Bay Area Reporter - June 18, 2009
Matthew S. Bajko, m.bajko@ebar.com

Being that he sits on the Budget Conference Committee, openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) denounced the governor's budget cuts when they were announced last month. He has pledged to the AIDS community that the only way the cuts will go through is "over my dead body."

Tom Ammiano, Leno's Democratic counterpart from San Francisco in the Assembly, had remained quiet about the controversial money-saving proposal. That is, until last week, when the openly gay freshman lawmaker joined with hundreds of AIDS activists from across the state on the steps of the Capitol Wednesday, June 10 to denounce the cuts.

"I have a message for Arnold. He is working my last gay nerve," Ammiano reportedly told the crowd.

At the same time as the rally, his office sent out a notice saying Ammiano had delivered the governor a letter in which he urged Schwarzenegger to save the state Office of AIDS. As proposed, the AIDS office's budget would be slashed by $67.8 million and the state AIDS Drug Assistance Program would be cut by $12.3 million, resulting in an even steeper drop in federal funding for the $362 million program. National funding for ADAP is based on how much the state allocates.

"While I understand that this state is facing the greatest economic crisis it has seen since the Great Depression or before, it is unacceptable to eliminate critical, life-saving programs which would disproportionately affect minorities," wrote Ammiano in the letter. "The governor's proposed cuts would reduce the ability of people living with HIV to access medical care and could kill most of the more than 150,000 HIV-positive Californians."

Speakers at rallies last week both in San Francisco and Sacramento made similar points. Rodrigo Ibanez Diaz De Sandi , a 40-year-old gay man who has been HIV-positive for nine years, asked lawmakers to "look deep in their hearts" before accepting the AIDS budget cuts.

"Without ADAP I would not be able to access my medicine" he said prior to boarding a bus outside San Francisco City Hall last Wednesday morning for the drive up to Sacramento. "Please help me, please help us, by allowing us to have access to our drugs. I trust you will be guided by your conscience and won't let us down."

In his letter, Ammiano added that the ADAP cut is "tantamount to signing the death warrants" of the 35,000 AIDS patients who rely on the program for their lifesaving drugs.

Lisa Page, a spokeswoman for the governor, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the state's $24.3 billion deficit left Schwarzenegger with little options in how to balance California's finances.

"Many of these cuts the governor would never consider except in a worst-case scenario, and this is the worst-case scenario," Page told the paper.

Leno and Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) will be taking part in a live Internet town hall forum from 6 to 7 p.m. tonight (Monday, June 15) to discuss the proposed budget cuts. The webcast can be viewed via livestream at http://democrats.sen.ca.gov/townhall/.

Once the Budget Conference Committee tackles the governor's budget proposal, it will then be sent to both houses in the Legislature for approval. AIDS advocates have voiced increasing optimism that a compromise can be found to avoid most, it not all, of the AIDS cuts.

And last week's fiscal showdown won't be the last time that Ammiano and the governor tussle over the state's budget. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) just appointed Ammiano to the Assembly Budget Committee for the 2009-2010 regular session.

In addition to landing a seat on the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Ammiano also received the chairman post of the budget subcommittee on state administration. The oversight panel oversees the budgets of various state agencies from Housing and Community Development to the Fair Political Practices Commission and the Department of Justice.

Mandelman makes his D8 supe run official

As expected, attorney Rafael Mandelman became the first person to officially declare his candidacy in the 2010 District 8 supervisor race. He filed his paperwork with the Department of Elections Wednesday, June 10.

Tonight (Monday, June 15) he holds his campaign kickoff event at a Castro wine bar. The president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and a Board of Appeal member hopes to succeed the current officeholder, Bevan Dufty, when he is termed off the board next year. (Dufty is expected to make a run for mayor in 2011.)

The progressive politico will likely face a trio of opponents with strong ties to the more moderate Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club: deputy city attorney Scott Wiener, assistant district attorney Rebecca Prozan, and Public Utilities Commission staffer Laura Spanjian . All three once co-chaired the Alice Club and will likely splinter the group's endorsement process.

Spanjian has been laying claim to Mandelman's progressive territory, though, sponsoring her own table at this year's Milk Club dinner and, at times, casting eyebrow-raising votes with the progressive majority on the Democratic County Central Committee. This spring she voted along with Mandelman against the local Democratic Party's openly gay regional director in favor of Supervisor Chris Daly, one of the board's most far-left members.

As the campaign begins to heat up, Dufty has begun giving shout outs to the four wannabe supervisors when he sees them at community events. The intros have caused some confusion over whom he is endorsing, with the San Francisco Examiner erroneously reporting that Wiener and Spanjian where his "favorites" in the race.

His ties to all four, and his desire to be mayor will likely lead Dufty to stay out of the endorsement process altogether or issue dual endorsements. The issue is sure to be a tricky one for the moderate Dufty, who often has been uncomfortable making endorsements in political races during his time in office.

Prozan, a onetime City Hall aide for Dufty, has already indicated she will not endorse her former boss's mayoral bid if he doesn't back her bid for supervisor.

The election may be 17 months away, but the political positioning has already riveted LGBT political circles.

Mandelman's kickoff tonight takes place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Blush bar, 476 Castro Street. He is asking attendees to contribute between $10 and $500 toward his campaign.

SF resident joins GLAAD board

Scott E. Miller, the owner of an eponymously named executive search firm, has joined the national board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. He previously served as co-chair of the 20th annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco, where he lives with his partner, Doug Piper.

The gay media watchdog's executive committee recently met in San Francisco and elected three new members to the board. Along with Miller, both Washington D.C.-based lawyer Jocelyn Bramble and Las Vegas resident Larry Kifer won election to the board.

With the departure last week of its president, Neil Giuliano, the board is expected to name his replacement soon. It reportedly interviewed at least three candidates while in town two weekends ago.

Among the candidates said to be vying for the job were a former high-level staffer at GLAAD and a political appointee of Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.
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