I'm not sure what to think about this. I'm guessing this either did happen or this is someone's perception of what they think happened. Either way, things don't look good for Howard Dean.
Apparently, he fired the DNC gay outreach advisor because of some comments Hitchcock's partner, Paul Yandura, made about Dean's lack of action on defending gays. Dean fired Hitchcock a week after Yandura made the comments (the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also supposedly removed a pledge from its website that states it would not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring) to get revenge, people are saying.
Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean on May 2 fired the party's gay outreach advisor Donald Hitchcock less than a week after Hitchcock's domestic partner, Paul Yandura, a longtime party activist, accused Dean of failing to take stronger action to defend gays.
Dean immediately hired gay former Democratic Party operative Brian Bond to replace Hitchcock, according to DNC spokesperson Karen Finney, who called Bond a "proven leader."
Bond served from 1996 to 2003 as executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a bipartisan national group that raises money and provides training to help elect openly gay candidates to public office.
"It was not retaliation," Finney said of Hitchcock's dismissal. "It was decided we needed a change. We decided to hire a proven leader."
Hitchcock declined comment Tuesday night except to confirm that Dean informed him May 2 through a surrogate that he had been terminated. He said he was considering consulting an attorney to decide whether to contest the firing.
"This is retaliation, plain and simple," said Yandura. "This shows what they think about domestic partners."
Yandura said Tuesday night that Dean was using Hitchcock as a "scapegoat" for problems of Dean's own making.
"All I did was ask questions about what the party and Dean are doing about its GLBT constituency, Yandura said. "I have yet to see any answers."
Hitchcock's dismissal came after Yaundura created a stir among party activists, both gay and straight, by sending an open letter on April 20 to gay Democrats criticizing Dean and the party for not getting involved in state ballot measures seeking to ban gay marriage.
Yandura charged that the DNC failed to counter efforts by Republicans to promote the anti-gay ballot measures as a wedge issue to win elections. He suggested that gays withhold donations to the Democrats until the party formally addresses issues he raised.
Finney said Dean and party leaders were developing plans to address efforts by Republicans to push for constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. She said Dean and DNC high-level staffers met last week with officials from national gay rights groups to discuss strategy for opposing the ballot measures.
Yandura and Hitchcock have been a well-known couple in Democratic Party circles for many years. Both were involved in the presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Yandura served in the Clinton White House and held posts with the DNC. He currently operates a political consulting firm in partnership with former Clinton White House advisor Marsha Scott.
Hitchcock has worked at the Human Rights Campaign and, most recently before his DNC post, was executive director of the National Coalition of LGBT Health.
Bond worked on Bill Clinton's 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns and headed the Democratic National Committee's gay outreach office before becoming executive director of the Victory Fund. He has been living in New York City since 2003.
Dean's decision to hire Bond startled some board members of the National Stonewall Democrats, which represents gay Democrats and gay Democratic clubs throughout the country.
According to two sources familiar with NSD, the group's board had offered Bond the position of NSD executive director, and Bond was expected to accept the offer. The sources spoke on condition that their names be withheld because they want to remain on friendly terms with Dean and the DNC.
"In effect, he snatched Bond away from the NSD," said one of the sources.
The other source called Dean's decision to fire Hitchcock an overreaction.
"They are using Donald as a scapegoat," said the source. "What Dean should have done is bring in someone to help Donald."
Both sources said Dean scrambled over the weekend to offer the DNC outreach post to Bond and then called prominent gay Democrats on Tuesday, May 2, to inform them of his decision to replace Hitchcock with Bond. The round of phone calls would be the second time this year that Dean reached out to reassure gay Democrats of the party's commitment to their issues.
Like I said, I don't know what to think. This is strange, especially when you take into consideration the fact that Dean pissed off a lot of people when he was still governor by allowing civil unions years ago. Dean having something against gays almost sounds like hogwash.
I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Tags: [Howard Dean], [Donald Hitchcock], [DNC gay outreach advisor], [Dean fires gay outreach advisor], [Dean fires Hitchcock], [Hitchcock's partner accused Dean's lack of action in defending gays], [Paul Yandura], [Brian Bond], [Karen Finney]
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