Wednesday, September 04, 2002

posted 9/04/2002 01:38:00 PM by Daniel   0 comments

Can it get any more pathetic than this?

Under heavy pressure from religious conservatives, Bill Simon has retracted the questionnaire he filled out for Log Cabin Republicans regarding gay issues. According to this Los Angeles Times article [requires free registration]:

"Someone answered it for me," Simon told reporters during a campaign stop at the Calvary Christian Center in Sacramento. "I did not review or approve that questionnaire." ... Simon spokesman Mark Miner said a campaign employee used an "auto-pen" to put Simon's signature on the response. Many of the Simon responses were written in the first person. ...

So what is the name of the campaign employee who Simon fired for forging his name to the Log Cabin survey? What's that? There is no name? And no one has specifically been fired for the forgery? Is it standard operating procedure in the Simon campaign to answer surveys with no input or approval from the candidate, and then disavow the answers if they generate too much political heat? Does Simon stand behind all the other questionnaires his campaign has responded to in his name, or are those answers also worthless if they turn out to be controversial?

Of course it took a week for Simon to come up with this hokey explanation, during which time the L.A. Times reports that Traditional Values chairman, the Rev. Louis Sheldon, said he had been so upset by the questionnaire response that he spoke to Simon about it at least 10 times over the last six days. In full damage-control mode, Bill Simon is spinning that he "clarified my position immediately." But the San Francisco Chronicle points out that no such clarification came up last week when Simon appeared in Sacramento and San Francisco. At that time, he said he stood by his positions on domestic partners, workplace discrimination and adoption by gay couples, although he said he might re-evaluate his support for a Gay Pride Day.

At least with Gray Davis, you know where he stands on the issues: With his campaign contributors.

Bill Simon's convictions depend on whoever last had access to his auto-pen, and Simon finds out what he believes in when he reads the next day's newspaper.