Reply #14: NNN [View All]

[nick_DFT]

Here are some clips of comments I wrote on BOR about the NNN race. I know where it was successful and where it failed, but this was not exactly a standard campaign..

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And as far as records go--I always get a kick out of watching people like you talk negatively about the Prop 2 results. I personally shared an office with Glen during that race. I watched him get in at 8am or earlier each day and go home after 3 every night. 3 am, that is.

Glen and his strategy forced the right to address the actual issue. They could no longer skim by on the happy family talk, they had to address the county employees in Dallas and Travis losing their benefits. They had to address that it was already illegal. Say what you will, but if it were not for Glen Maxey, it would have been a LOT worse. I'm curious what you would have recommended, JayRo. Go straight at it, head on? Like in Kentucky? I think they got 13% of the vote. Guess what--how easy is it to get the press to cover your side in a race like that? It's pretty difficult. But Glen brought attn to the f-ed up wording. We called Republicans. They tattled. To who? The press. Who calls us for our side? The press. These are campaign tactics. Did you realize that nearly every single paper in the STATE endorsed our campaign? I think Lubbock and like, Lufkin didn't. JayRo, do you think that just *happens*? Um, no. It happens by going to editorial boards. Who represented No Nonsense at those boards? Glen Maxey. So JayRo, let's be real--does ANYONE on this BOR *really* think that an anti-gay marriage bill WOULDN'T pass in Texas? I mean, seriously. I did, because when I work on campaigns, I believe in them. But if you really think there was any possibility of anyone being able to win that race, then you're showing off your naivety. So let's be real. And on top of that, I would rather have someone TRY something. What do you think the levels of homophobia are at in Texas? Hey, not even Texas--how bout in the Democratic Party? If you believe that internalized homophobia does not exist in the Texas Democratic Party, you must have your blinders on.
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At one point during the Prop 2 campaign, I went to dinner with Glen, and he was in kind of a down mood. I asked what was up, and he told me:

"In a couple weeks, I am going to become a second-class citizen. And nobody cares."

Glen worked his ASS off on that race. Where was Soechting? Where was the Democratic Party?

After the race, it was me who was down.

Glen turned to me on election night and asked me if I had really believed we could win. And I said yes. Because that's the energy he brings. Glen creates an atmosphere of hope. An atmosphere of change.

He then said to me--if you had told me 20 years ago, when people with HIV were simply trying to stay out of PRISON (quarantine issues, look up your history), that we would have an open debate about gay marriage and wedge issues, that 26% of the voters in the state of TEXAS would vote FOR gay rights, and that nearly every newspaper (and certainly every major paper) would endorse that position--I would have told you that you were crazy.

I think he is right.
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