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|  | Feature Gay Vote 2004  Deciding “Who’s
on Our Side”
By Joel Shoemaker When Republican Attorney General Mark Shurtleff broke from his conservative party to oppose the proposed Amendment 3 to Utah’s constitution, he not only won favor from many in the gay and lesbian community, he also received an endorsement from Utah’s largest GLBT political group, Equality Utah.
But not everyone was happy about the endorsement.
“I think Equality Utah has endorsed two candidates that don’t support the gay and lesbian community,” says Mike Picardi, chair of the Utah Stonewall Democrats. Picardi says he was “disappointed” by Equality Utah’s decision to not only endorse Shurtleff, but also State Senator James Evans, a Republican up for reelection in District 1.
Picardi says the fact that Shurtleff filed a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme court in the hopes of preventing the court from overturning a Texas anti-sodomy law shows he’s not a true friend for the gay and lesbian community. And he says that even though Evans was the sole Republican to vote against putting Amendment 3 on the ballot, his record on gay and lesbian issues is questionable. “There are other Republicans that are more moderate they could have chosen,” says Picardi.
Equality Utah Executive Director Michael Mitchell admits there’s been some slack over the endorsements but defends the decision. Shurtleff’s opposition to Amendment 3 has been crucial for the campaign against it. And as for Evans, Mitchell says, “Has he been perfect on our issues? No. Will he be perfect on our issues in the future? Don’t know. But we feel our endorsement is an investment in a future where we can work with Sen. Evans, and other elected officials like him, educating them and working with them.” Mitchell says it’s important to support candidates that can help open doors for gay and lesbian issues in the future.
The conflict of opinions about who should get the nod from gay and lesbian voters underscores the difficulty political groups sometimes have in choosing which candidates to endorse. But each of the state’s most active GLBT political groups says the endorsements come after much thought and consideration.
Equality Utah and Utah Stonewall candidates both use a questionnaire to guide them in choosing which candidates to endorse.
For Equality Utah, Mitchell says a strategy board makes up their questions, this year focusing on Amendment 3, employment, housing, hate crimes legislation, and other issues. The questionnaire is then sent to every major race, including candidates for US Senate and House, state Governor, Attorney General, state House and Senate, and Salt Lake County Council and Salt Lake County Mayor. The candidates interested in getting Equality Utah’s support then meet with board members for an in-person or telephone interview.
“We consider the interviews a fantastic education process not only for us, but for the candidates on our issues,” says Mitchell of the more than two dozen interviews. He says one highlight this year was the interview with Odgen’s District 9 Representative Neil Hansen (D), who Mitchell expected to be more conservative. “He has a great approach for LGBT issues … he represents all of the people in his area.”
Based on the information from the questionnaire and the interview, along with the candidates’ records, the board of Equality Utah chooses the candidates they’ll endorse. This year they endorsed 16 candidates, with 6 more getting “positive ratings.”
Along with many of the endorsements from Equality Utah comes money totaling over $26,000 – much of which came from the Allies Dinner. Mitchell says openly lesbian District 27 Representative Jackie Biskupski (D) received the most financial support, totaling over $4,000. Along with a financial contribution comes election support like phone banking, door-to-door canvassing, etc.
Mitchell notes that Equality Utah’s non-partisan stance and endorsements for representatives in both parties helps to open doors where partisan endorsements may not. As with the Evans endorsement, Mitchell says, “It’s important for the Utah Republican Party to know that we are willing to work with candidates from their party.”
On the partisan side, Utah Stonewall Democrats, which is also the gay and lesbian caucus of the Utah Democratic Party, actually chooses which candidates they’ll endorse before it’s even a sure thing they’ll be in the race.
According to Picardi a questionnaire was sent before the convention to Democrats running in major races for the first time this year. Then during the convention, the Stonewall Democrat delegates (this year there were 121) vote on whom to endorse. But, then the candidates also have to make it through the convention to be in the race as a Democrat. Picardi says there were a few who were endorsed at the convention that never actually made it to the race.
Since Utah Stonewall Democrats are actually part of the larger Democrat party, candidates they endorse don’t get a financial contribution. Picardi says candidates do get their volunteer support and, in some instances, Utah Stonewall Democrats can sponsor a fundraiser. He says much of the value of their endorsement comes from the votes it hopes to bring in.
The Utah chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, another gay and lesbian partisan group, endorses candidates after they’ve come to their board meeting and met with them. Chair Gordon Storrs says the two candidates they endorsed, Shurtleff and Evans, both came to their September fundraiser. Storrs says the group, comprised of less than ten members, uses a list of criteria to decide who to endorse. One major issue was the candidates’ stances on Amendment 3. The other criteria focus on how involved the candidate is with gay and lesbian issues, and if they are a person who will listen to the community. The group followed the national Log Cabin Republican in not endorsing President Bush for re-election. No money comes with their endorsement, as the group is focusing on building its own infrastructure, according to Storrs.
Mitchell says it’s important for the gay and lesbian community to contribute to each of the political organizations that are looking out for the larger community needs, regardless of political affiliation. Not only money, but volunteer hours too, he says.
“We lost Amendment 3 in the Senate by just one vote. Had one more race been won, we wouldn’t have Amendment 3,” he says. And considering that in 2002, a handful of legislative races were lost to under a hundred votes, 1 or 2 people getting out to vote in each community does make a difference.” | | |
