New County GOP Activist Wants to Revoke Homosexual Club’s Charter

A newly elected member of the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee has caused a controversy by urging it to revoke the charter of the predominantly homosexual Log Cabin Republican Club of Los Angeles County.

“I believe that by recognizing this special-interest group, the county committee is making it look as though this group is representative of Republicans,” Glenn Abel, who was elected to the committee last November, said Wednesday.

“I do not feel these people (the Log Cabin Club members) should be seen as representing me or the party,” said Abel, a 24-year-old college student.

Abel said he has written a letter to three people running for chairman of the county committee, demanding that they take a position on whether the Log Cabin club’s charter should be revoked.

The issue will come up Monday night when the 225 committee members meet to reorganize for the next two-year cycle.

The committee is an official activist group that participates in state Republican Party policy matters. Committee Chairman Robert Whitmore said in an interview Wednesday that the granting of a charter two years ago to the homosexual group was an extremely controversial decision and that many committee members are still uneasy about it.

‘A Touchy Issue’

Some members, he said, “did not want to grant the charter to these people. It’s a touchy issue and the party is trying to cope with it.”

Abel said that attached to his letter to the three candidates for the chairmanship is an article from a San Francisco gay publication that he said describes the homosexual life style.

That enclosure infuriated Whitmore, a retired Security Pacific National Bank vice president who is running for reelection as committee chair.

“What Mr. Abel included with his letter was glaringly descriptive (of the homosexual life style),” Whitmore said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “My wife picked it up, and I took it away from her. I did not want her to read it.

“It was in very poor taste to include that, and I don’t know what purpose is served.”

The Log Cabin Republican Club was chartered by the county committee as an independent GOP club after several years of effort.

Log Cabin club members view the granting of the charter as a recognition of their efforts to promote the Republican Party, according to club political director Frank Ricchiazzi.

‘Working Hard’

“We are proud to be Republicans and we are working hard to promote the party in the gay community,” Ricchiazzi said Wednesday. “We strongly supported Ed Zschau for U.S. Senate. If they want to go after somebody for not being Republican enough, they should talk to (state Sen.) H. L. Richardson. He refused to back Zschau.”

Ricchiazzi said the club has 350 members.

Whitmore was chairman of the county Republican Central Committee when it voted to grant the charter to the Log Cabin club.

“They were chartered after an exhaustive procedure,” Whitmore said. “They met all the requirements, and I promised to the committee members that if the Log Cabin club did anything out of the ordinary, I would rescind the charter forthwith.

“In my opinion they have been doing what they were supposed to do. They have supported Republican candidates and they have helped raise money.”