From: victoryf@aol.com Date: Fri, 14 Jan 94 17:36:10 EST Subject: GLVF recommends G/L candidates Victory Fund Recommends Six New Candidates to National Donor Network WASHINGTON, D.C. 10 January 1993 The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund has recommended seven more openly gay and lesbian candidates to its national donor network, giving them access to the financial and technical support they need to conduct winning campaigns. The qualified candidates and their races are Tony Miller for California Secretary of State, Will Fitzpatrick for Rhode Island State Senate, George Eighmey for Oregon House of Representatives, John Duran for California State Assembly, Susan Leal for San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Barb Jones for Tempe City Council. All six have undergone rigorous screening to determine their viability as potential public officials, according to the Victory Fund's Executive Director, William Waybourn. The first openly gay man in the nation to run for statewide office, Tony Miller has the qualifications and depth of experience to become California's next Secretary of State. Currently the California Secretary of State's Chief Deputy and legal counsel, Tony Miller has a history of gay rights activism. When Lyndon LaRouche succeeded in placing an AIDS quarantine initiative on the California ballot, Miller blocked his efforts to have stated in the ballot pamphlet that mosquitoes spread HIV. When the state Attorney General and Legislative Counsel said that same sex couples could not register the names of their family associations, Miller successfully challenged them. He cleared the way for couples to receive legal recognition of their partnerships with the Secretary of State's office, using laws providing for the formation of nonprofit associations. Miller has worked for the incumbent Secretary of State, March Fong Eu, for 25 years. After earning his J.D. from the University of California School of Law, Miller was appointed to the Fair Political Practices Commission and then became Chief Legal Counsel to the Secretary of State. In 1981, he was appointed Chief Deputy Secretary of State, a constitutionally recognized public office which he still holds. Miller will become the Acting Secretary of State when Eu is formally appointed the United States Ambassador to Micronesia. [primary: June 7, 1994; general election: November 8] Rhode Island State Senator Will Fitzpatrick made history in 1992 when he won 62 percent of the primary vote against a 15-year, anti-gay incumbent, and then defeated his opponent by 51 percent to 42 percent in the general election. Since then, he has earned a reputation as one of the state's most respected and accessible senators. Despite his success as a legislator, Fitzpatrick faces daunting opposition in his upcoming election, having been targeted by the radical right which is actively mobilizing for his defeat. Among his many appointments, Fitzpatrick serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Health, Education and Welfare Committee, the Commission on Religious, Racial and Ethnic Harassment, and as Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Environment and Energy. He was the prime sponsor of a recycling bill and an enterprise zone bill to create jobs and improve decaying areas of his District, he co-sponsored Rhode Island's hate-crimes reporting bill, which is now law, and he spearheaded the fight for the sexual orientation anti-discrimination bill which passed 30 to 17 in the Senate, but was subsequently defeated in the House. [primary: September 13, 1994; general election: November 8] In May 1993, Portland attorney and activist George Eighmey became Oregon's second openly gay state representative when he was appointed to the vacant 14th District seat. Describing himself as "pro-choice, pro-family and pro-diversity," Eighmey has been targeted for defeat by Oregon's Radical Right (whom he describes as "biblically dysfunctional"). He helped pass legislation preventing the enforcement of recent anti-gay laws in various cities in Oregon. He is well known for his involvement in neighborhood associations and the City of Portland Adjustment Committee, is former President of the Lincoln High School Dad's Club and treasurer of the Wilson High School Booster Club, and has served as a member of the Oregon Speak- Out Project and as a Board member of OUR HOUSE (a Portland residential AIDS facility). A veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the father of two children, Eighmey vows to "demand a strong voice for all underrepresented populations." [primary: May 6, 1994; general election: November 1] Civil rights attorney John Duran is running for the 42nd district seat in the California State Assembly. When he ran for this seat in 1992, Duran garnered an astonishing 35 percent of the vote against powerful 10-year incumbent, Burt Margolin. With Margolin stepping down in 1994, Duran is gearing up to win this powerful State Assembly seat and become the first openly gay state legislator in California history. As leader of the Sacramento- based Lobby for Individual Freedom and Equality (LIFE AIDS Lobby), Duran has a proven ability for getting important legislation through the California State Legislature. His experience as an AIDS and gay rights lobbyist gives him a decided advantage over a field with little or no legislative experience, as does the healthy amount of name recognition he enjoys thanks to his activism and to his last campaign. The only Latino and the only pro-business candidate in the crowded field, Duran has already received numerous key endorsements from community and entertainment industry leaders, and has gotten the nod from Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy, the ranking Democratic state official. [primary: June 7, 1994; general election: November 8] On June 7, 1993, attorney and native San Franciscan Susan Leal was appointed to complete Roberta Achtenberg's term on the Board of Supervisors. Leal is the first Latina to serve on the Board and the first openly lesbian Latina ever to serve in elective office. Combining over 15 years experience in government, business and healthcare with a proven ability to build coalitions across the political spectrum, Leal took office with a broad base of support from the Latino, business, legal and feminist communities. As Vice President of Healthcare COMPARE Corporation, she was instrumental in helping major corporations and unions reduce their health expenditures. She serves on the board's Health, Public Safety and Environment, and Government Efficiency and Labor Committees, on the Mayor's Task Force on Juvenile Justice, and as the board's liaison to the county's Managed Care Health Task Force. An outspoken proponent of gay and lesbian rights, Leal called for the removal of homophobic Baptist Minister Eugene Lumpkin from the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. [general election: November 8, 1994]. Arizona lesbian activist Barb Jones is running in a nonpartisan, citywide race for the Tempe City Council. At a time when voters seek change, Jones has the advantage over "business-as-usual" career politicians, and citizens and the press have commented favorably on her abilities and on her "guts" to run as an open lesbian. The founder and current director of the nonprofit Lesbian Resource Center, a community-based organization designed to meet the needs of Phoenix-area lesbians, Jones also serves as board co-chair of the Valley of the Sun Gay and Lesbian Community Center, of which she is a founding member. Jones has already established her credentials with the local political establishment through her work to include a non-discrimination policy in city government and a hate crimes unit in the Tempe Police Department. She even convinced the mayor to declare Gay and Lesbian Pride Week during the local pride celebration the first time an elected official had agreed to attend Desert Pride. [primary: 22 March, 1994; general election: May 10] Miller, Fitzpatrick, Eighmey, Duran, Leal and Jones join the Victory Fund's other 1994 recommended candidates, Tom Chiola for Cook County Circuit Court, Victoria Sigler for Dade County Court and Ken Wolf for Fort Lauderdale City Commission. Tom Chiola will become Chicago's first openly gay judge and Illinois' first countywide openly gay elected official if he wins his bid for a seat on the Circuit Court of Cook County. Immensely qualified for this position, Chiola served for over five years as the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation and, as its General Counsel, is the most highly placed openly gay official in Illinois. Because he has tried cases involving such issues as gross malpractice by incompetent physicians, racial steering by real estate brokers, and massive fraud on government programs, his caseload has generated considerable media attention. Chiola is widely respected for his volunteer work in the gay community and has taken an active role in the fight to pass a gay rights bill in the Illinois legislature. [primary: March 15, 1994; general election: November 8]. A top-notch litigator and passionate advocate for women's minority and gay rights, Victoria Sigler's depth of trial experience makes her an outstanding candidate in the race for Dade County Court Judge. A former professor at the local community college and Executive Assistant for the Office of the Dade County Public Defender, she is known throughout Dade County and is highly respected for her legal abilities and her dedication to public service. As an attorney, Sigler has frequently represented gays and lesbians. "I find that my presence as an out lesbian invokes confidence in my clients and inhibits outward discrimination by other court personnel," says Sigler. A committed community activist, Sigler is a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association and does pro bono work for people with AIDS [general election: early September 1994]. Fort Lauderdale City Commission candidate Ken Wolf offers the lesbian and gay community an excellent opportunity to elect the first openly gay official in a major Florida city. Extremely qualified for this office, his endorsement from the Florida Consumer Action Network reads, "You are a model leader for the 21st century. You have an optimistic, can-do attitude that is desperately needed in Florida government. Through your record of community service, you have proven yourself as an environmentalist and a humanitarian concerned about the needs of all segments of our community." A senior executive with a major marketing and public relations agency, Wolf is drawing upon his political experience as gubernatorial aide to Governor Lawton Chiles and as a member of the Clinton Campaign's Florida steering committee to secure this victory. [primary: February 8, 1994; run-off: March 8] The Victory Fund is a national donor network of individuals dedicated to electing qualified openly lesbian and gay candidates to public office. "Being represented by our own is the highest form of political empowerment," says Waybourn. "Every time an openly gay or lesbian candidate crosses a political threshold, the door is opened for others to follow." #### [For more information about these races, or the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, please contact Kathleen DeBold at The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund 1012 14th Street, NW #707 Washington, DC 20005 voice:(202) 842-8679 fax: (202) 289-3863 email: victoryf@aol.com]