Coming as a minor surprise to some, but a predictable development to a few political insiders, the San Diego chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans chose not to endorse either City Councilman Carl DeMaio or District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, both of whom are mayoral candidates in 2012 and are openly gay and lesbian, respectively.
“I am truly honored to have the endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans (LCR),” Assemblyman Fletcher (R – San Diego) said in a statement released shortly after the group made its decision to endorse him public. “We are building a broad coalition of Republicans, Democrats and independents who all believe I am the candidate best-positioned to bring people together to solve the problems facing San Diego.”
For its part, the LCR found the decision-making process made easier by the fact that only one candidate from the LGBT community bothered to respond to its invitation to be considered via its bylaws-mandated Q&A procedure. That procedure is simply an in-person question-and-answer session with LCR’s board of directors.
“We looked at the candidates on a variety of issues,” San Diego LCR president, Victoria Kerley told San Diego LGBT Weekly, during a recent phone interview. “Every time we put an issue to his record we saw that he lined right up every time.”
Kerley declined to say whether it was Dumanis or DeMaio who chose not to participate in the Log Cabin Republicans’ endorsement Q&A process.
“I will say we were highly disappointed,” Kerley said. “But we want to move on and focus on why Nathan is such a great candidate.”
LCR has no mechanism for inviting Democratic candidates to be considered. That doesn’t mean local Democrats didn’t have a few things to say about Fletcher’s boon with the LGBT community’s more right-leaning voters.
“I wasn’t shocked,” said Doug Case, president of San Diego Democrats for Equality. “Nathan is a much more moderate candidate than Carl or Bonnie, and has shown up for the LGBT community.”
SDDE recently announced its endorsement of Congressman Bob Filner for mayor.
