Bay Windows - May 5, 2005
Ethan Jacobs, ejacobs@baywindows.com.

"I cannot subscribe to a policy of timidity toward this Bush administration, which is callous and evil to its core with respect to the ongoing domestic HIV crisis and all of the root causes of its perpetuation. It's not that I believe there to be no place for the AIDS Action of today-it's that I believe the AIDS Action of today is no longer a place for me," wrote Miller in a letter addressed to Foundation Board Chair Charles Henry.

Miller's resignation came one week before AIDSWatch 2004, a week of D.C.-based AIDS activism designed in part to demand that Bush put more resources towards the fight against AIDS. The event, organized by the national grassroots coalition Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) is scheduled to culminate with a 3000-person march on the White House on May 5. Lending some doubt to Miller's charges that AIDS Action has muted its criticism of Bush's AIDS policies, AIDS Action has been involved in organizing C2EA since it was launched in January and is expected to formally endorse C2EA in the next couple of weeks.

Miller's letter has become fodder for critics of AIDS Action, who see his resignation as evidence that the organization has sacrificed its independent voice for access in the Republican dominated Beltway, but Miller was quick to note his continued support for AIDS Action and its mission. He explained his resignation to Bay Windows as based on a difference in priorities and strategies.

"Let me just acknowledge that AIDS Action has a very difficult line to walk. On one hand they have no choice but to be trying to do business with the Bush administration and the Republicans who control Congress.... On the other hand I think there is also a moral imperative to remain true and vocal about our core issues," said Miller.

He believes AIDS Action has not been sufficiently outspoken in opposing Bush's push for abstinence-only sex education and his opposition to needle exchange programs. Yet for Miller one of the most important sticking points was AIDS Action's decision not to formally endorse AIDSVote, a campaign during the 2004 election to register people with HIV and their families and friends to vote. He said the decision was made primarily by AIDS Action Executive Director Marsha Martin and the AIDS Action Council Board, the public policy arm made up of representatives from AIDS Action's member organizations. Miller said he was told by members of the Council Board that AIDSVote's platform contained language too overtly critical of the Bush administration to be considered nonpartisan, but Miller was not satisfied by the explanation.

"I don't think that we should back away from such basic tactics like making sure our constituency is registered to vote because we fear a backlash from the Bush administration," said Miller.

Miller's resignation represents the loss of one of AIDS Action's stalwart members. As president and CEO of the Los Angeles-based MZA Events, which has organized AIDS Walks for AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), and other organizations, Miller was appointed to the AIDS Action Council Board in the late '80s as a representative of APLA. He shifted to the Foundation Board several years ago. He said ultimately he hopes AIDS Action strengthens its commitment to work with grassroots activists and to challenge the Bush administration on its AIDS policies.

Martin, AIDS Action's executive director, disagreed with Miller's argument that AIDS Action had backed off from advocating for AIDS policies where it differs with the White House, in particular with regards to funding of the Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federal funding stream for HIV/AIDS services.

"I don't think we've been silent at all. We're asking the president to put upwards of $2.1 billion in the CARE Act over the next five years," said Martin, who said AIDS Action has asked Bush to increase funding to Ryan White despite the president's budget proposal to level fund the program. "We at AIDS Action have suggested that that's an inappropriate position to take."

She also said AIDS Action has lobbied the administration and Congress aggressively on issues like needle exchange and safer sex education, among other issues. She cited a meeting last month with the Office of Health and Human Services where AIDS Action lobbied for prevention efforts that include safer sex information in place of abstinence-based approaches.

Martin was accused of cozying up to the Republicans last December when she signed on to the host committee for an Inauguration Week fundraiser for the AIDS Responsibility Project that, according to invitations, was a celebration of Bush's win and Republican electoral success. Abner Mason, executive director of the AIDS Responsibility Project, attempted to diffuse the controversy by explaining that the event was non-partisan and saying that the invitations were printed in error (see "Splitting Logs," Jan. 6).

Yet Martin believes that AIDS Action's critics are misguided if they believe the organization can afford to alienate the Bush administration.

"People forget that AIDS Action was created by the six largest AIDS organizations to come to Washington and work with the federal government, period," argued Martin. "It doesn't matter who the president is or who the [cabinet] secretaries are or who the Congress is.... If John Kerry was the president we would be working with him in the same way we are working with the Bush administration."

Rebecca Haag, a member of the AIDS Action Council Board and executive director of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (AAC), said she also believes AIDS Action in D.C. is putting forward an aggressive agenda, particularly on Ryan White reauthorization, which she called the most important issue facing HIV/AIDS activists.

"I think as a community at a time when Ryan White reauthorization is on the table I think we should be focused on the important issues," said Haag. "I think if you read the policy positions that AIDS Action has taken on Ryan White, I think few activists would disagree with the substance."

She also emphasized AIDS Action's work in getting the C2EA off the ground and said AIDS Action has been involved from the beginning of the effort.

As far as Miller's criticism of AIDS Action's refusal to endorse AIDSVote, Haag said the Council Board declined due to concerns of some members about the AIDSVote platform. AAC was one of those groups, and Haag said she was concerned that some of the language was specifically targeted to oppose Bush's campaign.

"Frankly we happened to think it was very negatively worded and was not in any way an independent assessment [of the candidates]," said Haag. She said many of AIDS Action's largest organizations, including GMHC and APLA, endorsed AIDSVote separately.

Haag said she believes Miller was ill informed about much of AIDS Action's advocacy work because he did not sit on the Council Board, which handles AIDS Action's public policy.

Yet for AIDS activists critical of AIDS Action, Miller's resignation letter served as further confirmation that AIDS Action had gone too soft on the Bush administration. Sean Strub, founder of the magazine POZ, which focuses on the fight against AIDS, has written columns in the magazine accusing AIDS Action of siding with the Bush administration over the grassroots AIDS activists. POZ acquired a copy of Miller's resignation letter and posted it on the magazine's Web site.

Strub argued, "I think they fear that if they tell the truth about what the Bush administration is doing to people with AIDS here and around the globe, they will alienate what access they have and jeopardize those funding sources [like Ryan White]. But telling the truth and basic empowerment like voter access is more important in the long run than any funding stream."

Journalist and blogger Doug Ireland, who first started following AIDS Action during the Clinton presidency while writing a political column for POZ, said he believes AIDS Action has become so focused on winning Ryan White reauthorization that the organization has become more beholden to the administration than to AIDS activists.

"The context is a crisis of accountability. This is why when AIDS Action continually refuses to support the actions of the larger AIDS community like AIDSVote and like the new Campaign to End AIDS and the march on the White House this week, [Ireland was unaware that AIDS Action had been involved with the C2AE] it is reflecting a lack of accountability of the bureaucracy... to the people who are living with AIDS and to the larger fight to prevent the spread of the pandemic here and abroad," said Ireland.

Yet Charles King, co-chair of the C2EA steering committee and executive director of the New York-based Housing Works, said AIDS Action had been a vital part of planning the campaign, which is designed to re-energize grassroots AIDS activism. King said he expects AIDS Action to endorse C2EA within two weeks, and he attributed the delay to a delay in finalizing the platform. C2EA plans to train youth activists over the summer and to carry out more protests in the fall.

King said he believes AIDS Action may have lost some of its effectiveness over the past few years, but he attributed that to the lack of strong grassroots activism to demand accountability. He hoped C2EA would reverse that trend.

"I think what has happened is without grassroots advocacy to hold the institutional representatives accountable, there's a tremendous inclination to 'do what we've got to do to get what we need' kind of approach," said King. "If we can't galvanize, motivate people to get out there and raise their voices, then our people on the inside are fighting with little in the way of good ammunition."

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