The promotion of General Robert T. Clark has stalled in the Senate Armed Services Committee, though it is unclear exactly what is happening behind the closed-door sessions. Clark was the commanding general at Fort Campbell, Ky., when PFC Barry Winchell was murdered in his sleep in a gay bashing.
"In the wake of Winchell's murder, general Clark demonstrated the poorest leadership, issuing no statements against harassment, refusing to speak with or meet the parents of PFC Winchell, or to reassure base soldiers that harassment would not be tolerated," said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ( SLDN ) .
In the months following the murder, SLDN received scores of calls from gay service members at Fort Campbell. More than 200 soldiers were discharged from the base under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" over the remainder of the year, most voluntarily so because they feared for their own safety.
Women's groups also are opposing the promotion because of four high-profile domestic abuse homicides that occurred at Fort Campbell under Clark's command.
The Miles Foundation tracks incidence of domestic violence in the military. Executive Director Christine Hansen said they have "serious concerns as to the command climate that [ Clark ] established."
SLDN asked the Committee, chaired by Carl Levin, D-Mich., to hold an open hearing on the nomination for promotion, usually standard procedure. But it declined.
Winchell's mother, Patricia Kutteles, was outside the Committee room, to ask to speak before them. "I'm here for my son, and for every mother's child," she said.
If the opposition has not stopped Clark's promotion, at least it as slowed it down. The Committee reported out 331 non-controversial promotions Oct. 16 but took no action on Clark or one other. The Committee and ultimately the full Senate likely will address the promotion again in mid-November.
SLDN and the Human Rights Campaign are among the groups urging citizens to contact their Senators and urge them to hold an open hearing, and hopefully to oppose Clark.
Democratic members of the Committee who should be approachable include Chairman Levin, Ted Kennedy, Joe Lieberman, Max Cleland, Mary Landrieu, Daniel Akaka, Mark Dayton, Jeff Bingaman, and Kutteles' own Senator, Jean Carnahan. Those on the Republican side of the aisle include ranking member John Warner and Susan Collins.