Gays Ask If Reilly Speaks for Them
by Samson Wong

ABOUT REILLY’S RESUME: Given Reilly’s mayoral campaign tactic of exaggerating Willie Brown’s faults, it’s only fair that hyperbolic allegations against Reilly himself have recently surfaced

Brown was busy crafting an appeal to Attorney General Janet Reno, asking her to investigate the possible merger between the Chronicle and Examiner at about the same time that Reilly was busy crafting a more flawed appeal for support.

A week before Reilly won the endorsement of the Chinese American Democratic Club on Aug. 26, he distributed literature at the Harvey Milk GLBT Democratic Club, claiming that he had “served as national spokesperson for the 1977 Miami campaign against Anita Bryant’s ‘Save Our Children’ hate crusade.” But Bob Basker, the original convener and executive director of the 1975-76 Dade County Coalition for Human Rights, refutes that claim. “To my surprise and shock, I have learned that Clint Reilly has announced himself as the national spokesperson for gay rights in the campaign against Anita Bryant,” wrote Basker in an Aug. 17 letter to members of the coalition.

“Sometimes one has a way of clouding one’s memory, and sometimes one makes claims that are an exaggeration of one’s past activities. I believe Clint has fallen into this category,” said Basker, who workers under District Attorney Terence Hallinan. “To my recollection Clint Reilly was never a spokesperson for the coalition.”

NO GAY KING: Speaking of hyperbole, Jay Bagi’s letter in the Aug. 26San Francisco Examiner, is a blown up piece, hyped even more by a headline calling Reilly the gay community’s Martin Luther King, Jr.

That comparison came as news to many folks. Now, the political impresario is being asked to be straight with the gay community. Some are charging that the MLK of gay rights has hired a law firm that also represents sponsors of the Knight Initiative. That initiative seeks to stop California from ever recognizing gay marriages performed here or anywhere else.

Supervisor Leland Yee, who decided last month not to challenge Mayor Willie Brown, hasn’t declared an allegiance to Reilly or anyone else. But he did say that Reilly may be a victim of “guilt by association.”

Is Clint is the saint the of gay liberation -- or a friend of anti-gay crusaders? Neither stance seems plausible. But that doesn’t make his guilt by association any less damaging.

If the Knight Initiative charges stick rightfully or wrongfully, then the specter of what happened to U.S. Senate candidate Matt Fong last year threatens Reilly now. He’s probably lucky that he has at least eight weeks of damage control. Fong had only two when news broke of his $50,000 campaign to right-winger Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition.

Locally, the charge is more electric, given the lesson of last November’s election. According to Supervisor Tom Ammiano, the Fong donation galvanized the gay electorate to buoy him to election as Board President, re-elected Supervisor Mark Leno, and sank the hopes of Supervisors Mabel Teng and Gavin Newsom for Board President. Still, if the Knight charges stick, then say good night to Reilly’s mayoral hopes.

ROAM OR HOME?: The latest is that Supervisor Yee has confirmed that he has found a home in the Sunset District.

If Yee in fact moves from Noe Valley in plenty of time for next year’s district elections, he’ll be leaving the disadvantage of a less than 5 percent API district and going to one that was nearly a third Asian American last year.

And his Delores St. home? He’ll become a landlord for three of the four units. Since being elected in 1996, Yee has been able to sit out on most owner-move in issues, given the city attorney’s view that supes with four or more units have a conflict of interest on such matters. The recusal has infuriated both tenant and landlord advocates, given that Yee’s family members occupy the other units.

Now, however, he will have a clear conflict of interest.

FRY BOTH SIDES: E-mail me at samson@sfindependent. com or call me, 415-826-1100 Ext. 23.