EMILY’s List CEO Joe Solmonese talks my kind of talk & I believe will walk my kind of walk as Executive Director of HRC.

In a 12-10-04 post captioned "Nov. 2 was a wake-up call. Groups across U.S. Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights. – But don’t expect anyone in Georgia to listen to reason," I quoted the following from a 12-9-04 New York Times article entitled:

Groups Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights

Leaders of the gay rights movement are embroiled in a bitter and increasingly public debate over whether they should moderate their goals in the wake of bruising losses in November when 11 states approved constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriages.

In the past week alone, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group, has accepted the resignation of its executive director, appointed its first non-gay board co-chairman and adopted a new, more moderate strategy, with less emphasis on legalizing same-sex marriages and more on strengthening personal relationships.

The leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, at a meeting last weekend in Las Vegas, concluded that the group must bow to political reality and moderate its message and its goals.

"The feeling this weekend in Las Vegas was that we had to get beyond the political and return to the personal," said Michael Berman, a Democratic lobbyist and consultant who was elected the first non-gay co-chairman of the Human Rights Campaign's board last week. "We need to reintroduce ourselves to America with the stories of our lives."
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Although no one will confirm it as of the present time, it appears that that Human Rights Campaign will be offering the position of Executive Director to Joe Solmonese, the CEO of EMILY's List.

As discussed in my 12-28-04 post, EMILY's List is one of the nation's largest PAC's that seeks to elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates . It is a well-respecteda grassroots political network that has been around for almost 20 years.

(You might recall that the just-noted post reported on the day that Cathy Cox noted she was definitely running for governor that (1) Mark Taylor spokesman Rick Dent reported that Cathy Cox was courting financial support from EMILY's List; (2) that Dent called EMILY's List "a very liberal special interest group;" (3) that Cox acknowledged that she has spoken with EMILY's List, but said she has received no endorsement; and (4) that I posed the question "Will Cathy make EMILY's List recommended candidates list?" and answered: "Does a cat have climbing gear? Will it help her or hurt her? The former, no question about it, and she would seek and get the endorsement of this group even if she had [Mark] Taylor's bankroll already lined up.")

Mr. Solmonese guy, who is gay, seems to have his mess straight. During the 2004 election season some in the gay and lesbian community criticized EMILY's List for contributing $350,000 to Democrat Inez Tenenbaum in her race for the open U.S. Senate seat in South Carolina. Tenenbaum supported the Federal Marraige Amendment, as did her opponent Jim DeMint who won.

Speaking as EMILY’s List CEO, Solmonese said the organization has always voted to keep a narrow focus on abortion rights, and those critical of the Tenenbaum endorsement were missing the "bigger picture."

"If you work in the business of politics, you understand that, in this situation, two people are running for Senate in South Carolina," Solmonese said. "If one of them comes to Washington, he will be in lockstep with the conservative right."

"EMILY’s List links its position, in terms of who we back, firmly to the issue of choice. This is not a conflict for us. Other progressive issues have come up in the last 20 years — gun control, capital punishment — and EMILY’s List has always chosen to stick with its original purpose.

"You have to be careful to respect individual organizations and their missions, and to make sure we all stay true to those missions.

"There are a lot of candidates who meet the progressive standard on gay rights, but not abortion, and vice-versa — I can think of the Human Rights Campaign’s endorsement of [former New York Senator] Al D’Amato, who is pro-life. But what I like to think about these elections is that all of us know Democrats are more likely to see our side of things rather than someone on the absolute opposite end of the spectrum.”