Subject: AIDS Czar history & Clinton 1992 quotes
From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997 13:18:35 -0400 (EDT)

A brief history
The fight for an AIDS Czar
In  March of 1992 at the Souix Falls Regional Airport in South Dakota....then
Governor Clinton personally pledged to Steve Michael, then of ACT UP's
Presidential Project that upon his (Clinton's) election to the presidency he
would appoint a "cabinet-level AIDS czar with (lateral Power to cut across
federal agencies) the ear and shoulder of the president on a daily basis."

On May 18, 1992 Bill Clinton said the following in a speech at the Palace
Theater in Los Angeles

"When it comes to AIDS, there should be a Manhattan Project.  One person
should be in charge.  One person who can cut across all the departments and
agencies, who has the President's ear and the President's arm.  One person
who can make sure that we begin by implementing all those recommendations and
those two commission reports now gathering dust in Washington, DC."

In January 1993 ACT UP Washington called on newly elected President Clinton
to appoint former Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker AIDS Czar.
In June of 1993 Clinton appointed fired Washington state Secretary of Health
Kristine M. Gebbie as the director of a three million dollar a year "Office
of AIDS Policy" that was housed above a McDonald's restaurant and at least
five levels removed from the White House.  ACT UP Washington (DC) declared
both Gebbie and the office---"Worthless."  AIDS activists from Washington
state were virtually unanimous in their opposition to Gebbie.  ACT UP
Washington then launched a national campaign against Gebbie that resulted in
her firing one year later.

ACT UP Washington again called on the appointment of a cabinet-level AIDS
czar.  The group lobbied once again for Governor Weicker.  The group also
suggested former Washington state Governor Daniel Evans or Georgia
Congressmember Cynthia McKinney as individuals with the strength and ability
needed to co-ordinate the national response to AIDS.

Late in 1994 Clinton appointed a bureaucratic underling of Secretary of
Health and Human Services Donna Shalala as "interim" AIDS Policy Director.
 Clinton and Shalala quietly cut the budget of the AIDS Policy Office in
half.  The "interim" director, Patsy Fleming was put in charge of selecting a
"permanent" AIDS czar.  In face to face meetings with Fleming and Domestic
Policy Advisor Carol Rasco, ACT UP Washington's Steve Michael again called
for elevation of the office to cabinet-level.  He also lobbied for Weicker,
McKinney or Evans.

Three months later Clinton, Shalala and Rasco accepted Fleming's
selection---of Fleming.  ACT UP Washington blasted the selection.  The group
then ignored the office, calling it the "White House Press Office for AIDS
Policy."

When word came late in 1996 that Fleming would leave on February 14, ACT UP
Washington promptly reissued their call for "A cabinet-level AIDS Czar with
the ear and shoulder of the president on a daily basis."  The group again
lobbied Clinton to appoint Lowell Weicker.  Other names suggested by ACT UP
included; former United States Senator Mark Hatfield, Representative Maxine
Waters, McKinney and outgoing Washington state Governor Mike Lowry.  

Clinton responded by appointing Dr. Eric Goosby as interim AIDS Czar....

Then on April 7th 1997 Clinton appointed Democratic Party hack Sandy Thurman
as AIDS Czar.

What's next???
ACT UP Washington vows to continue the fight until Bill Clinton gets it
right.  "Our campaign for a cabinet level AIDS car, for Bill Clinton to keep
his 1992 AIDS promises are aimed toward the year 2000 and the men and women
who will run for president then.  Maybe, just maybe one of them will get it.
Our lives depend on a president that cares enough to fight AIDS," states
Steve Michael of ACT UP Washington.

for more information, newspaper clippings or copies of Clinton promises to
AIDS/Gay communities on the subject of a Cabinetl-Level AIDS Czar call ACT UP
Washington at 202.547.6780