New HRC boss tied to ‘inner circle’
Most gay activists familiar with the Human Rights Campaign see Emily’s List CEO Joe Solmonese, the group’s newly designated leader, as a highly skilled political strategist who is well suited to take the helm of the nation’s largest gay civil rights group.
But Solmonese is also a longtime associate of a small group of HRC power brokers who have played a key role in determining the organization’s direction and tone for nearly 20 years.
At the top of the list of HRC movers and shakers, insiders say, is veteran Washington lobbyist Hilary Rosen, former CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America and current media industry consultant. Rosen led the HRC campaign against the Federal Marriage Amendment and has run the organization on an interim basis since January.
Also at the top of the list, say insiders, are Emily’s List founder and former CEO Ellen Malcolm and former labor union official and past HRC executive director Vic Basile, who led the search committee that handed the HRC and HRC Foundation boards an up or down vote on Solmonese.
Malcolm is longtime friends with Rosen and her domestic partner, longtime HRC executive director Elizabeth Birch, and are seen by activists as having collaborated on developing strategy and policy for HRC. Solmonese served as Malcolm’s top lieutenant until he replaced her in 2003 when Malcolm took on the role as head of the pro-Democratic Party political advocacy group America Coming Together.
The gay movement insiders interviewed for this story, who spoke only on condition that they not be identified, said they viewed Rosen, Malcolm, and Basile, along with a dozen or so others considered part of the HRC inner circle, as highly qualified political strategists who have been an asset to the organization.
But at the same time, the movement insiders had mixed views on whether what appears to be a self-perpetuating clique could present problems for HRC in the future.
“I don’t see this as a problem,” said one of the movement insiders. “It is what it is. They are all very influential, but I don’t see this as being bad.”
Another person interviewed said, “HRC does good work. But there is a mentality and a culture at HRC. While it is an open place, they do best with people who think the HRC way. A lot of people become alienated if they think differently.”
Board backs Solmonese
Steven Fisher, HRC’s vice president for communications, said the HRC board and the board of the HRC Foundation, which serves as the group’s educational arm, voted unanimously to appoint Solmonese because of his experience and skills both in Washington and in states across the country.
Fisher points to women candidates who are in favor of gay rights and abortion rights that Solmonese helped elect to Congress and state legislatures in his role as Emily’s List CEO. Fisher said any suggestion that Solmonese’s experience is limited to inside-the-Beltway politics would be wrong.
Others considered part of HRC’s inner circle of movers and shakers include Gwen Baba of Los Angeles, Terry Bean of Oregon, Tim Boggs of New York City, Mary Breslauer of Boston, Edie Cofrin of Atlanta, Curt Decker of Baltimore, Andrew Tobias of Miami, and Jeff Trammell of Washington, D.C.
“I would take any of those people on my home team in a minute,” Rosen said. “It’s true that they have been involved with HRC for a long time. But they are all excellent people.”
Rosen acknowledges that a good number of HRC insiders have also hailed from Boston or nearby communities in Massachusetts, a development that some have jokingly referred to as the gay “Massachusetts Mafia.”
Tim McFeeley, who served as the HRC executive director from 1989 to 1995, is from Boston. Birch, who served as executive director and president from 1995 to January 2004, came from Cupertino, Calif., where she served as legal counsel for the Apple Computer Company.
But her successor, Cheryl Jacques, who held the HRC president’s post for the brief period from January to December 2004, was a Massachusetts state senator prior to her tenure at HRC. Solmonese, a native of Attleboro, Mass., is set to begin his tenure as HRC president in April.
“Not another gay leader from Massachusetts,” wrote gay Republican activist Jim Driscoll in an e-mail to several fellow gay Republicans. “What do HRC, LCR, etc., have against the other 49 states?”
Driscoll, in addition to commenting on Solmonese, was referring to Log Cabin Republicans executive director Patrick Guerriero, who also hails from Massachusetts.
Officials credit Emily’s List
Abby Rubenfeld, a gay civil rights attorney in Nashville, Tenn., who just completed a 7-year term as an HRC board member, said she’s not bothered by either the Massachusetts connections nor the longtime involvement of leaders such as Rosen or Malcolm.
“I’m very committed to HRC,” she said, adding that she happily voted for Solmonese’s appointment as president. “I’m not a Washington insider. But it sounds like he is very well connected to the states and very knowledgeable on the issues.”
Oregon state Sen. Kate Brown, a bisexual Democrat who became majority leader this year, credited Solmonese with playing a key role in making that happen.
“Emily’s List is one reason the Democrats now control the state Senate,” she said, noting that gay rights legislation would have a better chance of advancing. “Joe is very smart, very strategic, very skilled. Under his leadership, they connected with the voters.”
The only open lesbian member of Congress, Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, credits Emily’s List for helping her first get elected in 1998. Solmonese took over at Emily’s List in 1998.
“I go fairly far back with Joe in his role at EMILY’s List. They were absolutely critical in shattering the glass ceiling by getting me elected to Congress as the first openly [gay] non-incumbent,” she said.
“Organizations grow and become very dynamic when they have different people with different ideas moving in and out,” said the movement insider. “I think it keeps them nimble, it keeps them on the edge, it keeps them very creative and it keeps them very open minded."
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