The upcoming special election to replace the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald is getting nasty. There are 19 people who have filed already, but there are just three front runners, State Assemblymember Laura Richardson, State Senator Jenny Oropeza and the daughter of the late Congresswoman Valerie McDonald. Power-brokers down in SoCal are taking sides. Yesterday, Senator Sheila Kuehl blasted Richardson for being “homophobic” in a letter and started fundraising for Orepeza.
The charges stem from an incident ten years ago when Richardson ran and lost to openly lay Gerrie Schipske for a State Assembly seat in Long Beach. Kuehl’s letter yesterday charged that Richardson’s campaign mailers during that race “were filled with homophobic hate speech so shocking that many of her biggest supporters withdrew their endorsements of her candidacy.” Capitol Weekly:
The mailer, sent by Richardson during her 1996 Assembly run against Gerrie Schipske, accused her opponent of being “committed to the radical gay agenda” and “strongly backed by ultra-liberal Santa Monica Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl, the Assembly’s only openly gay member.”
The mailer was so aggressive that it cost Richardson support, said Parke Skelton, a consultant to both Kuehl and Oropeza. “A number of [Richardson’s] major supporters saw that and withdrew their endorsements,” he said.
Though ten years have passed, but the wound still seethes for Kuehl. Richardson’s team declined to respond, but Jasmyne Cannick, a well known out African American political activist “says Richardson’s positions has been distorted.”
“Richardson is not homophobic. Ten years ago was 10 years ago, and a lot can happen in that span of time, including education and new sense of right and wrong. Ten years ago, Richardson looked at things differently as it related to the gay community and in that 10 years, she’s changed,” Cannick said.
“So is she going to be labeled as homophobic forever? Not to mention the fact that gay and lesbian issues aren’t the end all in this race,” added Cannick, an aide to Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton.
They may not have been in this race before, but they are now. And has she changed in the last 10 years? MadProfessor over at dailykos took a look at her record.
As far as MadProfessahcan discern, Richardson is not a co-sponsor of any of the California LGBT community’s major legislative priorities in the State Legislature: Mark Leno’s AB 43 (Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act) or Kuehl’s SB 777 (Student Civil Rights Act) or John Laird’s AB 14 (Civil Rights Act of 2007). A lack of such sponsorship does not mean that she’s homophobic, but since most of the Democratic caucus is signed on to all or at least one of these pieces of legislation it is significant that Richardson’s name is nowhere to be seen, especially considering she represents a district which is putting on the third largest gay and lesbian pride celebration in the country this weekend.
Today, Cannick posted multiple pictures of Richardson appearing with Black LGBT activists as well as a picture of Kuehl herself appearing with Richardson from 2006. It appears as if Richardson AND Kuehl have some “splainin” to do. So far silent in the dispute is State Senator Jenny Oropeza, who may be waiting to see how the dispute between the African American and LGBT communities shakes out and hope that bolsters her candidacy.
If this story leaps beyond the insider CapWeekly, to the mainstream news Richardson will have to talk about her support for GLBT issues. Kuehl is no shrinking violet and will not back down from this battle. Thus far Kuehl has only raised $1,655 for Oropeza on ActBlue. This campaign is only a few weeks old and it is already getting nasty. I expect there will be way more to come. An open Congressional seat doesn’t happen all that often.
