After a three-month search, the Human Rights Campaign on Wednesday chose as its new president, Joe Solmonese, the gay CEO of EMILY's List, a large and influential Democratic advocacy group that aids the election of pro-choice female politicians. He succeeds Cheryl Jacques who, citing "differences in management philosophy", abruptly resigned as HRC's Executive Director on Nov. 30 after only 11 months on the job, about one month longer than it took to recruit her.
Solmonese, 40, a native of Attleboro, Massachusetts, has spent most of his professional life in politics. His career began as an aide in the office of Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. He has worked as a fundraiser for gay U.S. Representative Barney Frank's 1990 election campaign. Solomese joined EMILY's List in 1993 as its deputy political director, became chief of staff in 1998, and its CEO in 2003. He is a member of the Federal Club, a group of HRC financial contributors, and has also served as an instructor in HRC's youth college.
Vic Basile, HRC Board Member and co-chair of the search committee that recommended Solmonese for the top job, said Solmonese brings several strengths to the position. "He's been an enormously successful leader of a large organization similar to HRC. Plus, he's an amazing public speaker, fundraiser, and motivator. He's somebody who has proven he can work in the red states and bring about electoral change there."
Basile said Solmonese would receive a yearly $225,000 salary, the same amount of Jacques's compensation, and which Basile said was commensurate with an organization of HRC's size and budget. His official duties will begin April 11. Until then Solmonese will be involved in transferring from EMILY's List, as well as taking a week off.
According the Basile, HRC has a staff of 125 people and a $30 million budget last year. EMILY's list claims a $40 million budget and a staff of 85. Basile also said Solmonese is well known for his congenial personality and engaging leadership style. "He's someone we know will inspire our staff, Board members and the general membership," Basile said. Solmonese and EMILY's List is credited with helping alter the political landscape of several traditionally Republican states, namely the election of pro-choice governors of Kansas and Arizona, as well as pro-choice women at the head of the Colorado state legislature.
From the start, Cheryl Jacques's short tenure was fraught with controversy. She did not come out until very late in her career as a Democratic Massachusetts state legislator, and only three years before she assumed HRC's Executive Director post.
Reports leaked from HRC staff to the media indicated many employees felt her a distant but controlling manager, out of her league running a $25 million organization, as well as overwhelmed by the intricate lobbying required of someone in her position in Washington, D.C. Outside observers also criticized her for aligning the self-described "bi-partisan" HRC too closely with Democrats, leaving the group alienated from a Congress and presidency dominated by conservative Republicans after the November 2004 elections.
It is a challenge Solmonese might face as well. EMILY's List is a partisan operation based on one of the major issues dividing Republicans and Democrats. Asked in an interview if this would hinder him building those bridges HRC so desperately needs, Solmonese responded, "I am someone with a record of getting things done and that is most important in this job."
Solmonese said his first major action as HRC president would be to go on a nationwide tour to show to mainstream America gay people and the challenges they face daily because of discrimination and unfair laws. "Our greatest challenge right now is to reintroduce ourselves to America and change the dialogue about gays and lesbians. We have to let America know not only why our equality is important to us, but why it should be important to them as well." Solmonese said he is confident he can "cross the aisle" and make Republicans understand and sympathize with the needs of gay Americans, despite the fact that LGBT America seems to be on the defensive. "While the November elections were disheartening, everything I know about politics indicates to me they were decided by fear, fear of terrorism and fear of change, and not by abortion or gay rights. That makes me very hopeful."
Yet, some gay Americans might not be happy with Solmonese. "He is somebody who would sacrifice the gay movement to get a Democrat elected," said Robin Tyler, Executive Director of the Equality Campaign, an nationwide organization of grassroots LGBT groups, when asked about Solmonese's appointment. Tyler referred to the support EMILY's List gave last year to the Democratic candidate for South Carolina Senator, Inez Tenenbaum, who was also a supporter of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Tenenbaum lost the race to Republican Jim DeMint.
Solomonese said HRC's mandate meant he would alter his approach to advocacy. "EMILY's List was charged with electing pro-choice legislators. I am going to be a leader of a bi-partisan organization charged with electing pro-gay legislators and enacting pro-gay legislation," Solmonese said. He said that also meant only backing candidates who met HRC's pro-gay criteria. About a month ago, HRC launched the Marriage Project, intended to "deliver added focus and energy to the organization's work around marriage equality," and also announced a major reorganization that included the creation of a Vice President of Policy and Strategy position. The Executive Director was renamed President and CEO. "This will make HRC more streamlined and more effective at waging campaigns. We're doing this now so the new President can hit the ground running."
For Solmonese, his new job is the culmination of what got him started in politics in the first place. "As a just out 22-year-old gay man, a bunch of friends convinced me to save up $125 so I could buy a ticket to an HRC fund-raising dinner. That feeling of community, of feeling I was part of something much bigger than myself was incredibly empowering."
After a four-month search, the Human Rights Campaign announced March 9 that Joe Solmonese, CEO of EMILH's List, will become the organization's new executive director April 11. Solmonese, a 40-year-old Attleboro native who graduated from Boston University in 1987, is HRC's second consecutive executive director from the Bay State, following former Mass. state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, who resigned in November after a year on the job. Solmonese said his experience at EMILY's List, a national organization that works to elect pro-choice female Democrats to state and federal office, has prepared him to continue HRC's work in winning public support for GLBT rights in both liberal and conservative parts of the country.
"I think first and foremost what I bring is not just a record of accomplishment but a record of accomplishment in advancing progressive values and electing progressing candidates in blue states and red states," said Solmonese.
Jacques left HRC under a cloud, with the organization citing a "difference in management philosophy" as the reason for her resignation. Vic Basile, a member of the HRC Foundation Board from Baltimore, said Solmonese's work managing EMILY's List, which has a $40 million budget and an 85 person staff, makes him a good fit to manage HRC which has a 125-person staff and a $30 million budget.
"He's led a very large similar organization, and he's done it brilliantly. He managed a large staff in a way that was nurturing and inspiring to them, a very important thing to us. He's been the primary strategist for electing people to federal office, governorships and even in some cases legislatures, so he brings that ... He's demonstrated that he can work in the red states as well as the blue states," said Basile.
Solmonese has an impressive record of accomplishment at EMILY's List. He joined the organization as deputy political director in 1993, rose to become chief of staff in 1998, and has been CEO since 2003. Under his leadership the organization tripled its membership, and in 2004 the group helped elect 141 women to state and federal office. In the wake of the 2004 election, in which the Bush campaign successfully exploited same-sex marriage as a wedge issue, HRC has made reaching out to red states and religious voters one of its major priorities. Solmonese, who has traveled the country building support for EMILY's List candidates, plans to take the same approach at HRC.
"One of the first things I'm going to do when I get here is actually go on a tour across the country and begin to have this dialogue in both red states and blue and work in conjunction with religious leaders and corporate leaders and community leaders in states all across the country to reengage in this dialogue and really reintroduce ourselves to America," said Solmonese.
After Jacques's resignation there was speculation that HRC would back off its strong push for same-sex marriage, and Hilary Rosen, the HRC Foundation Board member chosen to co-lead HRC in the interim, added fuel to the fire by telling the Advocate in an article published a week before Jacques' resignation "this election may have shown us that the change agents for gay marriage are looking too much like a noisy red Ferrari speeding down quiet Main Street." In the wake of those comments, as well as a Dec. 9 New York Times article alleging that HRC was pulling back from its marriage agenda, HRC has reiterated its intentions to work for full same-sex marriage. Rosen also told Advocate.com in a Dec. 9 follow-up interview that HRC would work on "multiple tracks" to push for individual benefits for same-sex couples while also pushing for marriage.
When asked where he stands on the marriage versus incremental legislation debate, Solmonese said that while HRC may push for incremental benefits in some states, they will also work to lay the groundwork for an eventual push for marriage.
"We're for marriage and in everything that we do we'll be working towards marriage. And I think there are a number of things going on in states around the country where we are at different points along the spectrum of pushing towards full equality for our community, but I believe that in everything we do and in all of our work marriage is a thread that runs through all of that," explained Solmonese.
In his efforts reintroduce the GLBT community to the public Solmonese's background in the pro-choice movement has the potential to put off conservative and religious voters. Solmonese attempted to allay concerns about his work in the pro-choice movement by stressing his record of winning support from southern voters in campaigns at EMILY's List.
"I think what is at the forefront here is my record of achievement and my ability to get things done, whether it is electing women in southern states or electing a pro-choice democratic governor in Kansas. I think my ability to do that and I hope my record of accomplishment is going to be what... is forefront as I move out across the country and begin this work," said Solmonese.
Basile told Bay Windows Solmonese will receive a $225,000 salary, the same salary that Jacques earned while at HRC. He said HRC is making every effort to make the transition as transparent as possible.
"We want everyone to know this is an open process and we just want to make sure that everything is disclosed since we've been accused of not doing that before," said Basile.
Ethan Jacobs can be reached at ejacobs ***at*** baywindows.com.