The Milk Club: Remain calm ...So the Harvey Milk Club meets tomorrow evening (Dec. 11) to consider an endorsement for state Senate. It's Mark Leno vs. Carole Migden, and it's been all too ugly.
You can read the club's press release here ; club members got in such a nasty fight at the last meeting that some don't even accept tomorrow's meeting as legitimate.
But here's the thing: At some point, we all have to put this behind us and move on.
I think the odds are pretty good that Migden will win the Milk Club. I'm not going to say it was all done with perfect adherence to the rules; the Migden forces pulled some fast ones. The Leno people pulled some stunts, too, and would have played fast and loose with the rules earlier on if it helped them. That's how these clubs work.
And frankly, a Migden nod won't surprise anyone (Carole's a former Milk Club president) and it won't be a horrible blow to Leno (who has the Alice B. Toklas Club). Leno is clearly trying to appeal to the progressives, and the Milk endorsement would help, but there are other ways he can do that. So his campaign, and the Republic as a whole, will survive this vote.
If Migden wins tomorrow, it seems to me that the Leno folks should register their protests if they please, but then let it go. And if Leno manages to pull it out, the Migden folks should do the same.
This isn't worth the sort of bitter fights, name calling and personal demonization that could be the result of an extended, bruising battle.
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Comments (1)
I'm wondering how the meeting will be conducted, legally speaking, what with all the shenanigans of president Basinger in his pro-Leno efforts.
Basinger's brittle and manic leadership of the club and how he's engaged with the community on this has greatly contributed to the ill feelings on all sides.
Three letters criticizing him in the BAR this week, one of the letters appears in the Bay Times in a longer form, Robert Haaland has expressed his displeasure with Basinger on his blog, I've said my piece on SFWall, the club has censured him with the letter from the leadership why the censure happened -- none of this speaks to rationality on Basinger's part.
Even if Basinger were able to show political maturity as the debate between Carole and Mark and their supporters played out recently, or, there had been a club president with a smaller ego, the hostilities would have played on anyway, but the early endorsement b.s. would be over by now!
I see no reason why Carole will be denied the Milk Club backing tomorrow night, and the larger question for me is how will club lead and behave as we head into the new year.
Posted by Michael Petrelis | December 10, 2007 10:36 PM