Search

Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Homo / News DADT Letter: Jay Inslee Signs On

Posted by Dan Savage on Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 1:12 PM

This morning I wrote that 77 members of Congress signed a letter sent to President Obama on Monday asking him to use his executive authority to immediately suspend enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the ban on gays in the military. (Obama can get tips from Janet Napolitano on exercising executive authority.) "It's 76. 76, 76, 76 lawmakers," Slog commenter Shelby corrected me, "77 seems to be a Slog-borne error."

Shelby's right: the original number was 76. But we can up the number of signatories to 77 now. Yesterday I put calls into the offices of the members of the Washington state Congressional delegation who didn't sign on to the letter—our entire congressional delegation save Jim McDermott—and a short time later I got this email back from the office of Rep. Jay Inslee:

Dear Dan,

Thanks for the voicemail. It appears that we were unaware of the letter, so I’m glad you called. (Usually, there are many, many letters circulating here on Capitol Hill and constituent feedback helps alert us as to which would be important to the 1st Congressional District and Washington state. We didn’t hear about this letter until after it was sent.)

Jay supports the repeal of the DADT policy. He is an original co-sponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act.

Jay supports stopping the investigations immediately, as he believes this policy will eventually be repealed. He believes this is an simple and necessary step that President Obama could do now to show his commitment to this issue, while Congress is currently tied up in health care and energy reform.

Jay will be signing the Hastings letter and sending it to President Obama separately, to show his support.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Torie Brazitis
Press Secretary, Rep. Inslee

So that's 77. And the number could rise to 78 if someone lets Adam Smith know that it's not too late to sign the Hastings letter. Here's the note I got back from Adam's office:

Hey Dan,

I checked into your question and essentially the reason we did not sign on to the letter is that the deadline passed, NOT because of the content of the letter. Congressman Smith fully supports the content of the letter and was an original co-sponsored of legislation earlier this year to repeal "don't ask don't tell" all together.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Michael Amato
Director of Communications
Office of Congressman Adam Smith

Asked if Rep. Smith would sign the letter now, Amato responded: "No, unfortunately, once the letter is sent it is sent."

Um... Jay? Would you ask Adam to add his name to the version of the Hastings letter that you're sending the president separately?

Share via

Comments (28) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Great job, Dan. Fuck the haters.

Posted by doug on June 23, 2009 at 1:16 PM

It's so funny how all Stranger writers cite to THEMSELVES as some kind of legit source of authority. Your ignorance continues to astound us all. Seriously, take a basic civics course.

Posted by I can't believe you take yourself seriously, Dan on June 23, 2009 at 1:21 PM

You know I think I suck, right? I mean, a person has to have a near-terminal case of the theater-fag-self-loathings to get hired at the Stranger. Screaming "YOU SUCK!" at a Stranger writer is like screaming "STRIPES!" at a zebra.

Posted by Dan Savage on June 23, 2009 at 1:35 PM

I meant no hate. Great work, Dan!

Posted by Shelby on June 23, 2009 at 1:37 PM

Personally, I like Jay Inslee, so I'm glad to hear this news.

Posted by Frau Blucher on June 23, 2009 at 1:41 PM

Didn't think you did, Shelby...

Posted by Dan Savage on June 23, 2009 at 1:45 PM

Neat. 200 to go.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 23, 2009 at 1:49 PM

Great job, Dan! I'm glad to hear your getting positive feedback. I'm working my way through Oregon's congressional members, seeing as Wu was the only one who signed from Oregon. I'm hoping to get positive feedback from both Blumenauer and Defazio, seeing as they are both co-sponsers on the bill to ammend the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate discrimination in the immigration laws. Let us know if you hear back from any others. And, I mean that most sincerely.

Posted by kim in portland

on June 23, 2009 at 2:03 PM

Look at Dan. Making calls, asking questions, getting signatures, kicking ass. Nice!

One thing I don't get - why are so many gay-friendly congressfolk unaware of this letter? Seems like the number of signatures could have been in the hundreds.

Posted by seandr on June 23, 2009 at 2:05 PM

@3: Zebras don't speak english, though.

Unless it's a highly trained zebra, in which case I've got $5 and a couple of unscratched lotto tickets that I'm willing to part with if you give me that zebra. I figure if I eat its brain, I gain its magic zebra powers.

Posted by Baconcat on June 23, 2009 at 2:18 PM

Baconcat, thanks for the smile. I've never tried Zebra brain, but I bet is doesn't taste anything like bacon.

Posted by kim in portland

on June 23, 2009 at 2:24 PM

@11 And that is why zebras are still around today.

Posted by Largo on June 23, 2009 at 2:40 PM

@9 - because their constituents talk about doing something but won't actually show up at their offices politely demanding action.

Oh, wait, you mean you weren't serious?

Besides, zebras tend to kick. and they're really mean.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 23, 2009 at 2:45 PM

Kim, @12 has it right.

They're really tasty for about 5 seconds but quickly lose their flavor. They're kinda fun to mush about in your mouth in large gobs and hurl at people like a ball of flavorless putty. Other than that, nobody really likes 'em.

I think that's where they got the inspiration for Fruit Stripe gum.

Posted by Baconcat on June 23, 2009 at 2:51 PM

Jay Inslee is definitely one of the good guys.

And now I have a subvocalized shout of Stripes! going on in my poor disturbed brain every few minutes.

Posted by Geni on June 23, 2009 at 2:57 PM

Nice.

70 (co-)sponsors of the current bill to repeal DADT who haven't signed the Hastings letter (69 if you count Adam Smith):
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?…

Snyder, Vic (AR-2)
Tauscher, Ellen O. (CA-10)
Speier, Jackie (CA-12)
Lofgren, Zoe (CA-16)
Farr, Sam (CA-17)
Berman, Howard L. (CA-28)
Schiff, Adam B. (CA-29)
Waxman, Henry A. (CA-30)
Roybal-Allard, Lucille (CA-34)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Davis, Susan A. (CA-53)
Miller, George (CA-7)
Courtney, Joe (CT-2)
DeLauro, Rosa L. (CT-3)
Murphy, Christopher S. (CT-5)
Meek, Kendrick B. (FL-17)
Klein, Ron (FL-22)
Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. (GA-4)
Lewis, John (GA-5)
Braley, Bruce L. (IA-1)
Loebsack, David (IA-2)
Rush, Bobby L. (IL-1)
Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. (IL-2)
Davis, Danny K. (IL-7)
Yarmuth, John A. (KY-3)
Olver, John W. (MA-1)
Tierney, John F. (MA-6)
Lynch, Stephen F. (MA-9)
Sarbanes, John P. (MD-3)
Cummings, Elijah E. (MD-7)
Van Hollen, Chris (MD-8)
Pingree, Chellie (ME-1)
Michaud, Michael H. (ME-2)
Dingell, John D. (MI-15)
Peters, Gary C. (MI-9)
Oberstar, James L. (MN-8)
Carnahan, Russ (MO-3)
Miller, Brad (NC-13)
Price, David E. (NC-4)
Shea-Porter, Carol (NH-1)
Payne, Donald M. (NJ-10)
Sires, Albio (NJ-13)
Pallone, Frank, Jr. (NJ-6)
Pascrell, Bill, Jr. (NJ-8)
Rothman, Steven R. (NJ-9)
Towns, Edolphus (NY-10)
McMahon, Michael E. (NY-13)
Lowey, Nita M. (NY-18)
Hall, John J. (NY-19)
Israel, Steve (NY-2)
Tonko, Paul D. (NY-21)
Hinchey, Maurice D. (NY-22)
Higgins, Brian (NY-27)
Massa, Eric J. J. (NY-29)
McCarthy, Carolyn (NY-4)
Meeks, Gregory W. (NY-6)
Sutton, Betty (OH-13)
Kilroy, Mary Jo (OH-15)
Blumenauer, Earl (OR-3)
DeFazio, Peter A. (OR-4)
Brady, Robert A. (PA-1)
Schwartz, Allyson Y. (PA-13)
Doyle, Michael F. (PA-14)
Murphy, Patrick J. (PA-8)
Kennedy, Patrick J. (RI-1)
Cohen, Steve (TN-9)
Jackson-Lee, Sheila (TX-18)
Gonzalez, Charles A. (TX-20)
Dicks, Norman D. (WA-6)
Smith, Adam (WA-9)

Also, 4 on the Hastings letter who aren't listed as cosponsors of the bill to repeal DADT:

Melvin Watt (D-NC)
Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH)
Alan Grayson (D-FL)
James Clyburn (D-SC)

The original Hastings letter did have 77, but 3 don't vote (Norton - DC, Christensen - Virgin Islands, Sablan - Northern Mariana islands).

By my count that makes 145 supporters of repeal. 218-145=73 more to pass the House. And the Senate?

More...

Posted by cgd on June 23, 2009 at 2:58 PM

Oh good. I sent him email yesterday after reading the Slog post, and it's good to see it was just an oversight.

Posted by Cascadian on June 23, 2009 at 3:17 PM

pfft. i can't count. it's more like 150 reps already publicly down, 68 to go or something. you get the idea...

Posted by cgd on June 23, 2009 at 3:20 PM

cgd,

Thanks! I know Wu (OR-1) is on the letter, but I didn't see him on your list for the bill.

Posted by kim in portland

on June 23, 2009 at 3:20 PM

Is someone telling Dan that he sucks? As in he sucks dick? I believe that we are are aware of that fact and I'm almost positive that Dan is aware, too.

Posted by The Amazing Jim

on June 23, 2009 at 3:23 PM

@10, sadly, no. You get coccidioidomycosis or spongiform encephalopathy.

Or both.

Posted by rob! on June 23, 2009 at 3:44 PM

Ignore @ 19, Wu is there in the link.

Posted by kim in portland

on June 23, 2009 at 3:45 PM

@18 - well, that would be better.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on June 23, 2009 at 3:46 PM

I still feel bad for not endorsing Inslee when he ran for governor simply because he did not support lifting the ban back when he was congressman in Eastern Washington and I think he regretted making that vote since he lost re-election anyways.
Go Jay!

Posted by Bill W.

on June 23, 2009 at 4:25 PM

@21: I consider those super powers!

Posted by Baconcat on June 23, 2009 at 4:25 PM

Here are the other 5 who are current cosponsors of the bill to repeal DADT but who haven't (or didn't get a chance to but might?) sign on to Hastings' letter calling for Obama to do some executive order. (I must have beheaded the previous list - these names are all A's and B's.)

Becerra, Xavier (CA-31)
Abercrombie, Neil (HI-1)
Andrews, Robert E. (NJ-1)
Arcuri, Michael A. (NY-24)
Baird, Brian (WA-3)

Posted by cgd on June 23, 2009 at 4:35 PM

Great, they signed a letter. Why the hell aren't they drafting legislation to end DADT, which is their job, and have 76 or 77 or 78 cosigners?

We don't need no stinking letter....we need legislation.

Posted by jimmy