Petrelis Files

HRC Leaders: $0 for Obama, $4,300 for Clinton

The leaders of the gay division of the Democratic Party, alias the Human Rights Campaign, made contributions to their favorite candidates during the primary race, and as expected by many independent gay pundits, the top recipient of their contributions was the other HRC, Senator Clinton. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, received nothing from the HRC leaders.

FEC records show which 2008 Democratic contenders were lucky enough to take in dollars from the top people at HRC:

Hillary Clinton: $4,300
Chris Dodd: $3,000
John Edwards: $ 750
Bill Richardson: $ 500
Barack Obama: $ 0

Who at HRC did the giving? Here's the list:

Georgie Aguirre-Sacasa, Field Director
Dodd: $2,000
Edwards: $ 750
Clinton: $ 250

Timothy S. Bahr, Fundraiser
Clinton: $250

Jennifer Brooks-Miller, Development
Clinton: $250

Raymond Deeb, HRC Atlanta
Richardson: $500

Frank November, Director of Volunteers
Clinton: $500

Martin Rouse, Field Director
Clinton: $250

David M. Smith, Vice President
Clinton: $2,300
Dodd: $1,000

Chris Speron, Development
Clinton: $500

As if it weren't enough for current HRC executives to write checks to Clinton, former executive director Elizabeth Birch's FEC file reveals she gave the maximum allowed by law to the New York senator, $4,600, in 2007.

What else is being said out in the blogosphere regarding HRC? Former Washington Blade publisher Chris Crain, who has long tracked HRC's Democratic tilt and slavish devotion to Clinton, blogged this week on how the gay group, through gritted teeth, declared its endorsement of Obama:

For an important moment like announcing a presidential endorsement, you would think HRC would pull out all the stops -- something we know the resource-rich organization usually revels in doing.

Instead, this is how the Obama nod got announced on HRC's Back Story blog:

The following is from Jason Boeckman, HRC Communications and Marketing Intern. Jason is a senior at Miami University of Ohio in Oxford, OH.

Today the Human Rights Campaign announced its support for Barack Obama in his bid for the presidency.

That's right, the Obama endorsement was communicated by an HRC college intern. The weekly message by HRC chief Joe Solmonese was likewise lukewarm, barely containing his disappointment that candidate HRC wasn't the
nominee . . .

Regular readers of this blog know that HRC the candidate was always the candidate for HRC the organization (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here). So there was no chance that HRC would endorse Obama at a time when it might actually gain some leverage with his campaign -- the type of courageous move we saw from NARAL Pro-Choice America, which endorsed Obama in mid-May.

Even still, you would think HRC and Solmonese would get over their "anger and grief" long enough to do their jobs.

Um, Chris, they were doing their jobs -- remaining loyal to Clinton first, to the bitter and depressing end, and putting bold gay advocacy last. Boring HRC business as usual.

Click here to see HRC's new ad campaign targeting gays in San Francisco. Just one more way HRC squanders precious gay community dollars.