State of the Cabin 2008

STATE OF THE CABIN - A LOOK BACK AT LOG CABIN LAST YEAR AND THUS FAR IN 2008

The survey results are pouring in and the first obvious thing I see? I'm not communicating enough. I try to keep my e-mails to the big news worthy things, but I think you want more than that. So at risk of overloading you, here is a recap of things we accomplished last year and so far this year. And in future I will try to get more every other week updates out to you either directly or through Inclusion West. I apologize for not keeping you in the loop enough. Keep in mind this is a focus just on California and the Western region. And a lot more than you will get in future messages. ; )

Secured the highest number of votes and support for pro-LGBT legislation in many years. Senate Republican caucus even had a support position on one bill. Created a legislative scorecard for the first time. (Details available on the website on the bills and our positions)

Developed research and handouts to demonstrate the breadth of gay and lesbian voters in each district (How Gay is My Assembly District, Senate District, City ..) as well as showing that around the country Republicans are stepping up and not only voting for legislation but sponsoring it. This was an attempt to show that they would not be out on a limb alone. I shared polling data to show where the base of the Party is moving nationwide on their views on equality.

I also lobbied on successfully passed bills in Washington State (Domestic Partnership Registry last year and an expansion of DPs passed just last night) and in Oregon (Anti-discrimination bill and a Domestic Partnership bill). We had GOP co-sponsors to those bills in both states and picked up Republican votes (some we lobbied for and others who were unexpected surprises).

This year I want to develop a handbook for offices because I found most staff had no understanding of basic things like Domestic Partnerships. With staff turnover so high, having a handbook from the GOP perspective will help new staff facing legislation have some resources. I also continue to try to thread the needle to find non-LGBT legislation we can weigh in on to exercise more of the GOP side of our mission while avoiding the trap of alienating Board and other members who might disagree with the position or taking a position at all. There are almost no LBGT issues left under the purview of the State (other than marriage) that have any real resonance. The survey results thus far list things like making the Party more welcoming, or are federal issues. So even those who say we have work to do can't list state legislation that needs passed.

If you have a bill or issue (Republican or LBGT) you think we should take a position on, tell me jvaughn@logcabin.org

Our efforts resulted in 12 appointments at the state level and 3 at the local level. Our goal was 5 at the state and 3 at the local level. More are in the pipeline. This year I want to focus more on local boards and commissions especially for candidates who might be considering running for office. Let me know if you're interested in pursuing an appointment.

Two Log Cabin members ran for office last year at the local level. At least two if not more are running in elections this year. We provided training at the national level for those looking to run. I have worked to identify more prospective candidates for local offices. We need a farm team of candidates with credible experience to tackle the bigger step of running for state legislative office. Much work was done to analyze the field next year. Log Cabin is at a crossroads in deciding who and when to endorse candidates for the state legislature and statewide office. The PAC is meeting this weekend to determine candidate endorsement and questionnaire criteria.

I'm working right now with folks from the Assembly and Senate Caucus to help recruit our members to run for the "sacrificial lamb" seats where Californians are still heavily under the delusion that the Democrats can really help them. We have recruited 6 candidates for the Assembly, 2 for the Senate and 1 for Congress. Deadline is this Friday. The Caucus folks say we are the best organized of any group in the state. This is a great example of where the goals of the Party and Log Cabin coincide.

I also spent a great deal of time last year and this identifying which candidates our folks were supporting for President to get them on delegate slates. The final slate will be out soon and we will see how many of our folks in California are McCain delegates. Many folks were Rudy supporters so there won't be as many as if he'd won.

We've increased our rolls by nearly 1000 new folks last year including a very large number of straight allies. I created the concept of the Caucus as a more informal model for organizing. This allows areas that are developing to have an evolutionary step towards chapter status and other areas where we have become so integrated into the local Party we don't need a full time Chapter.

Created the Women’s Caucus and a list serv to allow women to organize and communicate across the typical chapter boundary lines as there tend to be so few in each chapter but many of them across the country and state. Created a Chapter Leader list serv to try to encourage people to share issues, ideas and resources.

I've made trips to help chapters in Oregon, Washington, and Arizona as well as visited local chapters in California. Let me know if you would like to be a leader of a caucus or chapter in your area.

I continue meeting with Party and other leaders. Log Cabin attended, hosted or sponsored a number of events in California (such as a very successful Inauguration event in Sacramento with the new Legislative Secretary) generating much good will and developing further our reputation that we are loyal hard working members as well. Our Luau hospitality suite continues to be a popular draw allowing us to mingle and meet with Republicans of all stripes to find the things we have in common and educate them on the things we don't agree on. I and others actively participated in the Platform development process. Len Lanzi and a few others especially took a leadership role in that. As you have heard by now we came up only 8 votes shy of removing all the anti-gay language from the platform. (The attempt to remove the pro-life language was defeated 2-1 overwhelmingly.) We are making great strides in educating the Party on the value that inclusion wins.

I have gotten us active in an effort by the Party this year to mobilize Republicans on non-LGBT bills that come up before the Legislature. You will be receiving e-mail blasts when your calls and contacts can make a difference. I continue to reach out to officers, county chairs, heads of other volunteer organizations and others to find common ground.

We're also looking to endorse more bills and issues sponsored by the Republicans in Sacto such as our recent endorsement of the pro-second amendment resolution. If you want to be more involved in the California Republican Party and/or on outreach to groups to explain what it means to be Republican and Lesbian or Gay, let me know.

This is the issue that will drive our activities the most this year. If anti-marriage amendments qualify for November that will determine one path. The decision of the Court (expected in June) will also be a determining factor. So far the survey shows a strong drive to defeat anti-marriage initiatives, but not as strong a support for working on securing marriage. But the results are very preliminary at this point. And we also worked to get a resolution from the City of Laguna Beach reaffirming it's opposition to initiatives against the freedom to marry. There are efforts going on now to educate voters about the anti-marriage amendments throughout the state, if you want to participate, drop me a line.

A good year with a lot of hard work completed with a lot more to go. I also have done work cutting the expenses in the Sacramento office like the good fiscal conservative I am. By the end of the year I hope to have Log Cabin set on its direction for the next ten years, have the organization in shape even more to move forward. Those include establishing leadership for the caucuses that are in place now, work to encourage better use of the technology tools by the chapters and develop a means to add to the lists to find new members and new leaders. I want to get the concept of developing candidates for office in the DNA of the organization so that work continues after I leave this December. There's a heck of a lot more going on than this but I wanted you to get an idea of the breadth of everything we're working on.