Bay Area Reporter - March 30, 2001

Yet, the mayor's AIDS policy adviser, Mike Shriver, denied the red ribbon idea was ever a part of the plan, even as the meeting minutes prove otherwise. In fact, the minutes indicate Shriver - who attended at least two of the meetings - either came up with the idea or supported the idea in the hope that it would become an "international symbol drawing worldwide media attention," the March 7 minutes state.

Shriver was to set up a meeting with the mayor to discuss the ribbon plan, and coordinate the ribbon hanging at City Hall, according to minutes from the March 16 meeting: "The June Milestone event began to take shape at today's meeting, as described in the working outline below. Also included are action items various team members have agreed to coordinate." Those minutes also indicate that rainbow flag-maker Gilbert Baker was to be contacted to see if he could make the giant ribbon, although Baker told us this week that so far he hasn't heard from anyone.

According to the minutes, the red ribbon idea was very much alive with a date of June 5 selected for the grand unveiling. Not, so, says Shriver, it was never part of the plan.

Why get so riled up about a giant red ribbon? For one thing, we find Shriver's denials disingenuous and lacking all credibility. For another, we know from firsthand experience that denial is the way Shriver operates.

Back in January, after the highly-touted HIV consensus meeting, Shriver and others were guests on a KQED-FM radio program discussing rising HIV infection rates and other issues. We had heard that Shriver had disparaged the Bay Area Reporter on the air and so we asked him about it. He denied point blank that he made such remarks on the program.

So, we got a tape of the broadcast and heard Shriver make critical comments about the paper's coverage of HIV infection rates to the point at which the program's host had to cut him off because there was no one from the paper to respond to his diatribe.

This pattern of denial is problematic because it raises questions about what Shriver says. And when it comes to HIV/AIDS, there is already plenty of misinformation; we don't need it coming from the mayor's adviser. The red ribbon itself isn't the issue, it's the larger pattern of denial that we find troublesome. In his obsession to fend off criticism of an unpopular idea or acknowledge responsibility when he's said something, Shriver takes the easy way out - deny, deny, deny.

Fortunately, Project Open Hand's Tom Nolan is more honest. Nolan, who was one of the attendees at the March 7 meeting when the red ribbon idea was first mentioned, told us that he supported the ribbon plan until objections were raised. What is the harm in Shriver admitting a similar change of heart?

What could have been a nonissue or a simple disagreement over a tied ribbon has become symbolic of the way Shriver twists the truth into knots.

We expect Shriver to be more straightforward in the future.
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