Begging for votes

I did something this weekend I don't normally do.

I picked up the latest issue of Just Out, an LGBT-oriented local newspaper. It's not a habitual read for me. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It was the cover story. Or, rather, the cover photo, a huge picture of one Ms. Diane Linn (is anyone else surprised that Ms. Linn has a Wikipedia article about her?), and the headline:

For Better, For Worse: The Price of Loyalty

Inside, on the first facing page of the paper, is an article by Marty Davis, representing the editorial board of the paper I believe.

Davis makes the case that for one reason and one reason only, folks in the LGBT community (and those sympathetic to the community) must vote for Ms. Linn's reelection. In my read, it's not simply a demand for that vote: it's a plaintive beg for it. From the article:

"What is imperative in May is that the gay, lesbian, bi and trans voters of Multnomah County step up and return Diane Linn to office.

"To overcome recent setbacks and continue toward achieving goals, we are in need of maintaining strong relationships with elected officials on all levels. City, county, state and federal. We will ask legislators to step up, make crucial votes and take a risk. Faced with the possibility of desertion by those whom you’ve supported, why would a politician step up, possibly risking his or her own career, as did Linn? We have grown well into the position of demanding support of others. Now we have the opportunity to show that we value loyalty and understand the need to reciprocate. It’s a two-way street.

And Davis sets aside the idea that the LGBT community is a single-issue bloc and dismisses any concerns that Ms. Linn might not actually be an effective elected official, whitewashing her myriad mistakes:

"To those Linn detractors who might be dismayed by the appearance of a candidate in distress: Don’t overreact. This is not the time to turn our backs on incumbents when they appear on the ballot with worn and torn records. In all attempts to affect change, there will be successes and there will be failures. Any political novice can run against an incumbent and point to a flawed record. The only way to avoid failures is to never do anything at all. A record without failures is a record of no effort."

I have to disagree. I believe that human rights are imperative, and am dismayed that they would even be in jeopardy in my lifetime. But we live in perilous political times, it seems. And I think that rather than give Chair Linn a pass on her ham-handed and unilateral way of presenting the issue of same-sex marriage, I think she, and the county counsel that advised her (I'm looking at you, Agnes Sowle) needs to be held accountable for the failure of the county attempt to ram it through without any public input - for that matter, with very little input from all of the other county commissioners.

That scare was enough to mobilize the radically-conservative community against the idea, and, I believe, directly led to the passing of Measure 36, banning same-sex marriages in the entire state, in the next election. Rather than supporting lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals, Diane Linn undermined them through political ineptitude.

Davis makes much hay of Linns opponent's, businessman Ted Wheeler, lack of active support for LGBT civil rights. Not knowing much about his history, I can't speak to that, although I will say that I support Mr. Wheeler for other positions he's taken (about which I will write more later).

But is Diane Linn's support the kind of support Davis wishes to see more of? I honestly find that hard to believe. And it appears from the scared tone of Davis' commentary that perhaps it's the author that needs the most convincing.