Time for HRC to change its mission statement

My blog-league has already commented (here, here and here) on Human Rights Campaign‘s selection of Joe Solmonese as its new president.
Someone who has spent twelve years working for an organization “dedicated to taking back our country from the radical right wing by electing pro-choice Democratic women to federal, state, and local office” is hardly going to help HRC fulfill its mission to “effectively” lobby a Congress with both Houses controlled by Republicans.
Simply put, how can Solmonese expect to gain access to Republican offices when he has spent so much time working to elect Democrats? Scanning a list of the women Solmonese’s previous employer helped elect shows some of the most liberal members of Congress. Connections to Barbara Boxer and Cynthia McKinney will hardly help him curry favor with America’s majority party.
Aside: would HRC complain if a Republican group has hired as its new president an individual who had worked for a group which discriminated against women by working to elect only men with a certain political agenda?
The selection of Joe Solmonese confirms what I have long observed about HRC. Its claim that it is a “bipartisan organization” is mere window-dressing. Even Log Cabin’s Chris Barron acknowledges that HRC has become a Democratic organization: “The selection of an experienced Democratic activist will allow HRC to solidify and strengthen Democratic support for equality.”
It’s time for HRC to change its mission statement. And time for the gay community to recognize that this group which deems itself “America’s largest gay and lesbian organization” is making no effort to reach out to the political party a majority of Americans chose last fall to run our federal government.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com