Print
EmailThe Atlantic last month had a fascinating story by Josh Green about Tim Gill, a Denver-based software mogul who's organized an under-the-radar group of gay political donors who are targeting state-level races.
Green profiles an Iowa Republican legislator who was defeated last election with the help of this "group of rich, gay philanthropists." Turns out the Gill machine also struck in Washington and Oregon last year.
After reading Green's piece, I headed to Washington's Public Disclosure Commission Web site and found that Gill and six other out-of-state donors contributed more than $25,000 to six, swing-district Democrats running for the Legislature. A similar picture emerges in Oregon.
Asked about this pattern of giving, Gill's political guy, Patrick Guerriero, former head of the Log Cabin Republicans, was fairly cryptic. He told me: "You're not being inaccurate in noting that." He also says: "There is an open line of communication about places where individuals can invest and try to make a difference."
Gill's people confirmed that in 2006 his network of donors targeted more than 70 races in 13 states - including Washington and Oregon. The Atlantic's Green reports these were state legislative, judicial, and gubernatorial races.
Washington state Sen. Ed Murray, an openly gay Seattle Democrat, says the gay lobby has traditionally focused on national races. But after the 2004 election, that started changing.
"In the last presidential election, the gay community had its clock cleaned," admits Murray, referring to the eleven states - including Oregon - that passed ballot measures banning gay marriage.
Murray and Guerriero say after that election, the gay community swung into action. Murray explains it this way: "What's going on is there's sort of a fairly low-grade, under-the-radar conversation that's going on in the gay community about investing at the state level."
Based on interviews with several gay rights-leaders locally and nationally, it appears this new focus on state elections has three main goals:
- Defeat un-gay-friendly measures, candidates and office holders.
- Win passage of gay-friendly legislation like domestic partnerships.
- Ultimately win the right – state-by-state if necessary – for gays and lesbians to marry
The fact the Gill effort in Washington and Oregon is only now coming to light - six months after the election - concerns one defeated Republican. Former House member Toby Nixon says it's a sign the current campaign finance disclosure system may be inadequate.
"If there was some way in more real time during the campaign to find out that this kind of considered effort was going on, maybe a more effective response could be mounted," says Nixon.
But another defeated Republican, Luke Esser, a former state senator and now Washington State Republican Party Chair, refuses to bash the out-of-state money that came into his district. "I think it's incumbent upon Republicans and those who are not in favor of the gay marriage agenda to be ready to raise the money they need to win elections in the future," Esser says.
If you'd like to know more, I've produced a story for public radio's Northwest News Network about the Gill influence in Washington and Oregon.
Something I didn't know before reporting this story is the extent to which the gay lobby in Washington has long been a major player in legislative races. Almost a decade ago, Tim Bradbury, the openly gay former King County judge, founded Fighting for the Majority. Today, he and Murray claim this gay political fund is the single largest contributor to the House and Senate Democratic caucuses in Washington.
Given that, it's worth noting that in the past two years the Democratic majorities in the Washington Legislature amended the state's anti-discrimination law to include gays and lesbians (after nearly 30 years of trying) and this year passed domestic-partnership legislation. Oregon lawmakers this year also passed a domestic-partnership bill.
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Comments:
Posted Tue, May 8, 1:13 p.m. Inappropriate
Hmm. I've seen this before...: I've seen that story before, somewhere. Oh, yeah. Here and here.
I'm glad to see the story getting wide circulation, but forgive me if I'm a bit miffed at the self-congratulatory note that the story "is only now coming to light -- six months after the election" when it was reported just three months after the election and the month after The Atlantic ran its story on Gill.
Posted Tue, May 8, 3:34 p.m. Inappropriate
Response to robinev:: robinev: Call me in the dark, but this is the first I've heard of the "Tacky Tourist Clubs of America" web site and blog. Thanks for alerting me to the site and the blog postings on Gill's influence in Washington State. - Austin Jenkins
Posted Tue, May 8, 5:16 p.m. Inappropriate
But what really boils my water is the two-faced, base, and hypocritical Eric Oemig who lied to the voters of the 45th District where I live. He promised genial bi-partisanship and representation for ALL the voters of the 45th, yet what he delivers is absolute knee-jerk, ultra left-wing, rabid partisanship.
His foolish impeachment resolution was, according to Josh Feit at The Stranger, an "ill-conceived, immature freshman stunt." Worse...and this is where I dispense with humor because this hits at flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone...it defamed and damaged two of my sons: an army staff sergeant and a Marine lance corporal.
al Quida's favorite Washington state legislator essentially says my boys ain't up to it; they can't win, they're losers! Whoa, Nellie! Talk like his - of impeachment and the futility of the war - sow seeds of doubt among the men and women who actually do the work, and these doubts cause casualties. Don't believe me? Ask my staff sergeant son who spent a year in Baghdad. He knows whereof he speaks. To my boys and their buddies, what Oemig's done is despicable and a slap in their faces.
For more of my...thoughts...on this see my LTE published in the March 1, 2007 Seattle Times. I'd link to it, but the URL is long, and I'm computer challenged; I don't know how to translate it into little blue letters that say "here."
Toby Nixon, a friend of mine and an outstanding and award winning now former legislator, was defamed out of a Senate seat by Oemig and his pals. and that's a crying shame. His work on open government alone was lauded editorially throughout the region and supported by everyone who genuinely cared about responsible and responsive government.
But the voters out here will remember...Tell the cabbie to keep the meter running, Eric; you won't be long!
The Piper
Posted Tue, May 8, 7:38 p.m. Inappropriate
RE: Response to robinev:: I understand, since I've never heard of you until now. (And I'll admit that's entirely my fault.) And it's a good story. I'm glad to see it offered to a wider audience.
I also understand that there are a lot of blogs out there, but this search from the main Google search (not Google's blog search) puts our article in the #3 postion: "tim-gill donation +Washington". I understand, also, that you wouldn't want to credit a blog you've never heard of. But taking the time to find out that the subject had been covered might at least have tempered the story's suggestion that it was some kind of scoop.
Still though... Good story. Great quotations.
Posted Sat, May 12, 1:12 p.m. Inappropriate
But then suddenly it's this vague term, "the gay lobby,"--I can't tell if Jenkins is still talking about a small group of out-of-state donors, or is the local "gay community" swept up in this lobby too? And I find it unhelpful that, instead of being specific about which group is advocating which position, Jenkins abstracts a three-point list of what sounds suspiciously like, if not a "gay agenda," at least "the gay lobby's agenda." Anyone who's been involved in gay politics knows that the "gay community" in this country is politically diverse.
Finally, if Jenkins thinks that Washington's civil rights bill passed after so many years of effort, primarily because of some out-of-state lobby, I wish he'd make that case instead of leaving it as an unproven implication. I've spent enough time over the years gathering signatures to defeat antigay initiatives, attending hearings on the state civil-rights bill, etc. to feel miffed that Jenkins is so quick to give away the credit for that bill's passage.