Managing Both BRO's Election PAC and Diane Linn's Campaign: Priceless
Who is Alisa A. Simmons?
Ted Wheeler, who also supports LGBTQ equality including same-sex marriage never had a chance. While he's been touted as the enemy of our civil rights by BRO in a letter sent by Diane Linn's campaign, Roey Thorpe has also made it clear his contributions to Cascade AIDS Project wasn't enough to get her attention in giving him a greenlight in this election.
Actually, campaign manager Alissa A. Simmons chaired that group for Commissioner Diane Linn's endorsement; Roey Thorpe was just the person who should have steered BRO away from that glaring conflict of interest.
That would have been leadership but Roey Thorpe failed. Alissa A. Simmons also failed. As a Board Member of Basic Rights Oregon she has a duty to not put the organization in a bad light. We could say Diane Linn failed too. Hiring as her campaign manager a BRO board member and chair of its Equality PAC (Political Action Committee) was a real failure of leadership as well.
We expect more from our state's leading LGBTQ civil rights organization. If we want fairness, we should be fair ourselves. Yet the next complaint Roey Thorpe makes about the politics of an opponent of LGBTQ civil rights is likely to land on deaf ears.
You can't complain about the kettle if you're the pot.
A. Board of Director as Chair for Basic Rights Oregon's Equality PAC.If you guessed "C. All of the above." You'd be right! But aren't you just a little outraged? Where's the fairness in chairing for Basic Rights Oregon's endorsement of Diane Linn for County Commissioner and managing Diane Linn's campaign as well? Anybody? Hello?
B. Campaign manager for Diane Linn, county commissioner.
C. All of the above.
Ted Wheeler, who also supports LGBTQ equality including same-sex marriage never had a chance. While he's been touted as the enemy of our civil rights by BRO in a letter sent by Diane Linn's campaign, Roey Thorpe has also made it clear his contributions to Cascade AIDS Project wasn't enough to get her attention in giving him a greenlight in this election.
Actually, campaign manager Alissa A. Simmons chaired that group for Commissioner Diane Linn's endorsement; Roey Thorpe was just the person who should have steered BRO away from that glaring conflict of interest.
That would have been leadership but Roey Thorpe failed. Alissa A. Simmons also failed. As a Board Member of Basic Rights Oregon she has a duty to not put the organization in a bad light. We could say Diane Linn failed too. Hiring as her campaign manager a BRO board member and chair of its Equality PAC (Political Action Committee) was a real failure of leadership as well.
We expect more from our state's leading LGBTQ civil rights organization. If we want fairness, we should be fair ourselves. Yet the next complaint Roey Thorpe makes about the politics of an opponent of LGBTQ civil rights is likely to land on deaf ears.
You can't complain about the kettle if you're the pot.
posted by BRO Watch at 2:34 PM
4 Comments:
For the record:
I, Alisa A. Simmons, was not involved in any discussion and/or decision involving the endorsement of Diane Linn or Ted Wheeler.
I did not vote and was not in the room for ANY discussions/decisions regarding the race for Multnomah County Chair.
We operated with absolute integrity.
We can't think of any good reason why you did't step down as Chair and remove yourself from BRO's board in order to eliminate any appearance of conflict & favoritism.
And whether you're standing outside a meeting or have your fingers plugging your ears singing la-la-la-la-la, it doesn't meet the smell test.
Very bad decisions were made by yourself, Roey Thorpe, and Diane Linn (who's come under fire for these kind of meeting / non-meetings).
As Linn's campaign manager you should have seen the problem with this kind of there's-nothing-going-on-here philosophy; as BRO's Political Action Committee Chair, you should have acted to ensure the organization wasn't exposed to this sort of criticism.
Whether you "operated with absolute integrity" or not is not the point.
Sadly, many managers at Multnomah County, all the way up to the commissioners and the Chair, seem to think that denying any conflict of interest after the fact substitutes for acting with integrity from the beginning.
See this Portland Tribune article for another example - specifically how Jann Brown was the hiring manager when two employees who testified against her and the county were up for promotion.
This post has been linked to from The Lie Factory: "Claiming afterward that you were fair just doesn't cut it. Sorry."
Read more at The Lie Factory.
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