2 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE July 31, 2009
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Dem group passes over Santiago to endorse Cummins
by Eric Resnick
Cleveland-The Cleveland Stonewall Democrats have made endorsements in nine city council races, and Cleveland's first and only openly gay elected official is not among them.
The LGBT Democratic group endorsed Brian Cummins in Ward 14. Cummins is one of six challengers to incumbent Joe Santiago.
A voter-approved charter amendment last November eliminated two wards, including the present Ward 15 that Cummins now represents. Part of that ward was combined into a new Ward 14, and Cummins chose to run against Santiago.
Santiago is both the only Latino on council and its only gay member.
The new Ward 14 is ethnically diverse, with a quarter of the population being Latino. a quarter African-American, a quarter Eastern European immigrants from the former Soviet Union, and a quarter white Anglo Saxons.
It also has the lowest percentage of registered voters and the smallest voter turnout in the city. It borders the trendy Tremont neighborhood, but has not shared in its gentrification. It has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.
Five others are seeking the post along
with Santiago and Cummins: Nelson Cintron, who lost the seat to Santiago in 2005 and later backed an unsuccessful recall attempt against him; Cintron's former council aide Rick Nagin; Moises Torres; Gary Horvath and James D'Amico. All are Democrats.
The top two vote-getters in the September 8 primary will square off on November 3.
Most expect the race to be between the two current council members, Santiago and Cummins.
Rob Rivera, the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats vice president for political strategy, said the group's vote was "overwhelmingly in favor of Brian Cummins."
The Stonewall screening committee interviewed the four candidates who returned their questionnaires: Cummins, Santiago, Nagin and D'Amico.
"We have voting records for both of them," Rivera said of Santiago and Cummins, adding that both were co-sponsors of a domestic partner registry that Cleveland enacted this year.
"The screening committee did not make a recommendation." Rivera said. "Both Cummins and Santiago have served a term. They have built relationships. The debate was robust."
But Cummins attended the July 16
meeting where the vote occurred, and Santiago did not. "It makes a difference if you show up close races," Rivera said.
in
"The gist of the discussion is that we are comfortable with Cummins as an advocate," Rivera said. "He spoke to Plexus about the registry, and that was talked about."
"Santiago being gay was not an overwhelming part of the discussion," Rivera said. "It was about who is a better advocate for the ward and the city."
"Cummins presented to the membership a crisp vision of leadership and plans for reinvigorating small businesses."
This is not the first time the group has backed a non-gay candidate over a gay one. In 2001, the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats endorsed Matt Zone in Ward 17 over Buck Harris, who is gay. Zone won the open seat, and will likely win the new Ward 15 seat in November, also as a Stonewall-endorsed candidate.
"This is not an anti-Santiago vote," said Cleveland Stonewall Democrats president Keli Zehnder. "It's a pro-Cummins vote."
"We have to endorse the strongest, best candidate whether they are gay or not," Zehnder said. "Ken Blackwell didn't vote for Barack Obama just because he's black."
Rivera said there was no discussion around any possible negative effects of an
LGBT group not endorsing a gay incumbent.
"In general, openly gay candidates are important," Rivera said, "and we endorsed Nickie Antonio in Lakewood.
Rivera said that there is currently no plan to run an LGBT candidate in Cleveland for anything any time soon, "but part of our mission is to cultivate candidates."
Santiago did not return calls for comment by press time.
Candidates with September 8 primaries endorsed by the group are Ward 6 incumbent Mamie Mitchell, Ward 8 challenger Jeffrey Johnson, Ward 18 incumbent Martin Sweeney and Mayor Frank Jackson.
In the November general election for wards without primaries, they endorsed Ward 3 incumbent Joe Cimperman, Ward 11 incumbent Michael Polensek, Ward 15 incumbent Matt Zone, Ward 16 incumbent Jay Westbrook, and Ward 17 incumbent Dona Brady.
In Lakewood, which also has a September 8 primary, the group endorsed Nickie Antonio and Monique Smith for council at large. Antonio is Lakewood's only openly gay official.
The group will make further endorsements in September for suburban and judicial races that have no primary election. ✓
'Don't ask' pause dropped, but policy will get hearing
by Anthony Glassman
Washington, D.C.-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York opted against introducing an amendment to a defense spending bill that would place an 18-month moratorium on "don't ask, don't tell" discharges.
Gillibrand, who was appointed to the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton when she became secretary of state, had the backing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
However, she would not have the 60 votes necessary for cloture, closing debate on an amendment.
"She was working for about a week to assess support among her colleagues for the measure," spokesman Matt Canter told the Washington Blade. "It does not appear that we're going to have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. So she's not going to
Equality bill
Continued from page 1
The rest will again come up when the bill hits the House floor, and members' votes on that amendment package will be scored by the Chamber.
McGregor believes the amendment will be offered by either Republican Rep. David Daniels of Greenfield, who is the ranking minority member of the House State Government Committee or Gerald Stebelton of Lancaster, who is also on the committee. Both offered amendments in committee, then voted against the bill anyway.
See our web site for meeting times and links
pursue the moratorium amendment at this time."
The defense bill passed July 23 with a rider attached that would add hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation or gender identity to existing federal law. A similar measure passed the House in April.
Amendments to the Senate version o the hate crime measure will be reconciled with the House version in a conference committee next month, with final votes likely in September.
Legislation to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" outright is being sponsored by Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, an Iraq War veteran, in the House and will be introduced in the Senate by Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Gillibrand's decision, however, resulted in one advance in the effort to halt
Asked about this plan, Budish was unaware of it.
McGregor said he does not support the entire package of amendments, either, but would welcome "some common sense changes to the bill to help businesses adapt."
As an example, McGregor cited one proposed amendment that require someone with a complaint to exhaust all administrative avenues before going to court.
McGregor agreed that it would be helpful to pass the bill and send it to the Senate as soon as possible, and he is taking Budish at his word that it will get a vote in September.
discharges of gay and lesbian military personnel.
She told news website Daily Beast that she secured a commitment for the issue to be taken up in fall hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
It will be the first time since 1993 that the issue will be formally examined.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the chairman of the committee, confirmed plans for hearings.
Talking to syndicated lesbian columnist Deb Price, he said, "I'd like to see where the military is. For this to be effective and successful, it's got to have some support inside of the military as well as leaders."
"In order for it to be effective and succeed, it's going to have at least some institutional support," he noted.
Levin pointed to younger personnel, who
McGregor said the Chamber has been "very engaged" in the bill.
"It has as good a shot as ever at passing both chambers," McGregor said, adding that some negotiation around the Chamber amendments will help him in two ways.
The first, he said, is to get as many Republicans as possible to vote for the bill in the House.
"If that goes okay, we should get 12 to 20 Republican votes," McGregor said. "That will put pressure on the Senate."
The Senate is controlled by Republicans, and McGregor said he expects to "do more heavy lifting" once the bill gets there.
were less concerned about the sexual orientation of their fellow servicemembers.
"I hear from some of the younger guys in the military that it's not a major concern for them, providing it's done thoughtfully and not just suddenly decided upon without some real thinking through the best way to phase it in, or to do it, either one," he concluded.
Many military personnel have served with openly gay soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan-Canada, Australia, Israel and many of America's European allies allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in their militaries, and all of have been involved in those conflicts.
Their armed forces also undermine the argument that allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military would weaken unit cohesion and lower morale.
"That would make the bill a truly bipartisan bill and send the message to the Senate that we want it to pass and that the House has done its part," McGregor said.
Bowman said if the Chamber doesn't get all it wants in the House, it will likely try again once it gets to the Senate.
Bowman said much of what the Chamber wants has not been passed over the last ten years when Republicans controlled both chambers and the governor's office, so she doesn't see any danger that what they are doing could poison the bill.
"But it's opportunism," Bowman said.
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