BY STAMPP CORBIN
In a complete illustration that the Republican Party comes before her community, Bonnie Dumanis has endorsed Carl DeMaio for mayor of San Diego. Dumanis knows that the LGBT community overwhelmingly supports Filner, but her allegiance is to her beloved Republican Party. The LGBT community be damned.
We all thought Dumanis was smarter than to turn her back on the LGBT community. After all, she was given a pass on a number of issues because she was an out lesbian and the first lesbian elected to be a district attorney. No longer.
Dumanis had the opportunity not to endorse in the mayoral race, but what she has chosen to do is support DeMaio and the Republican Party platform; the Republican Party platform that is anti-choice and anti-LGBT. Why? Dumanis needs the support of the Republican Party in her future electoral races.
I do not understand how Dumanis can look her former supporters in the eye and say she endorses DeMaio and supports the Republican Party platform that is so rabidly anti-LGBT. The same Republican Party from which Dumanis sought an endorsement; the party that spews hate toward the LGBT community. Worse, I cannot understand how her LGBT supporters let this happen. Did Dumanis discuss this endorsement with LGBT leaders? Doubtful.
Well I have news for you, supporting Bonnie Dumanis in the future will be akin to supporting Mitt Romney; I would keep it to myself. The vast majority of the LGBT community does not support the anti-choice, anti-LGBT policies of the Republican Party and Dumanis has helped us fully understand why we should not support moderate LGBT Republican candidates in San Diego. Dumanis has fooled us for many years, but no longer.
Many of us looked away when Dumanis did not support the use of medical marijuana, or her full throttled support of the death penalty, which has been proven to be disproportionately applied to minority communities; many who are later proven innocent. Then there was Dumanis’ support of gubernatorial and anti-LGBT candidate Meg Whitman. So many chances the LGBT community has given Dumanis and she has always disappointed in favor of her Republican Party. It is truly sad.
Dumanis attacked independent mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher all for the sake of her beloved Republican Party. She also did not drop out of the mayoral primary to ensure that the race was between Filner and DeMaio. Dumanis’ support never exceeded 13 percent. Why did she stay in? She wanted to prevent a Fletcher versus Filner race. At least Fletcher has had the intestinal fortitude to not make an endorsement in the mayor’s race.
Dumanis, we will not forget your decision the next time you ask the LGBT community to support you. You have shown your true colors and we will show ours in the voting booth. Who out there wants to run against Dumanis in her next district attorney race? The LGBT community is up for grabs.
Ive had 2 separate personal interactions with Bonnie and it was very clear she did not care for Carl. Ive lost any respect I may have had for Bonnie
The LGBT community backing Filner over one of their own is consummate “Party Before Community.” Pinning this attack on Bonnie is ludicrous.
ES, you’ve got that backwards. Backing Filner is community first. Carl doesn’t represent my community. He’s in bed with the Prop 8 supporters and to hell with them and with him too.
Stampp your personal vendetta against Carl and Jonathan is so transparent. You have used this paper to personally attack them for months and anyone supportive of them. You even recently attacked the Hillcrest Business Association and now Bonnie Dumanis. You have lost your mind.
Jeff:
It is not a personal vendetta. Please explain any analysis that I have made that is not true or any inaccurate story that has been reported. I am sure I would be sued for slander.
You should be sued for slander, the Lily Pond incident comes to mind.
Stampp,
Bonnie simply endorsed the best person for Mayor.
The majority of the LGBT community might be supporting Carl if not for this kind of “news” coverage from LGBT Weekly. Trust me, there is much more support than you think behind Carl…
When Mayor Sanders – who is quite loved by the LGBT community – endorsed Carl, you guys didn’t even run it and now, you attack Bonnie? Really?
I do tip my hat to you personally, old girlfriend, for at least running our advertisement.
Patrick Adams
Chair, LGBT Friends Supporting Carl DeMaio for Mayor 2012
Obviously the same people got to Mayor Sanders as got to Bonnie. The majority of LGBT support Carl gets is confused. Carls’ biggest financial supporters were also the biggest Prop 8 supporters. In other words, Carl’s supporters are the enemies of LGBT equality. Where does that leave Carl?
So this is where my stuff went?
Patrick:
Our focus is upon LGBT issues and people. In fact, I could have written an editorial about the Sanders endorsement but the mayor’s disdain for DeMaio is quite well known.
This is not news, it is my opinion. That’s why they call it an editorial, it is simply my perspective. You get to agree or disagree, just like you have in your post.
Please note that our news is completly fair, otherwise we would be pursued legally.
Stampp
When the R-obot Crows
What a distance Bonnie Dumanis has come. No, I don’t mean her ascent to the DA’s office or her almost was campaign for mayor. As a reporter for the Gay and Lesbian Times (GLT), I first met Bonnie Dumanis when she was running for Superior Court Judge. In that interview, I was impressed with her view, that although she was a Republican, as a judge, she assumed a higher calling. One that had no party affiliation. She called on the LGBT community to look beyond her affiliation and see her and her work for what it was. The community, and the GLT ultimately supported her because we knew that she shared in our ideals, and that judges are introspective rather than ideologues. We also supported her because she had the integrity to stand tall and be counted as openly lesbian. For most of her career, that has meant more than just showing up at community fundraisers or marching in the Pride parade. When she ascended to the District Attorney’s office, it was in part on the support of an LGBT community that she never denied for the sake of an endorsement. That was Bonnie then.
The Bonnie that has emerged now, is one who has slowly yielded to politics, partisanship and deal cutting. I once asked another figure that stood by the LGBT community about the pitfalls of favor trading:
”Don’t cut deals to get things done. Because the deal cutting can cut both ways and you might find yourself in an untenable position where your core beliefs and values are going to be challenged because of a deal you made.” – Donna Frye interview, 2010, SDLGBT Weekly
Bonnie would have done well to live by this advice, but sadly, she has chosen to dissolve her carefully chiseled credibility into a partisan morass. It is a spectacle that sadly was preceded by the wilting of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ own principles, and demonstrated that in the end, he is still just another R-obot.
In endorsing Carl DeMaio, Bonnie has thrown her support behind someone who is far less than she was. DeMaio denied our community faster than Peter denied Jesus, and probably for less than the 30 pieces of silver that Judas got.
San Diego voters have entrusted this city time and again to a cadre of Republican Mayors who have kept city coffers and city lands open to whatever avarice developers and big business could conspire, mostly at the expense of city tax payers. We have been told that our plight is the fault of union’s, even though few remain, and none hold anywhere near the power of a “Papa” Doug Manchester. DeMaio seeks to cement the control of this group while at the same time placating their fears of a social agenda that might offend them. In so doing, he has shown that his only allegiance is to whatever will take him to the next highest office. His behavior betrays a taste for ambition that cannot serve the serious issues our city faces.
Albert Einstein once opined that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing and expect a different result. With whatever respect is still due to Bonnie Dumanis, it is time that the LGBT community stand together with the whole of San Diego and insist that we not enact the definition of insanity by electing Carl DeMaio. In the end, all DeMaio can offer our community is enough betrayal to get all the R-obots to crow.
Beautifully said, Timothy. All your points are so well taken!
Kurt, I am sure coming from a character like you, Bonnie will lose a lot of sleep over it. People like you are exactly what is wrong with social programs. You self destruct, become a victim and live of off of social welfare making the rest of us work harder. You spend your time in bars, not looking for jobs and on social media judging everyone but yourself. Look in the mirror, get your life together and put that energy you spend on negativity to good use. In short, it’s time you get back to work and contribute to society, not take from it.
I”m not crazy for Filner, but it’s a sad day when even a small group of LGBT San Diegans can’t see that DeMaio is a weasly backstabbing con artist. The proof has been on table over and over again, not to mention the fact they’ve been brought to light by dozens of credible witnesses from within the business and political communities. To all the defenders of DeMaio, can one of you at least explain or justify the large sums of monies and endoresements he’s received from anti-gay zealots??? What are your reasons for personally excusing those actions?
Im curious how “john stanton” knows me and my financial situation so well. Ive never heard of this troll before. In the recent past people associated with SDGLN or Johnathan Hale have commented or been asking around about my finances. Actually reading his comment again I am sure its really Hale. I recognize his attack writing style by now.
Just tell DeMaio to give all the contributions from Manchester, LeMandri, NOM and the mobster associate Irwin Molansky. Then we’ll talk. And why is the US Attorney Laura Duffy so cozy now? Is he going to help them break the arms of the local medical marijuana patients?
John Stanton: you, sir, are a piece of work. I guess it’s true, Jonathan Hale is looking for another new name. People be aware. Carl DeMaio’s boyfriend is a crook. At least Kurt’s an honest man and not a liar and thief, like you, Mr. Hale.
Now as to Bonnie Dumanis, I won’t belittle her because of her endorsing Mr. DeMaio. She has her right to endorse whomever she wishes. I, honestly, have a very difficult time voting for either Mr. DeMaio or Mr. Filner. I believe that San Diego deserves better than either of these two has to offer.
Ya know, folks, this all is the reason I really dislike “electoral politics”. I do see it as an evil necessity in today’s world. I have no idea as to why both Bonnie Dumanis or Jerry Sanders had to endorse someone they said they don’t really like that well. In today’s world, apparently one must go all out for their political party regardless of the results that rain down on the rest of us.
Stampp, I really love your editorials – especially when you asked the readers why they remain Republicans. Some Republicans answered your challenge and I found that interesting. They talked about the Republican Party that I grew up with – the party of civil rights, freedom for all. I agree and I have worked for some Republican candidates back in the 1970s before the GOP had forsaken itself to the rabid religious Right and threw away thei sense of reason. The current GOP has totally capitulated to the Right without any regard to right and wrong or any human decency.
Bonnie and Jerry, I really believe that you two are really decent human beings but you both are in danger of being sucked into the current Romneyite morass. MeMaio isn’t worth ruining your fairness reputations over. He is no friend of the LGBT community when he took a ton of money from our enemies. I think this is the big part of why LGBTs hate Carl. It’s like a Black candidate taking a ton of money from the KKK and other racist grooups – no different. I don’t even care about J. Hale. You two could have just chosen to not endorse in the mayoral race this year.
Stampp is assuming that Bonnie’s endorsement of DeMaio is an endorsement of the Republican Party platform. He’s just wrong. Bonnie has always been pro-choice and civil liberties. She is openly gay,she is a feminist and she cares about people. I don’t agree with her endorsement of DiMaio but I can’t see anyone endorsing Filner either. Neither one of those men can adequately and properly represent the city. I wish the gay community had supported Bonnie in her run for mayor rather than pandering to Nathan Fletcher. Then maybe we would have a decent choice in this election. When it comes to the election the gay community should not have been so focused on the Democratic party. It should’ve gone for the quality of the individual candidates. I am Embarrassed that we have to choose between these two people for mayor.
I hope that Bonnie Dumass got a big nest egg out of this endorsement, because the cost was her integrity. Without that, she is just another politician with no moral compass. At least the truth is out about her now. Enjoy your retirement, Bonnie. You haven’t got a chance in hell of holding another elected position in San Diego. Goodbye and good riddance.