Tim Gill's donations have made Washington more tolerant
12:27 PM
If the domestic partnership bill becomes law this year as expected, there will no doubt be celebratory gatherings in Seattle and other cities as there was last year when the civil rights law finally passed.
If it happens, we could expect to see at the Seattle gathering most members of the legislature's informal gay caucus along several pastors and rabbis from Religious Coalition for Equality There would also be the by-now standard parade of executive directors from an alphabet soup of agencies. One name that we probably wouldn't hear and one face that we certainly wouldn't see is that of reclusive Denver philanthropist and former software entrepeneur Tim Gill. We won't hear from him, but if the bill passes, he might deserve as much credit as any of those who take the podium during the celebration.
Gill is profiled in a long article in the current Atlantic Monthly. Former Washington Blade editor and now blogger Chris Craine reflects on his importance to gay politics here and here.
The Atlantic mentions that Washington was one of nine states where Gill targeted contributions in local legislative races that he thought could tip the balance of state control to a more gay-friendly majority. According to the article, the consultants at Gill's action fund compiled a national list of "seventy races in which a key antigay candidate was vulnerable or the outcome of a race was likely to affect control of the legislature."
The article doesn't explain how the Gill Fund affected state races, especially not the ones here in Washington. But a search of Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) records tells more of the story.
In Washington, Gill gave moderate contributions to six candidates, according to Public Disclosure Commission records:
That's an interesting list of candidates. All of them also recieved donations from Equal Rights Washington (ERW) PAC. Five of the six got contributions from Washington Won't Discriminate (WWD), a group that was formed to counter an expected initiative to invalidate last year's civil right law. After the anti-rights initiative failed to get on the ballot, WWD disbanded and distributed the money it had raised to candidates.
Rodney Tom was one of the candidates endorsed by both ERW and SEAMEC, the Seattle Metropolitan Elections Committee. He's a former-Republican turned Democrat who voted for the LGT civil-right bill when he was in the house and ran against conservative Republican Luke Esser for an open senate seat.
Like Tom, Oemig was ran as a Democrat in an eastside district that had long sent only Republicans to Olympia. In its endorsement of Oemig, the PI noted that Oemeg's GOP opponent "votes against the district's interests on too many important issues, including transportation, school funding and gay civil rights."
Oemig eventually won the seat that had been relinquished by Bill Finkbeiner, a Republican who shocked his caucus in 2005 by casting the deciding vote that allowed the LGT civil rights bill to squeak through despite votes against it by a few Democrats.
The election of Tom and Oemig, along with Derek Kilmer's victory in Kitsap County helped the Democrats gain a more solid majority in the senate. Although it's still not certain to pass in the upper house, it's unlikely the domestic partnership bill would have made it through this year without that extra margin.
Without the extra margin of tolerance that the election of Tom, Oemig, and Kilmer provide, the GOP might, instead, have been able to push through its marriage-discrimination amendment this year.
It looks like Gill picked just the kind of tipping-point candidates described in the Atlantic article.
But still, whatever the significance of the candidates Gill contributed to, $675 is barely enough to make a ripple in campaign funding. It might print a small stack of yard signs or a few stacks of campaign brochures, but it isn't significant by itself. Both Tom and Oemeg won razor-thin victories, however, which means that even small infusions of cash might have made a difference.
An oddity in the contribution figures for those six candidates demonstrates the kind of networking described in the Atlantic article: Most of the candidates on Gill's list also show $675 donations from the same group of six out-of-state donors. In each case, those out-of-staters donated only to candidates on Gill's own list. Some of them donated only to four or five of the Gill-supported candidates.
We've combined the donations of those six out-of-staters into the "Gill group" column in this table. It also shows amounts donated by the Equal Rights Washington (ERW) PAC, by Washington Won't Discriminate (WWD), and by Vashon Island donor George Heidorn, a retired Microsoft engineer, who is one of ERW's largest donors.
Here's more background on four of the contributors that we've identified as the "Gill group" in this table. WWD, ERW PAC, and Heidorn all donated to a far broader list of legislative candidates.
$4725 tips toward a significant contribution amount for any candidate. When combined with donations from other LGBT-supportive donors, the amounts given by that group of out-of-staters begins to give financial teeth to the "gay agenda" that right-wing groups have often propped up as more powerful and significant than it usually was.
If it happens, we could expect to see at the Seattle gathering most members of the legislature's informal gay caucus along several pastors and rabbis from Religious Coalition for Equality There would also be the by-now standard parade of executive directors from an alphabet soup of agencies. One name that we probably wouldn't hear and one face that we certainly wouldn't see is that of reclusive Denver philanthropist and former software entrepeneur Tim Gill. We won't hear from him, but if the bill passes, he might deserve as much credit as any of those who take the podium during the celebration.
Gill is profiled in a long article in the current Atlantic Monthly. Former Washington Blade editor and now blogger Chris Craine reflects on his importance to gay politics here and here.
The Atlantic mentions that Washington was one of nine states where Gill targeted contributions in local legislative races that he thought could tip the balance of state control to a more gay-friendly majority. According to the article, the consultants at Gill's action fund compiled a national list of "seventy races in which a key antigay candidate was vulnerable or the outcome of a race was likely to affect control of the legislature."
The article doesn't explain how the Gill Fund affected state races, especially not the ones here in Washington. But a search of Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) records tells more of the story.
In Washington, Gill gave moderate contributions to six candidates, according to Public Disclosure Commission records:
| Candidate | Dist/Chamb | DP Spon? | Gill contrib. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oemig, Eric | 45-S | Y | 675 |
| Tom, Rodney | 48-S | Y | 675 |
| Kilmer, Derek | 26-S | N | 675 |
| Seaquest, Larry | 26-H | N | 675 |
| Eddy, Deborah | 48-H | Y | 675 |
| Green, Tami | 28-H | N | 675 |
That's an interesting list of candidates. All of them also recieved donations from Equal Rights Washington (ERW) PAC. Five of the six got contributions from Washington Won't Discriminate (WWD), a group that was formed to counter an expected initiative to invalidate last year's civil right law. After the anti-rights initiative failed to get on the ballot, WWD disbanded and distributed the money it had raised to candidates.
Rodney Tom was one of the candidates endorsed by both ERW and SEAMEC, the Seattle Metropolitan Elections Committee. He's a former-Republican turned Democrat who voted for the LGT civil-right bill when he was in the house and ran against conservative Republican Luke Esser for an open senate seat.
Like Tom, Oemig was ran as a Democrat in an eastside district that had long sent only Republicans to Olympia. In its endorsement of Oemig, the PI noted that Oemeg's GOP opponent "votes against the district's interests on too many important issues, including transportation, school funding and gay civil rights."
Oemig eventually won the seat that had been relinquished by Bill Finkbeiner, a Republican who shocked his caucus in 2005 by casting the deciding vote that allowed the LGT civil rights bill to squeak through despite votes against it by a few Democrats.
The election of Tom and Oemig, along with Derek Kilmer's victory in Kitsap County helped the Democrats gain a more solid majority in the senate. Although it's still not certain to pass in the upper house, it's unlikely the domestic partnership bill would have made it through this year without that extra margin.
Without the extra margin of tolerance that the election of Tom, Oemig, and Kilmer provide, the GOP might, instead, have been able to push through its marriage-discrimination amendment this year.
It looks like Gill picked just the kind of tipping-point candidates described in the Atlantic article.
"The strategic piece of the puzzle we'd been missing -- consistent across almost every legislature we examined -- is that it's often just a handful of people, two or three, who introduce the most outrageous legislation and force the rest of their colleagues to vote on it," Gill explained. "If you could reach these few people or neutralize them by flipping the chamber to leaders who would block bad legislation, you?d have a dramatic effect."All of the candidates that Gill backed in Washington won in tight races. All of them defeated an opponent who had been a vocal opponent of equality of rights.
But still, whatever the significance of the candidates Gill contributed to, $675 is barely enough to make a ripple in campaign funding. It might print a small stack of yard signs or a few stacks of campaign brochures, but it isn't significant by itself. Both Tom and Oemeg won razor-thin victories, however, which means that even small infusions of cash might have made a difference.
An oddity in the contribution figures for those six candidates demonstrates the kind of networking described in the Atlantic article: Most of the candidates on Gill's list also show $675 donations from the same group of six out-of-state donors. In each case, those out-of-staters donated only to candidates on Gill's own list. Some of them donated only to four or five of the Gill-supported candidates.
We've combined the donations of those six out-of-staters into the "Gill group" column in this table. It also shows amounts donated by the Equal Rights Washington (ERW) PAC, by Washington Won't Discriminate (WWD), and by Vashon Island donor George Heidorn, a retired Microsoft engineer, who is one of ERW's largest donors.
| Candidate | Dist. | Spn. | Gill group | Heidorn | WWD | ERW | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oemig, Eric | 45-S | Y | 4725 | 1400 | 1400 | 1400 | 8925 |
| Tom, Rodney | 48-S | Y | 4725 | 1400 | 1400 | 1400 | 8925 |
| Kilmer, Derek | 26-S | N | 4725 | 1400 | 1400 | 1000 | 8525 |
| Seaquest, Larry | 26-H | N | 4725 | 700 | 5425 | ||
| Eddy, Deborah | 48-H | Y | 3375 | 1400 | 700 | 5475 | |
| Green, Tami | 28-H | N | 4050 | 700 | 700 | 5450 |
Here's more background on four of the contributors that we've identified as the "Gill group" in this table. WWD, ERW PAC, and Heidorn all donated to a far broader list of legislative candidates.
$4725 tips toward a significant contribution amount for any candidate. When combined with donations from other LGBT-supportive donors, the amounts given by that group of out-of-staters begins to give financial teeth to the "gay agenda" that right-wing groups have often propped up as more powerful and significant than it usually was.
Labels: HB1351, philanthropy, politics, SB5336, tim gill, Washington
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