Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 11:31:33 -0500 X-Sender: kevyn@pop.ksu.ksu.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 To: Kansas Queer News From: kevyn@KSUVM.KSU.EDU (Kevyn Jacobs) Subject: NT: Dole ditches Gay contribution Sender: owner-kqn%vector.casti.com@KSUVM.KSU.EDU Precedence: bulk FROM THE NEWS-TELEGRAPH SEPTEMBER 8-21, 1995 ========================== The Campaign Trail: DOLE DITCHES GAY DONATION by Bob Roehr WASHINGTON DC-GOP presidential candidate and US Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kansas) appears have his own "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to Lesbian and Gay campaign contributions: If the press doesn't ask about a check from Log Cabin Republicans. he won't tell his staff to return it. But when syndicated columnist Deb Price began inquiring about a $1,000 contribution made by Log Cabin, campaign spokesman Nelson Warfield quickly announced the donation was being returned. The group's agenda is ''100% at odds with Senator Dole's," said Warfield. "If we had been aware of this particular contribution in advance, it would not have been accepted." That characterization is completely at odds with documentation supplied by Log Cabin. In a letter to executive director Rich Tafel dated May 24, Dole campaign finance chairman John A. Moran, following up on earlier conversations, wrote, "I would appreciate any assistance you could give us in turning out your members at each fundraising event. I am looking forward to working with you." Tafel attended a $1,000 fund raising event on June 19 and wore a "Log Cabin Republicans" name tag. "Hi Rich, I know what you're wanting," he recalled Dole saying. ''You're concerned about Ryan White (AIDS services reauthorization)." The exchange was amicable, Tafel said, adding, "The hypocrisy is ridiculous. They definitely knew about our check. They definitely knew who we were." But Warfield said, "Our policy is to decline contributions from political groups that have an agenda that is in opposition to Senator Dole's positions on the issues.'' He said this is the first check returned for ideological reasons and cited differences over "Gays in the military." Warfield also asserted that Log Cabin supports a "special rights agenda" not Dole's "equal treatment for all. Log Cabin spokesman David Greer pointed to areas of agreement with Dole. Their first legislative priority is Ryan White, a bill which Dole cosponsored. Also, the group supported the Contract with America. Responding to Warfield's comments. Greer said, "We never said we are asking for special rights, we are asking for equal opportunity for all." He and Tafel noted how Dole attacked the Hollywood media industry for "the debasing of America" yet still managed to contain his outrage enough to pocket at least $21,000 in contributions from Time-Warner over the last several years. Elizabeth Birch, the Human Rights Campaign Fund's executive director, also noticed the disparity. "It is disappointing to see Senator Dole's campaign playing the politics of division," she said, adding, that he "deserves credit for moving the Ryan White CARE Act through the Senate and for including Gay employees in his office non-discrimination policy. His campaign should stick to mainstream values like these, and avoid extremist rhetoric." Most observers lay the incident to increased pandering to the far right by a Dole campaign which sees its lead eroding in the polls. The sense of panic was reinforced by the August 19 Iowa straw poll where Dole slipped into a tie with US Senator Phil Gramm and Pat Buchanan took a strong third place. It marked the second time in recent months that Dole has backtracked from tolerance to an anti-Gay position. In a May interview in the New York Times Magazine he supported civil rights and nondiscrimination for Gays and kept an open mind on military service. When those positions drew flack from the right, he wrote two weeks later to the conservative Washington Times, 'I oppose the special interest Gay agenda that runs from Gays in the military and reaches as far as to suggest special status for sexual orientation under federal civil rights statutes." Greer doubted Dole's action will placate the extremists or win their votes. "There is an integrity issue here. If you are on the far right you need to question, when the going gets tough, is Bob Dole going to be in your corner then?'' The measure of integrity comes on the tough issues not the easy ones. Tafel is outraged by Dole's latest flip-flop. "This was an unnecessary and dishonest action which could completely change the dynamic among moderate Republicans who thought they sere safe supporting Bob Dole against Phil Gramm. Now he has become Phil Gramm, and moderates should look elsewhere," he said. He urged Gay Republican who have contributed to Dole to "demand their money back." ========================================================== Permission granted by the News-Telegraph for distribution to the KQN email list (KQN@casti.com), and archiving in the Queer Resources Directory (QRD) on the Internet (http://www.qrd.org/qrd). For News-Telegraph subscription information (published twice a month), please call 1.816.561.6266, or email: newstele@aol.com ==========================================================