LA Gay Center's $1 Million Loan to No on 8:
Was it Paid Back?
There seems to have been only one loan to the losing No on 8 committee, and made only six-days before the election.
Since I'm not a campaign expert, I don't know if it's odd that a committee in the closing week of an election gets an enormous lending of money from a non-profit, but this loan sticks out, if only because of its size.
I'm very surprised the LA gay community center is rich enough to extend such a large amount of cash to a political campaign, and I also wonder how much good $1 million could do in terms of housing subsidies for gay seniors, disabled persons and people with HIV/AIDS.
Mighty curious to know if the load was repaid, and if so, when. Come a return to business for the LA center on Tuesday, I'll be in touch with them to get more details on the loan.
From Debra Bowen, the California Secretary of State, and her department's web site:
| NAME OF CONTRIBUTOR | PAYMENT TYPE | CITY | STATE/ZIP | |
| LOS ANGELES GAY & LESBIAN COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER | LOAN | LOS ANGELES | CA/90028 | |
| ID NUMBER | EMPLOYER | OCCUPATION | ||
| | ||||
| AMOUNT | TRANS. DATE | FILED_DATE | TRANS # | |
| $1,000,000.00 | 10/28/2008 | 2/2/20 | ||
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=3708
ReplyDeleteAccording to this story, the giant holding company, the WPP Group, did very well with the No on 8 campaign.
When you have your opportunity, you might want to ask the powers-that-be why they were so surprised at being beaten over the head with kids. It's been going on since Anita Bryant. There's a lot of surprise about kids and schools in this story. Is this the first gay issue these folks have ever fought? It's eternally the kids.
You also might want to ask if anyone who knows anything from gay-marriage-safe states warned them about the inevitable kid bomb well in advance and gave advice about how to deal with it, if not prevent it.
I think about this tragedy a lot, and all those people and companies who did very, very well for themselves. And all they have to do now is hide a bit until things blow over. Or maybe show up at meeting and eat some crow. I think, were you to look at their dough, a little crow isn't a terrible price for them. They'll be fine.
More fun questions to ask after you read this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/16/MNJ315NNG7.DTL&t
Was the campaign, early on, ever advised by people who've won marriage to avoid fake, scripted, heartless commercials and interactions? Were they advised to set the political, focus grouped, ego-driven script/talking points thinking aside? Why, other than ego, did they go the other way with the $45 million?
It's good to see that some people who may know more about what they're doing are taking some charge. But it should not deprive you of the extraordinary accountability that is owed to gay people in California and around this country, from people who spent -- and made, and still make -- a lot of money.