus further delaying a real economic recovery.

(Take note of the bias in the AP article on Senator Nelson’s switch; they dub the liberal Nebraska Senator a “conservative Democrat“!)

Democratic Senate candidates traveled to Canada for political fundraisers while one poll shows my gal Carly Fiorina surging ahead of Barbara Boxer in the race for the U.S. Senate seat that that 28-year Washington veteran has held since the last days of the George H.W. Bush Administration.

Log Cabin’s suit to overturn Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT) gets a hearing in federal court.  This lawsuit causes us to question whether that ostensibly Republican organization understands conservative ideas and constitutional principles.  A conservative organization should be wary of setting precedents that would allow courts to second guess the executive and legislature on matters military.  (They are basically compounding the problem begun by Bill Clinton who, when trying to save his political skin back in 1993 (shortly after Mrs. Boxer first won election to the Senate), allowed the legislature to intervene on a matter the constitution clearly delegated to the president.)

A new poll shows that 6 in 10 Americans Lack Faith in Obama. (more…)

Every now and again, I get e-mails from readers asking if I agree with a post one of my co-bloggers has written.  Usually (but not always), I agree with what Bruce and Nick have to say, though sometimes I share their conclusions while questioning their tone.

A couple of readers asked me for my thoughts on Bruce’s recent posts on Log Cabin.  I agree that the Log Cabin of LA “tea bag” stunt was in poor taste.  While aware of it before Bruce blogged on it, I doubt I would have posted on it myself.  Yet, the more I think about the issue, the more I realize how right Bruce was to publicize this stunt — and criticize the LA group for staging it.

And here is why.

Ever since Log Cabin leapt onto the national (media) stage in 1992, the organization has taken for granted its loyalty to the GOP.  To be sure, those in the media portray them as loyal Republicans.  But, that is not how rank-and-file Republicans see them.  When, I, in 1997, founded the Log Cabin Republican Club of Northern Virginia, I found we had to prove our commitment to the party to convince our fellow partisans that we weren’t just using the label “Republican” as a means to gain access to the media and so use that platform to attack our fellow Republicans.  A Trojan horse as it were.

Republican leaders and activists in Northern Virginia were aware that the organization had refused to back George H.W. Bush’s re-election in 1992 and that the then-executive director repeatedly criticized Republicans in the news media.

What we saw in the 1990s continued into the 2000s.

Given the organization’s history, with past leaders badmouthing the GOP to the media and the organization very publicly refusing to endorse George W. Bush in 2004 (while muting their criticism of his Democratic opponent), Log Cabin today needs to do more to show its commitment to the GOP.  Engaging in stunts which ally them more closely with the conservative-hating talking heads on MSNBC will not help them accomplish that goal.

One of the reasons I’ve been proud to support GOProud is that they have been making an effort to speak out not just on gay issues but on issues of concern to conservatives, very often showing how conservative policies benefit gay people.

Stunts like the tea bag toss will do little to ease concerns rank-and-file Republicans have about Log Cabin’s purpose.  And serve to strengthen the case for GOProud.

On full display at Los Angeles Gay Pride.

How dare they label themselves as a Republican organization.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Over the weekend, the Log Cabin Republican organization hit a new low — which I didn’t think was possible.  After this blog and others exposed LCR decomposing into a front organization for the leftist Tim Gill Foundation…  and after LCR’s former Executive Director left the place in financial ruin, even I didn’t think it could get worse.

It did this past weekend.

The Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles are holding a special event at this weekend’s gay pride festival in L.A.: A tea bag toss!

Contestants can buy a tea bag and win a prize if they toss it into the open “mouths” of three politicians: gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown (D), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin.

“We figured this year we ought to take it up a notch and do something that is engaging and somewhat amusing and shows that we can even laugh at ourselves,” Scott Schmidt, president of of Log Cabin-Los Angeles, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

He said he included Palin in the game in order to give the game a more bipartisan feel, telling the Chronicle that she had raised the sales tax when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

Thanks to Log Cabin, the ugly slur “teabagger” — first coined for the Tea Party by none other than Anderson Cooper — is being reinforced. And, to top it off… Log Cabin has the teabag going into Sarah Palin’s mouth.   Palin — the number one target for liberals is assailed in this bizarre stunt by a so-called Republican organization. 

Palin has gone through enough mindless attacks — why does an alleged Republican organization have to target her as well with a disgusting sexual slur?

Well, that’s stunt is sure to please crazy Andy Sullivan and get LCR’s Schmidt an invite to the next big Gay Lefty party.  Congrats, Scott.

Meantime, the new Log Cabin Executive Director was instrumental in helping defeat gay conservative Congressional candidate Matthew Berry.  Mark Ciavola at RightPride.org notes:

[T]hey [Log Cabin] supported the pro-choice, anti-gay Iraq War veteran Patrick Murray in Virginia’s 8^th Congressional District over the pro-life, conservative, former FCC lawyer Matthew Berry. Oh, did I mention that Berry is a gay conservative?  So why would Log Cabin support Murray, over a gay conservative who is pro-life, and stands up for state’s rights and the repeal of DADT? Simple: Log Cabin no longer has the best interests of the Gay Right at heart – and hasn’t for some time. They raised money for Murray, who won the primary against Berry last Tuesday. Good job R. Clarke Cooper!

It is no surprise that Cooper follows in the unseemly tradition of Patrick Guerriero.  My source on the Log Cabin board told me they chose Cooper under specific instructions from Tim Gill — who is the group’s major donor and who is one of the Gay Left’s most prolific fundraisers.

I have decided to go on a personal crusade against Log Cabin Republicans.  As a gay conservative — they should be “outed” completely as a left-wing fringe organization.  I have some specific actions in mind which I will reveal over the next few days.  Good, clean fun stuff.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

[GP Ed. Note: In full disclosure, I am the Treasurer of the gay conservative group, GOProud.  This blog item reflects my own personal feelings and does not necessarily reflect the views of GOProud or any of its members.]

This is a cross-post from Mark Ciavola which was originally published at RightPride.org on June 11.

Back in April I wrote an article for GayConservative.org titled “The Cabin is On Fire,” outlining the downfall of the longest-running organization representing the Gay Right – the Log Cabin Republicans. I mentioned their spotty past of placating to liberal groups such as Human Rights Campaign, and their refusal to endorse the only Republican in the Presidential Election of 2004. I feel as though I laid out a pretty convincing case for their impending demise.

After fourteen months without an executive director, Log Cabin sent out a press release announcing their new E.D. as R. Clarke Cooper, a “former diplomat and veteran.” According to the release, Cooper is an “eight-year veteran of the George W. Bush Administration,” an administration Log Cabin opposed in 2004, even going so far as to attack Bush and Cheney in a series of web ads.

Does this spell new life for the lame-duck organization? Not quite. In fact, what I suspected was a lame-duck organization, is actually just lame.

This past week two very interesting news items came to light, which show Log Cabin’s true colors:

First, they supported the pro-choice, anti-gay Iraq War veteran Patrick Murray in Virginia’s 8^th Congressional District over the pro-life, conservative, former FCC lawyer Matthew Berry. Oh, did I mention that Berry is a gay conservative? Matthew Berry believes each state should choose its own same-sex marriage laws, and that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell should be repealed. These are reasons Murray used to sway voters away from the gay conservative. So why would Log Cabin support Murray, over a gay conservative who is pro-life, and stands up for state’s rights and the repeal of DADT? Simple: Log Cabin no longer has the best interests of the Gay Right at heart – and hasn’t for some time. They raised money for Murray, who won the primary against Berry last Tuesday. Good job R. Clarke Cooper!

The other tidbit pertains to Log Cabin’s plans for Gay Pride in Los Angeles. Their booth will include a “Tea Bag Toss,” where people can buy tea bags to throw through the “mouths” of three politicians: Jerry Brown, Democratic candidate for Governor; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House; And…

Sarah Palin.

Why Sarah Palin, you ask? To give the game a more bipartisan feel. Not only is this a vulgar way to “do something that is engaging and somewhat amusing,” but clearly is intended to earn favor with the heavily liberal gay audience in L.A.

Still don’t think Log Cabin panders to liberals in the gay community? I say GUILTY as CHARGED.

Log Cabin Chairman Terry Hamilton and newly-appointed Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper need to take a good, long look in the mirror. Log Cabin used to be a place where right-of-center gays could find a home. Today, the organization is being driven into the ground by liberal appeasers who barely have any Republican values left.

It is time for all Gay Conservatives, Republicans and even Independents, to disavow this corrupt and misguided organization. Not only does it lie to its members to raise funds for its non-Republican activities, but it gives the REAL Gay Right a bad name.

Perhaps Terry Hamilton and R. Clarke Cooper should be the ones getting teabagged at Gay Pride this weekend.

*The views expressed in this blog are the author’s, and do not necessarily represent the views of Right Pride or GOProud.

As readers of this blog know, pro-life conservative (and openly-gay) Matthew Berry is running against pro-choice (and anti-gay) Patrick Murray in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District. With his campaign failing to gain traction, and with Berry becoming the consensus conservative choice to take on Jim Moran, Murray has in recent days decided to go negative with false claims about Matthew Berry’s positions on DADT and gay marriage. Murray has also attempted to flip-flop on abortion.

Indeed, Dave Weigel at the Washington Post covers the false anti-gay attacks today.

Whats most interesting is who is funding the campaign of the anti-gay Murray – none other than the national staff for the Log Cabin Republicans.

In fact, Log Cabin Republicans new executive director Clarke Cooper hosted a fundraiser for Murray at the end of March. Here is a video of the event. Clarke is introduced and he is standing by the other Log Cabin staffer Christian Berle.

An Open Secrets search also reveals that the newly minted Log Cabin ED also gave twice to Murray at the end of March.

Matthew Berry is the kind of candidate that all conservatives, but particularly gay conservatives, should be able to rally around. The decision by the national staff of Log Cabin to underwrite and support the campaign of his anti-gay opponent is outrageous. Maybe instead of writing PAC checks to support the campaigns of RINOs like Dede Scozzafava (the single largest recipient of Log Cabin’s PAC this year at $3,000), the national staff of this organization should support real conservatives like Matthew Berry.

Over at GayConservative.org, Mark has a post on the declining fortunes of the Log Cabin Republicans.  Interesting he doesn’t mention the last head of the organization, Patrick Sammon, who might have been able to save the group had his predecessor, Patrick Guerriero, not so depleted its coffer and destroyed its credibility among rank-and-file republicans.  Or maybe Guerriero had just done the honorable thing and stepped down immediately after, his best efforts notwithstanding, George W. Bush won reelection in 2004.

Mark contends that, “Guerriero is single-handedly responsible for igniting the fire currently burning down the log cabin.”  Now, I don’t entirely agree, but agree he’s onto something.  The rot had already begun to set in before Guerriero took over.  He just made it worse.  He bent over backwards to repair the damaged relations between Log Cabin and the various gay organizations.

He didn’t understand the difference between being civil with (and keeping open lines of communication to) those groups and carrying water for them.  During the 2004 election, first the Democratic vice presidential nominee, then the presidential nominee himself gave Log Cabin leaders a chance to show that their non-endorsement of Bush really was a statement of neutrality in the presidential race.

When each candidate successively brought up the sexuality of then-Vice President’s daughter, instead of just chastising John Kerry and John Edwards, Guerriero’s Log Cabin devoted more space in their press release on the topic to trashing George W. Bush and Karl Rove.  It’s as if they saw their mission as attacking their fellow Republicans.  Why did they feel it incumbent upon themselves to trash their party in a release on the errors of the other party’s nominee?

It seems they were more eager to get media attention than to change the party.  For we all know how the media loves stories about Republican division.

Mark, however, contends that a gay GOP should work from within:

The fact is, when you claim to be a Republican organization, you should be supporting Republicans – especially when you are the only Republican organization representing gays. Even when Republican gays and Republican candidates don’t see eye to eye on LGBT issues, it is far better to work for change from within the party, than by attacking the party.

There’s more to Mark’s piece and I recommend you just read the whole thing.   (more…)

Earlier today when flying from Florida (where I was vacationing with the PatriotFamilyWest) to Cincinnati (to visit the ol’ Homestead), I was reading the dead tree copy of the Wall Street Journal.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading a newspaper.  It’s an experience you just don’t get reading articles online.  I didn’t seem as hurried as I do when surfing the web.  

As I reading Peggy Noonan’s reflection on the past ten years, I wondered if the explanation she offered for the failure (and/or disappointing performance) of many institutions in that era could also apply to one whose decline accelerated in the “aughts,” all but collapsing in the year just concluded:

Maybe the most worrying trend the past 10 years can be found in this phrase: “They forgot the mission.” So many great American institutions—institutions that every day help hold us together—acted as if they had forgotten their mission, forgotten what they were about, what their role and purpose was, what they existed to do. You, as you read, can probably think of an institution that has forgotten its reason for being. Maybe it’s the one you’re part of.

The problem with Log Cabin, however, was that its leaders never really seemed to develop a mission beyond their own advancement.  Or so it often seemed to those of us Republicans who happen to be gay.  If they had a mission, they didn’t do the greatest job of communicating it.

As did many institutions about which Peggy writes in her essay.  Their leaders, like those of the Catholic Church, “forgot they were servants of a great institution, and came to think the great church existed to meet their needs.”

One leader of Log Cabin departed to take a job with a left-wing group which had generously supported the organization during his tenure, causing one to wonder if he adopted its agenda while at the helm of the supposedly Republican organization not merely because of their financial support but also in order to further his own career.

Food for thought.  And perhaps future blog posts.

No wonder Log Cabin national continues to crumble (while many local clubs flourish). Instead of offering a conservative approach to gay issues, they continue to support the policies and ape the rhetoric of the increasingly left-wing national gay groups.*

In Log Cabin’s latest missive, they do the right thing in defending Vice President Cheney against attempts by a left-wing radio host to misrepresent his records, but use the wrong terms, telling us that that good man spoke out on “equality issues” while Vice President. He did no such thing. He merely registered his opposition to a constitutional amendment defining marriage then-President Bush backed.

Earlier this month, Log Cabin issued a release, calling for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and dubbing that interventionist legislation “pro-business.”

ENDA”s not pro-business, it’s anti-competition. It’s just an excuse to expand the scope of the federal government, a solution in search of a problem.   Indeed, in his organization’s very release touting ENDA, Log Cabin Republicans Spokesperson Charles T. Moran shows us what it’s unnecessary:

ENDA is reflective of policies already in place by the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies in America, as well as supported by many small-businesses which form the backbone of the American economy.

Why do we need the federal government to tell businesses to do what they’ve already been doing volunarily?  Even during the supposedly dread (for gays) Bush era, an increasing number of private corporations enacted non-discrimination clauses, without pressure from the federal government. In 2008, 472 (94.4%) Fortune 500 had adopted such policies, up from 323 (64.6%) in 2003.

Most corporate executives recognize that in order to be competitive, they need an inclusive workforce.  Why should the government force all companies to do what many have already done, reducing the competitive advantage of companies that have sought to make employment in their workplace more attractive to gay men and lesbians?

Those businesses, small as well as large have enacted non-discrimination policies (as well as those offering benefits to same-sex partners of their employees), because they know it’s good for business.  They didn’t do so because of a mandate from the federal government, but because they have learned responding to changing social conditions is good for business.

Let’s let businesses determine how to respond to the increasing social acceptance of gay men and lesbian.  They’ve been doing a great job so far.

Trying to dress up ENDA as “pro-business,” Log Cabin’s leaders betray a limited understanding of the free market.  This legislation works to the disadvantage of companies which have already reached out to gay and lesbian employees and clientele.

RELATED: The Hullabaloo over Microsoft.

* (more…)

Hot off the wire:

GOProud Applauds Introduction of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Bill
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) lead co-sponsor in the Senate
and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) lead co-sponsor in the House.

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the bipartisan Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations (DPBO) bill will be introduced in both the House and Senate. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) is the lead co-sponsor in the Senate and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is the lead co-sponsor in the House.

“GOProud applauds the bipartisan, bicameral introduction of the DPBO bill,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director of GOProud. “GOProud strongly supports this common sense legislation.”

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) join Collins and Ros-Lehtinen as original co-sponsors.

“Passage of the DPBO bill would make retirement benefits, healthcare benefits and life insurance benefits available to domestic partners,” continued LaSalvia.

“As conservatives, we believe that the federal government should take its cues from the successful practices of private enterprise. With more than half of Fortune 500 companies offer domestic partner benefits, it is clear that the time has come for the federal government to do the same.”

“GOProud looks forward to building conservative support for the passage of this legislation,” said LaSalvia.

Major kudos to Senator Collins and Rep. Ros-Lehtinen — she is one of my favorite Members of the US House, I might add.

And I would also note that it seems to me (and I am certainly biased as the Treasurer) that GOProud is doing a lot more to advance gay conservative causes in the past few weeks than Log Cabin Republicans did for the past few years.

I’m just sayin’.

There is a LOT more to come.  Thanks to Jimmy & Chris, GOProud is on Capitol Hill talking with leading GOP lawmakers on a regular basis.  It is a great time.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Back in October 2007, when I met then-Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon in Washington, D.C., I became convinced that the organization had started to reverse its decline.  As I offered my criticisms, Patrick listened, took notes, responded to my points and showed respect for my arguments.  His manner stood in stark contrast to the reaction club presidents received in the late 1990s and this blog received in the middle of the current decade when we took issue with his predecessors.

I’ve always believed that one way to determine the strength of an organization is to see how its leaders react to sincere criticism honestly expressed.

It now appears I was wrong about the organization rebounding under Patrick’s leadership.  I don’t think he’s to blame for its continuing decline.  It was beyond his power–or perhaps anyone’s–to arrest the forces long since in motion which have been driving Log Cabin down.

When I was a Log Cabin club president, I kept hearing from gay Republicans who wanted a gay group to challenge the liberal agenda and anti-Republican rhetoric of the national gay organizations.  The national office rarely did that, if at all.  Indeed, while eager to take on his fellow Republicans, Sammon’s predecessor Patrick Guerriero

. . . dedicated himself to stopping “the infighting with other LGBT groups.”  So concerned he is with this goal that he “instituted a new policy inside Log Cabin: If you speak ill of another LGBT group, that is grounds for dismissal.”

In short, the organization did its best to avoid distinguishing itself from the national gay groups, particularly HRC, which even some liberal bloggers have noted, has become little more than a gay front for the Democratic National Committee.

That failure to offer a different approach to gay issues cost it the support of numerous gay and lesbian Republicans who would otherwise readily support a gay conservative or Republican organization.  That failure become magnified when we learned that the group got substantial funding from a leading left-wing philanthropist.  Its credibility was shot.

There are other reasons for the decline.  Until Sammon took over, the national leadership had developed quite a flair for antagonizing activists and contributors who dared voice their opposition to this or that policy of the national office or posed a threat (in the eyes of the national office) to the standing of the-then Executive Director or President.

(more…)

Does anybody have any news about this shindig?  The Log Cabin Convention is taking place in our nation’s capital this weekend.

I have a sense turnout is way down.  The only news I’ve been able to find on the web is the report that former McCain consultant Steve Schmidt gave a speech there saying he backed gay marriage.

At the San Diego convention last year, a presidential election year (when interest in politics tend to peak), turnout was down from the convention I had attended ten years previously in Dallas.  The organization didn’t seem to be growing, but contracting.

With the report in February that Log Cabin got most of the funds it used for ads slamming fellow Republicans from left-wing fund-raiser Tim Gill, the ostensibly Republican organization lost any credibility among gay conservatives and within Republican circles it had gained during the tenure of immediate past president Patrick Sammon.

Now with the launch of GOProud, Log Cabin is not longer the only group for gay Republicans around.  We have an alternative.

If you have any news from the convention, let me know and I’ll post it here.

***GAYPATRIOT EXCLUSIVE***

Former Log Cabin Republicans President and founder of the National office, Rich Tafel, responded over the weekend to my request for a comment on last week’s news.  I asked Rich his thoughts on the Washington Blade article that suggested a close financial relationship between Log Cabin Republicans and left-wing gay activist Tim Gill.

Here is Rich’s response, unedited:

1. It’s not journalism when the whole story is built on anonymous quotes.
2. If you are on the board of an organization and you feel a need to say that stuff have the courage and integrity to say it publicly, don’t hide behind anonymity.
3. If you don’t like Tim Gill writing checks, write one or raise it.

As you can tell, I’m more disappointed at the cowardly behavior of the person who spoke to the Blade if they even did it.

Only when they go on the record could I respond, because I have no idea what was true.

GP Ed. Note: I believe it is fair to also apply Rich’s criticism to my original reporting last Friday which further detailed the financial connections between Gill and Log Cabin. I fully accept the criticism of my use of an anonymous sources, and understand the frustration with it.  I believe the information was too important to report and I was confident in my source based on a long association I have had with him.  But I take the criticism and I have to accept it for now.

That being said, I do not have the resources of the Washington Blade –  nor the time as blogging is a part-time “hobby”.  So I would share Rich’s frustration that a professional journalism organization bases its entire story on anonymous sourcing.  The New York Times, in fact, has been doing that a lot lately too.  I think professional news organizations should be held to a higher standard if they truly are “reporting”.   That may sound hypocritical, but so be it.  It is how I feel.

I will continue to follow the Tim Gill-Log Cabin connection and will report relevant updates that are important and backed up to my satisfaction.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

***GAYPATRIOT EXCLUSIVE***

In the wake of the Washington Blade story yesterday suggesting strong ties between Log Cabin Republicans and left-wing liberal activist Tim Gill, I was contacted by a long-time Log Cabin insider.  He is aware of my long-time hunt to connect the money trail between Gill & the “gay Republican” organization. 

This individual has been a source for many of my Log Cabin-related postings since 2004 and continues to have unprecedented access to the affairs, both past and present, of the national gay Republican organization.  I shall refer to my source as “Lance”, in order to protect his identity.

Lance confirmed the Log Cabin financial dependency on Tim Gill raised in the Washington Blade story.  He personally witnessed money being exchanged between Log Cabin’s National Office and Tim Gill’s political organization in Colorado:

I can tell you that [in early 2004],  I personally saw transfers and checks for $350,000 from Gill Action to LCR.  

Lance also confirms suspicions that I have made repeatedly here at GP.org, that the anti-Bush TV ads in 2004 run by Log Cabin were significantly financed by Tim Gill’s money.

Some was sent in and went directly out to the TV stations the other money went to pay the bills and staff. 

(Yeah, I feel like saying “I told you so”… but I won’t.)  Sometimes you do live long enough to see yourself vindicated!

Lance also raises questions about the past financial dealings at Log Cabin in 2004-05:

Bill Davenport [another donor] was in for about another $100k (now he won’t give anything) but other monies were sent to a “new” account opened in Virginia — there was at least one of those.  Craig Engle, the counsel for Log Cabin at the time, was determined to hide the flow and never knew I had been aware [of the other account]. 

I am sure well over HALF the LCR budget came from Gill that year (2004) and the next.  Including many, many more funds that went to Liberty Education Forum [a Log Cabin affiliated group]. 

The troubles at Log Cabin have only just begun, according to Lance.  And they involve former LCR President Patrick Guerriero’s expenses, which I questioned last year:

The melt down over the board is another hurricane brewing.  Someone, not sure who, finally looked at the Patrick Guerriero expense logs and it is a real goat f**k.  Including billing Log Cabin for a trip to Iowa that he (PG) submitted identical billing to the school that invited him to speak!

WHEW.  I appreciate Lance’s candor and courage.  Shouldn’t someone — besides those trying to cover each other’s asses on the Log Cabin board – investigate these allegations since LCR is a membership-driven organization.

Oh, did I mention that Log Cabin Republicans and the Gill Action Fund are both 501(c)(4), non-profit, tax-exempt organizations under the IRS code?

-Bruce (GayPatriot)