Petrelis Files

Who's in Charge of the Prop 8 Summit in LA?

Last week I wrote to Geoff Kors and others at EQCA, the group that may be the leader in organizing a post-election Prop 8 summit on January 24 down in Los Angeles, to ask if they'd received my RSVP to the event and was my name added to the list of attendees.

Because EQCA's web site is the only place to locate info on the summit, and two EQCA staffers' names were listed as contacts, I assumed EQCA was spearheading the summit. Apparently, I was wrong.

Kors wrote back to further explain how organizing for the summit is proceeding. Here is the full text of his email:

There are over twenty leaders from different organizations who are planning the summit and I believe more than 100 participating. I am not on the planning committing but I understand that they are in the process of working on the agenda and are actively reaching out to both lgbt and non-lgbt organizations to bring the broadest and most diverse group of organizations and leaders together. After further outreach is done and an agenda including various break-out groups is determined, they will be responding. They are also working on how to best integrate and accommodate media and others who have expressed an interest in attending. EQCA has provided initial funding to coordinate the summit and foundation funding is helping with the venue, but the summit is being planned by a number of organizations and leaders with the goal of having a diverse group of organizations and leaders who are committed to working proactively to achieve marriage equality in attendance and being part of the planning process for the summit.

I think I've seen this lousy movie before. Kors says that just like with the disastrous executive committee of No on 8, another large committee is running the show. That's not so bad, after all, someone has to hire the facilitators, rent a meeting space, set the agenda, decide who can attend, etc.

But Kors, like the EQCA site, keeps the summit committee members in the closet. No on 8 made no effort to ID who was on the 18 member executive committee, and now, we're not being told who's on the summit committee.

And Kors says he's is not the boss of the summit, even though like the No on 8 effort, he's the public face of it.

At the same time, just as with No on 8, EQCA is not the head of the summit effort, just one of many groups putting it on. This way of doing things insures that no one is ever really held accountable.

Questions that likely won't be answered by Kors or EQCA, because it would mean they were becoming a transparent outfit, but I will ask anyway:

1. What are the names of the summit committee memmbers?

2. Who appointed them?

3. Who empowered them to make decisions?

4. Who decided the committee need 20 members, not 10 or 15?

5. When and where does the committee?

6. How can I obtain the minutes and agendas of the committee?

7. Are there any members on it not affiliated with EQCA and No on 8?

8. Is anyone under 30 on the committee?

9. What is the estimated cost of the summit?

10. How much did EQCA donate?

11. Are committee seats, like the No on 8 executive committee, open only to those who donate a certain amount of money?

12. Is the committee formally committing to allow media to observe and report on the summit's proceedings?

If Kors and EQCA are indeed not the leaders of the January 24 summit, then I feel Kors has a duty, if he's truly learned some lessons from No on Prop 8, to uncloset the committee members and allow some sunlight in to the organizing process.