Earlier today, BiPM reported on the Human RIghts Campaign inexplicable endorsement of Susan Collins over Tom Allen in the Maine Senate race.
I fired off a note to HRC and surprisingly, received a response from Lisette Fee, Member Services Manager.
I can't say the response left me with warm and fuzzies.
Their first arguments was not surprising..."Why does HRC endorse Republican candidates?" It would seem that the thought that Susan Collins was selected specifically so that HRC could say that they are bi-partisan was right on the money. If this is is their primary argument for the Collins endorsement, I think it speaks volumes.
I won't try and take issue with groups like HRC endorsing Republican candidates. There may be a few worthy ones out there, I don't believe this race is one of those, however.
The second section in their response "Why did HRC endorse Sen. Susan Collins of Maine?" speaks specifically to her support of GLBT issues: opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment; support for bans on workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; support for hate crimes amendment.
However, they justification is silent on the two failures of Sen. Collins on HRC's own congressional scorecard: voting to confirm Judge Samuel Alito; not co-sponsoring the Uniting American Families Act.
Given these 2 failures and the 100% rating received by Rep. Tom Allen in their past 3 congressional scorecards, I find their response and justification lacking.
So far, HRC has done nothing to dispel the opinion that they are more concerned with their own well being than they are with the well being of the GLBT community at large.