Subject: Clinton picks third-level bureaucrat as AIDS Serf
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 14:41:09 -0500 (EST)

Clinton's Valentine to
People with AIDS ...
Another worthless paper pusher as
AIDS Czar
for immediate release    February 17, 1997
contact:  Steve Michael at 202.547.6780

 On Friday, February 14, 1997 President Clinton appointed Health and Human
Services employee Eric Goosby as "interim" AIDS czar.  "ACT UP Washington is
furious that President Bill Clinton continues to insult people with AIDS with
the appointment of the third bland bureaucrat in a row as director of the
Office of AIDS Policy," states Steve Michael.  He continues, "We wanted an
Evita and Clinton gave us a Forrest Gump."

 Adds Wayne Turner of ACT UP Washington, "Our lives depend on the President
of the United States keeping his promises.  The selection of another
bureaucratic paper-pusher to the job proves that Bill Clinton has no interest
in fighting the AIDS epidemic. Continues Michael, "This is another wasted
opportunity.  Less than two weeks ago in his State of the Union Address
President Clinton declared that his government would be the "engine that
drives" the nation toward an AIDS vaccine.  What he didn't tell us was that
the engine was pulled out of an Edsel and the driver would be blindfolded,
bound and gagged." 

 ACT UP Washington believes that this should be proof positive to the rest of
the AIDS community and America that Bill Clinton and Donna Shalala have no
interest in fighting the AIDS epidemic in a substantive way.  ACT UP
Washington announced last week that it will be launching a Spring Offensive
during the month of April to focus national attention on the failed Clinton
AIDS policy.  People with AIDS will be asked to find creative ways to shock,
shame and embarrass the president and his administration into fighting AIDS. 

NOTE:  The announcement of Goosby was timed for minimum press coverage.  We
submit this as further evidence that Bill Clinton is a coward, that he is
A.W.O.L. in the war on AIDS.  .A president committed to ending AIDS would
make his AIDS policy appointments in as public a setting as those that focus
on defense and the military.  Bill Clinton:  You can't hide from AIDS. 
Clinton has yet to appoint a new FDA Commissioner, Surgeon General or
Assistant Secretary of Health.

A brief history...
Our fight for a "real" AIDS Czar
*  In 1992 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."

*  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.  
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
202.547.6780
or e-mail  [email-masked]
ACT UP Washington
AIDS Coaltion to Unleash Power
825 5th Street, NE  Suite A
Washington, DC  20002
202.547.6780