Bush Rankles Members of Log Cabin

Members of a gay Republican group complained Saturday that their likely presidential nominee is avoiding the group’s leaders and suggested that such behavior is consistent with a political party that too often resorts to “gay bashing.”

The criticisms came during the annual two-day convention of Log Cabin California members in Laguna Beach, where Secretary of State Bill Jones and several other politicians spoke. Log Cabin comprises 11,000 members nationally, with 1,000 in California.

About 30 members met for lunch in a rooftop room of La Casa del Camino with views of the Pacific Ocean, and the discussion quickly turned to festering problems they have with their party.

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Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush, for example, hasn’t met with the group’s leaders but scheduled a meeting with individual gays this Thursday. The move did little to placate Log Cabin members, many of whom supported John McCain until he dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination.

With few exceptions, most gays planning to attend the session with Bush are being viewed by Log Cabin as defying the group’s purpose and spirit.

“Log Cabin represents team players,” said Frank Richiazzi, a Laguna Beach resident and veteran Log Cabin member. “A small group who are not Log Cabin members are going (to Thursday’s meeting with Bush) as gay representatives . . . they are not working for the good of everyone.”

Members on Saturday asked Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga) to send Bush e-mail and urge him to meet separately with Log Cabin.

Richiazzi said Bush had already failed to used Log Cabin’s resources to capture gay voters with a sound platform, including an AIDS policy.

Brulte encouraged members “to agree that there are certain issues that we are going to disagree on” and to not “talk about what divides us but instead what unites us.”

Some members, however, said the issue with Bush is only a small part of a larger problem: being gay and Republican.

“It’s difficult to force myself to vote Republican,” said member Alex Wendzel, who explained that candidates’ platforms are too often anti-abortion and anti-gay.

Brulte said he was chided by some people for addressing the group Saturday but decided to show up anyway.

“I have broad shoulders,” he said.

The senator also stressed that just as the party is changing and must gain support from moderates to thrive, Log Cabin members should continue to work on “one Republican at a time, one candidate at a time.”