Help by Gays May Hurt His Campaign, Davis Thinks

Even if Ed Davis loses on June 3, his campaign for the U.S. Senate is assured a place in California political lore as the first major statewide Republican race in which gay organizations played a significant role.

The gay community has contributed more than $30,000 to the Davis campaign, and some supporters have sponsored mailings urging gay Democrats to switch party registration and vote for Davis in the GOP primary. The campaign has also benefitted from volunteers attracted by Davis’ outspoken support for gay causes, which makes him a rarity among conservative Republicans in the state.

At a recent Century City dinner, the Davis campaign’s largest fund-raising event of the year, “the two biggest interest groups were probably cops and gays,” said Frank Ricchiazzi, executive director of CIRCL-PAC, a gay Republican political action committee in Los Angeles.

With Davis, a state senator from Valencia and former Los Angeles police chief, fading in a recent poll and out of money for a final television push, the wisdom of his welcoming gays into a visible role in a close Republican primary could be challenged.

Davis acknowledged Wednesday night, following an appearance before the gay-oriented Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles, that the gay connection has probably hurt his chances of winning the nomination to oppose U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston in November.

“From a money standpoint, I’d say it’s a negative,” Davis said. “From a vote standpoint I’d say it’s a negative. . . . This certainly can’t be a plus for me.”

But Davis, who is 69, crossed that line in 1984 when he cast the key state Senate vote for a bill banning job discrimination against homosexuals and launched a personal campaign to reform the way many Republicans and their party view gays.

The position cost Davis a cadre of long-time backers, and by his estimates, the campaign contributions raised at small fund-raising events in homes of gays and from gay community groups have not made up the loss.

But Davis, as he has repeated time and again since the 1984 vote, said the political won-and-lost column matters less than doing the right thing.

‘Follow Your Conscience’

“You’ve got to follow your conscience,” Davis said Wednesday night. “Standard politicians do things differently than I do.”

Again Wednesday he told how he scolded a “born-again” Christian who favors job discrimination against gays for wanting to “starve” gays. “If they can’t work, how do they eat?” Davis asked.

Davis has appeared several times before gay groups during the campaign. He spoke last week at a gay Republican club in San Francisco and at a Hollywood Hills reception attended by gay community leaders.

Although it is difficult to tell how much money has been raised from gay sources, Davis finance chairman Craig Simmons said he believes about $30,000 to $35,000 in contributions can be traced to the gay community. Overall, the Davis campaign, which has lagged behind several other Republican candidates, has raised about $600,000, far behind the $1.5 million Davis said would be needed to win.

The gay community share includes $5,000 from the Municipal Elections Committee of Los Angeles, an influential group that includes gays and non-gay supporters of strong individual rights, and $3,000 from the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a New York political action committee that gets most of its money from gays. Both groups usually donate heavily to Democrats and seldom to Republicans.

Most Donations Small

Most of the rest was raised at small events given by gay supporters in Los Angeles and San Francisco or through mail solicitations, Simmons said. Fewer than half a dozen figures identified with the gay community have given the maximum $1,000 allowed under federal law for individuals, so many of the contributions have been small.

Simmons credits two Los Angeles Republicans, Andy Jelmert and Michael Locke, with leading the Davis effort in gay circles. Jelmert ran for the state Assembly in 1984 with help from Davis, and Locke was his campaign manager.

The two men held a fund-raising reception for Davis in their Los Feliz home last year and have helped organize six other events to raise money and to rally gay Republicans behind Davis, Locke said.

They have enjoyed only mixed success, Locke said, because many gays believe that Davis had voted for gay causes for political expediency. “But the facts show it’s just not true. Ed has gone a long way to build bridges for people like us,” said Locke, a delegate to the state party convention this year.

Win Cursory Acceptance

The Davis campaign has encouraged gay Republicans who have only recently won even cursory acceptance in state party circles. Gay-oriented Log Cabin Republican clubs around the state now hold official party status, but few of the U.S. Senate candidates have appeared before them this year.

“The guy has really been a trooper,” said Ricchiazzi, the former president of the Log Cabin Club of Los Angeles.

Davis strengthened his position in the gay community last year by publicly branding as “odious” and un-American a demand by New Right minister Tim LaHaye that Senate candidates reject contributions from gays.