THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Whether it is pushing for openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin's re-election bid in Wisconsin, or Tom Dart's under-dog efforts for Illinois Treasurer, Bauer does not hold back his opinions on key races. Which is why, as part of our Windy City Times election coverage, we sat down with Bauer to get his opinion on the Nov. 5 elections.

See ww.WindyCityTimes.com for last week's interviews with Equality Illinois and Personal PAC representatives.

WCT: Let's start with U.S. Senate, where incumbent Dick Durbin has made major efforts on behalf of the gay community and AIDS issues. He has a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign.

MB: I would like to talk about the U.S. Senate broadly first, because I think, as a community, we have a vested interest in maintaining a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. And this year there are about seven or eight Senate seats that are very much in play around the country.

WCT: Is this one considered one of those?

MB: Not at all. Durbin's seat is considered to be very safe. We have a couple of Democratic incumbents. Paul Wellstone in Minnesota--our community would never have a better friend than Paul Wellstone. Wellstone is very much struggling in his re-election. Jean Carnahan of Missouri, who replaced her husband when he died in a plane crash during the 2000 election. Tim Johnson in South Dakota. Those are three Democratic incumbents. On the other hand, probably in Arkansas there is going to be a Democratic pickup where Mark Pryor is to take out Sen. Tim Hutchinson. Sen. Hutchinson, who is one of the great leaders of the religious right Republicans in the Senate, ended up divorcing his wife and marrying one of his staff aides a couple of years ago, which did not go over well in Arkansas. In New Hampshire, it looks increasingly likely that there will be a Democratic pick up with Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, who is running for the seat that is vacated by Bob Smith, who probably gets as bad as they do on GLBT issues. She is actually openly embracing support from our community. It's a Republican seat in a Republican state but she was Governor for three terms. Part of what happened is in the Republican primary one of the Congressmen from New Hampshire, John Sununu Jr., son of the former White House chief of staff, took on Bob Smith for re-election, and beat him in the primary. Smith is actually waging an unofficial write-in campaign. So with the Republicans in disarray, Gov. Shaheen is going to go through.

The reason all of this is so important to us is that with the federal government in the hands of conservative Republicans and the U.S. House most likely going to stay pretty much in the hands of Republicans, give or take a few seats, we have to maintain control of the Senate. Control of the Senate helps us block bad legislation, horrific judicial nominations. And those judicial nominations are probably going to get much worse in the next two years as we find multiple Supreme Court vacancies. And these judges, once they get confirmed to the bench, can stay on for decades. William Rehnquist was first appointed to the Supreme Court by Richard Nixon. That shows you how many years you can last and how long an effect you can have. By Democrats being in control of the Senate, they have voted down some very bad nominations of judicial nominees put up by Bush who have been extremely anti-progressive, anti-choice, homophobic. By the fact that Democrats control the judiciary committee, many judicial nominations of bad candidates are being held up. It also helps most of the bad legislation that we used to see. For example, there used to be all sorts of restrictions on the District of Columbia appropriations bill, limiting the right to use funds for domestic-partnership benefits, syringe availability and needle exchange, all that stuff is happening with Tom Daschle as majority leader.

WCT: Do you think Durbin is going to have any kind of problem with the name on the ballot issue ( his opponent's last name is Durkin ) ?

MB: I don't think Durbin will have a problem. I think Sen. Durbin is extremely well respected, is extremely well liked, he speaks with great thoughtfulness and my guess is Durbin will easily lead the ticket.

WCT: Do you have any sense his opposition is using his vote against Bush's increased war powers against Durbin?

MB: Yes. And obviously that came up in the Sun-Times endorsement. I think the Iraq situation is a difficult issue for many Democrats and clearly when Sen. Durbin spoke on the floor of the Senate he had given a great deal of thought to this issue. I think that is why we elect public officials, to give great thought to these things, and to do what they think is right. I think ultimately it will not have much effect on him at the ballot.

WCT: He seems to be one of the strongest allies on gay issues in the Senate. He is seen as a leader on AIDS and gay issues in the Senate.

MB: Durbin is phenomenal. Certainly of all the people in politics, the person I am closest with is Sen. Durbin. He has come a very very long way on these issues since he first got elected to the U.S. House years ago.

WCT: How has that happened? He is representing an entire state, so he could have stayed a little bit more on the conservative end.

MB: If you know Durbin, you will find he is a very thoughtful, inquiring individual. About a year and a half ago, I brought him over to Howard Brown Health Center for a visit, for him to see the facility and to find out what programs they use federal funds for, and what else they need. Durbin kept asking Courtney Reid, who was the acting executive director, a myriad of questions on HIV and AIDS funding issues. He is a thoughtful, deep person. One of the things that has brought him along on gay and lesbian issues is his supporters from our community.

One of the things I think has had a tremendous impact on HIV and AIDS issues was, about two and a half years ago, he spent 10 days in Sub-Saharan Africa on a Congressional fact-finding trip on the AIDS crisis. He came back a different person than when he left. He was very, very taken aback by how horrific the crisis is in Africa and how little we are doing about it. And that has caused him to be more assertive about doing something about the global AIDS crisis, but also to become much more aware of what is going on in the United States.

WCT: A lot of the Congressional candidates in Chicago are not facing serious competition, but I know John Shimkus vs. David Phelps downstate is an interesting race [ they were re-mapped into one district, so the two anti-gay candidates, both with HRC ratings of 17%, are facing off; Phelps is the Democrat ] .

MB: Well, you know the two Congressional races tend to be the Shimkus/Phelps race downstate and the Hank Perritt/Mark Kirk race in the north suburban 10th District. I've made it a crusade of mine going after Congressman Phelps. My original issue with Phelps is in May he was one of six co-sponsors to call for a Marriage amendment that was introduced into the U.S. House to say marriage is an institution between a man and a woman and to overturn any federal, state or local laws that were in contradiction--that includes civil unions, domestic partnership, gay adoptions ... all that would be declared unconstitutional with this amendment.

This amendment is the inspiration of Mr. Phelps. He is not just one of the six co-sponsors, this was all his idea. This is pretty evil legislation and I think this goes well beyond the bounds of decency. In addition, there was a bill that just got voted down in the House on allowing religious institutions to be involved in partisan political activity. Again, Phelps was one of the sponsors of this bill. I don't think you will see Mr. Shimkis' voting record is much better than Mr. Phelps, but at least he is not co-sponsoring this legislation and pushing its passage. I think what Phelps did on the federal marriage amendment is nothing other than pandering to a certain right-wing vote and I think it is unconscionable that a Democrat would try using the GLBT community as a scapegoat in this day and age.

WCT: Have you had any progress in getting the Democratic Party to keep him in line?

MB: I certainly said my opinion and I have taken this to all sort of members of the Congressional delegation, including the minority leader Richard Gephardt. With the ballot in the House so close, I think they are all concerned about what to do. Everyone who I have spoken to regards his co-sponsorship in this to be stupid. The amendment itself is going nowhere. I still think it is important to make sure he loses this re-election. It sends a message that pandering like this won't work.

WCT: What about the 10th District, where an openly gay candidate, Hank Perritt, is running against a moderate Republican, Mark Kirk, who has just a 67% rating from HRC this last Congress, and yet who has HRC's backing?

MB: I've known Hank Perritt since shortly after I moved to Chicago. When Hank was thinking about running for Congress, ... we talked about two issues: where his votes would come from and where his money would come from. My concern at the time of this race was if you go back to previous election cycle when John Porter was vacating the seat, Lauren Beth Gash was running against Mark Kirk and in that race Lauren had strong support from two key constituencies up there--the Pro-Israel community and the Pro-Choice women. She was almost a poster child for both. When Hank and I sat down to talk about this race, I told him it was my understanding that the Pro-Israel Jewish community and the Pro-Choice women were very big on Mark Kirk. Indeed, since he didn't understand why they were so big on Mark Kirk, I ended up setting up a conference call with the executive director of a political group that has a three-part agenda, one of which is support of Israel, the second is Pro-Choice. We did a conference call and she explained why the Pro-Israel and Pro-Choice community is so big on Mark Kirk. And it is not just support, it is very strong, passionate support. So the problem starts from a viability perspective. You take those constituencies that are very big in the 10th CD and you move them from the Democratic column to the Republican column, suddenly it becomes difficult to understand how you even have a chance of winning. Hank ran into a problem within the gay community and the problem he ran into in the gay community was HRC ended up endorsing Mark Kirk and the Victory Fund decided to take a pass on this race and to do no endorsement whatsoever.

WCT: Why would Victory Fund do that--they back only gay candidates?

MB: Actually, I sat on the Victory Fund board for five years. Why they did it I am not sure. All I can tell you is the time that Hank and I sat down I told him that the Victory Fund endorsement was extremely important to him for two reasons: From a credibility perspective, enough people are familiar with the Victory Fund, even outside the gay community, that he needed their endorsement to have that stamp of viability on his forehead. And No. 2, their endorsement would open up the doors to tens of thousands of gay and lesbian dollars around the country, of people who would support a gay candidate coming out of our community. And the best example of that was Tammy Baldwin. When Tammy Baldwin ran, the fact that she was endorsed by the Victory Fund meant she was flooded with support from around the country.

This leads me to the second part of the issue--the money.

The unfortunate thing in politics is often times the bottom line is the bottom line. And the fact is he didn't get the endorsement. When it comes to the money perspective, he suggested that he thought where his funds would come from is out of the gay community in Chicago, because the gay community would just be delighted to have an openly gay candidate for Congress. While I agree with him that the gay community would want an openly gay candidate for Congress, there are two problems. No. 1, he wasn't known in the gay community. He had no history in the gay community. And when you have no history it makes it difficult to raise money. Problem No. 2: even if he had a history, the kind of dollars he was talking about for a Congressional race are not the kind of dollars we are able to raise in Chicago. With all due respect, I don't think there is anyone in the gay community who has a better idea of the gay political dollars than I do, and I think for him to raise the significant gay political dollars he needed, he'd have to be raising it around the country. Without the Victory Fund endorsement, and with HRC, the Pro-Choice women's groups, the Pro-Israel Jewish groups all pushing Mark Kirk heavily, I think the issue becomes not a question of fairness, it is a question of viability. Hank is a very bright, articulate individual. I just don't see any way to make these numbers work.

WCT: Any other Congressional races you want to deal with before we go to statewide?

MB: Tammy Baldwin is highly significant because she is the first person to run as an open member from our community and get elected to the United States Congress. Now, Tammy at one point was in big trouble with the re-election this year. Because of redistricting, her district has 40 percent new voters who have never been exposed to her. The challenge for her was getting these voters to know her before her opponent, who makes no bones about being a gay basher, labels her as 'the lesbian.' There was a point where Tammy's race looked difficult. But certainly Madison is so close to Chicago, people looking for a great race to work up to or on election day ... it's Tammy Baldwin.

Her opponent is an African-American fireman who I believe got fired from the fire department [ for homophobic remarks ] , the same guy who has run against her before. He is a real homophobe. We are not talking about a Republican with real conservative views. We are talking about a homophobe. And I think when you have got homophobes, you've got to label them what they are and you've got to make sure they are not successful. So protecting our beachheads, and Tammy Baldwin is one of our beachheads, if we don't protect her, other people around the country are going to be afraid to run. If we protect her, especially on her third time, she's probably locked in for as long as she wants, we will encourage other people around the country to be running.

WCT: Let's move to Illinois statewide offices. There was such division on the Democratic side in the primary--what is your sense in the general election?

MB: Clearly one of the wonderful things about the Democrats is we have somewhat of a richness of choices in the primary. With the exception of the 1998 gubernatorial race, generally all the candidates in the Democratic primary have been strong supporters of our community. This is a good thing for us. In the general election between Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan, Rod has been such a long-standing supporter of our community, both politically and personally--going back to the years he was in the state House. This is a great race for us. With Rod Blagojevich as Governor, we are one of the interests represented at the so-called table.

WCT: And do you sense a passion out there from the gay community for this election?

MB: Actually I don't. I sense a real lethargy over this election for reasons that are difficult to figure out.

WCT: There was such passion against the Glenn Poshard race four years ago--is it because there is no real debate now?

MB: I think part of it is because there was such passion in 1998 because Congressman Poshard ... he said to my face that he doesn't need us, that he can win without us. He neither wanted our votes nor did he have any interest in trying to understand or support any of our issues. In the current governor's race, the real difficulty other than a blip in the spring is that any issues related to our community have not hit on the horizon. I think by the fact that issues of concern to us haven't come up to the political horizon, that there is a lot of laid-back attitude.

WCT: How about Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State and Treasurer?

MB: I see the other statewide race that affects us heavily is the attorney general's race. The attorney general is a person who enforces Illinois law, the advocate for people in Illinois. And the choice between Lisa Madigan and Birkett is black and white. Lisa is a not just a strong vote in the Illinois Senate, she has been a strong advocate and a passionate supporter of HIV/AIDS issues, issues related to government recognition of same-sex relationships, of anti-discrimination issues, and of a woman's right to choose. Birkett ... I asked Joe Birkett publicly a couple of weeks ago at the first debate between Lisa Madigan and Joe Birkett at City Club whether he would lobby Republican members of the legislature to support passage of the gay-rights bill, HB 101. And he said he has no problem enforcing a law that he is personally opposed to. Just as he has no problem enforcing laws related to abortion, even though he is opposed to it. By his answer, he was telling me he is personally opposed to passage of HB 101. We are obviously not on his radar screen. He opposes a woman's right to an abortion even in the case of rape and incest. I think when you look at the choice of who do we want to be the state's top law enforcement agent, the choice is pretty black and white, and I think Lisa Madigan will be a terrific attorney general. With Lisa Madigan, our issues will be absolutely on her agenda.

WCT: Do you have any concern over the role of her father, Speaker of the House Mike Madigan, in terms of her independence?

MB: Personally, I don't. But that's also because I recognize that politics, particularly in Illinois, is what it is. Politics in this state is very much a family business. Let's face it. If we are going to start talking about people and their family ties, many of our Democratic candidates are there as a result of family ties. Lisa has actually, in the Illinois Senate, voted against her father on a couple of key bills that he was supporting. I think this issue of her father is basically a bogeyman. I also am not sure how he became the so-called devil incarnate that much of the progressive community makes him out to be. Although I don't think anyone would want to put the label "liberal" on him, because he's not, he has actually been much more supportive of our community than many people want to recognize or acknowledge.

WCT: The other race that provides a debate is the treasurer's race. There are strong letters of support that we are getting from both sides of this. Topinka's visibility is high in the gay community. But as Tom Dart says, looking at the records, there is not really a comparison at all on political issues or gay issues or HIV issues even. And the ratings from AFC show that as well. What's your role with Dart's folks and what's your take on what's been happening with that race?

MB: I am somewhat involved in Tom's campaign. I am supporting Tom. I had the opportunity to give Tom advice on a regular basis. I think Tom's race is a tough race, among other things it is tough to identify issues that are relevant to the state treasurer's race that apply to us as a community. It is easy to understand those issues in the gubernatorial race and the attorney general's race. They're impossible to understand in the treasurer's race. And the incumbent treasurer has been extremely visible in our community. I think what many people in our community refer to is her voting record back when she was in the Illinois House, where she had a particular bad voting record on a women's right to choose. Tom has been a very strong and consistent supporter of gay and lesbian issues, of a woman's right to choose. I assume the volume of letters are inspired by those who play inside baseball. And the fact of the matter is, for most people in our community, I think the race is not on anyone's radar screen. It is tough to get attention to that race.

WCT: Do you believe Topinka has made progress on her personal opinions now that she is treasurer? She's helped with the Center on Halsted. She's helped with visibility with some programs, people in the AIDS community say she helped pushing for increased AIDS funding.

MB: These situations are very difficult to gauge because they're intangibles. She's certainly obviously very comfortable in a GLBT setting, which says something about any political figure. Presumably, it says something about some Republicans, because she has staff who are openly gay. And by her personal style she certainly embraces us as a community. The fact of the matter is, it has been years since she actually had to deal with it on a substantive basis. I have no idea whether her positions have evolved from when she was in the Illinois House or whether her positions are still the same.

WCT: Secretary of State does not seem to be a ...

MB: Secretary of State Jesse White is a long-time friend of our community and he is blessed with an opponent that allows him to coast to re-election. I'll say the same thing about Dan Hynes. The Comptroller is a long-time friend of our community's.

WCT: Are there key state Senate race you are involved in?

MB: The state Senate is critical to us because currently the state Senate not only has a Republican majority, but the President of the Senate is Pate Philip from DuPage County, who, when it comes to right-wing Republicans, he is right there. We have the opportunity to switch two votes in the State Senate, to replace Pate Philip as President with Sen. Emil Jones, who is a strong supporter, a strong voice. With Sen. Jones and many of the other Democrats we talked about, we will be one of the constituencies at the proverbial table that he will listen to, that he will seek our advice on and will be supportive in pushing issues of significance to us. The key becomes getting those two votes for Sen. Jones. The No. 1 Senate race I am involved with is Susan Garrett's in the 29th District. Susan Garrett, the current Illinois state rep. from Lake Forest, is running against the incumbent Republican, Kathleen Parker. Garrett is bright, articulate, likable--a strong supporter of ours, and she is going to win that race. That is the No. 1 race for the Senate Democrats in the state of Illinois. There is another Senate race that actually looks like it is really over, where another Democratic Senator is going to be elected ... Don Harmon. Harmon is running for a new Senate seat just west of the city that covers part of Oak Park and Melrose Park. His Republican opponent just dropped out. Don is running for the first time as state senator. He is a strong supporter of GLBT issues and a women's right to choose [ he also received 100% from the AIDS Foundation ] , and no doubt he will be another strong voice and vote for us in the Illinois Senate.

WCT: For the House, have you any opinion at all on incumbent Rep. Sara Feigenholtz's gay Republican opposition, Michael Weiler [ he did not return AFC's questionnaire ] ?

MB: I have never met him. But it is hard to imagine someone who is a stronger, more effective voice on our issues than Sara Feigenholtz.

WCT: Now, the Cook County board--a lot of the races were decided in the primary. Are any of them significant?

MB: The County board is significant because the County has a huge operating budget and under its jurisdiction is the Cook County Hospital, which is where many women of Cook County go to have an abortion. So it is one thing to say a women has a legal right to an abortion, but if abortions are not actually available, what good is that legal right? They can't exercise them. The fact that it wasn't that many years ago that County Hospital first started performing abortions, and to both maintain that policy and expand the availability of abortions to women at County, makes the County board highly significant. The primary settled some tough races like Forrest Claypool and Larry Suffredin. The good race that everyone's looking at right now is in the northwest suburbs with Brian McPartlin and Carl Hansen. McPartlin was part of the Clinton administration for years. He is a very bright, hard campaigner and I am not involved in that race but I have known Brian for years, and many people think he will win this. Hansen is bad news for us. No doubt if Brian wins, he will be a strong supporter in the Cook County Board. ...

If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and decides that a women's right to an abortion is to be decided on a state-by-state basis, ask candidates 'What do you think the law in Illinois should be as to a women's right to choose?' ... Many people who define themselves as Pro-Choice tend to have problems with three general issues related to the abortion question: parental notification, so-called partial birth abortion and Medicaid funding of abortion for women. ... Why is it the government feels competent to say this is one type of surgery for which government funds should not be available?