A response to Bonnie Grabenhofer, Illinois NOW President, from Lorna Brett Howard:
Bonnie is correct. I was not the president of Chicago NOW when Senator Obama made the “present” votes. I never said I was. Somehow it was reported that way, but you can review the video blog for yourself at www.youtube.com., type in Lorna Brett Howard. Here are the facts: I was president from 1995 – 1999. Barack Obama was elected to the state senate in 1996. He had a 100 percent voting record on choice all the time he was in office and Chicago Now and Illinois NOW endorsed Barack in all his state senate races, as did Planned Parenthood and NARAL. NOW relied on Pam Sutherland, Illinois Planned Parenthood’s lobbyist, to do all our work in the state legislature. She did a great job and it was because of her strategy we defeated many measure designed to restrict a woman’s right to choose. It was with heavy heart that I first went on the record to defend Obama’s record on choice, being a firm Hillary supporter. When the line of attack did not stop but was escalated in a direct mailer in New Hampshire to pro-choice voters from Hillary’s campaign I stopped being sad and got mad. This is bad for the pro-choice movement. It hurts our reputation and credibility. I stand for choice and truth.
In addition, does it not mean something that National NARAL president Nancy Keenan released a statement saying both Hillary and Barack are both 100 percent pro-choice?
Illinois and New York NOW have done serious damage to their organization’s reputation among serious pro-choice men and women. It is really distressing as a feminist to watch.
Glad to set the record straight.
Lorna Brett Howard
Lorna –
Illinois NOW has always had a lobbyist and never relied on Pam Sutherland except as a member of a team. In the 1990’s Luellen Laurenti was our lobbyist. When she died suddenly Susan Bramlet-Lavin took over. I repeat there was never a time since the early 80’s when Illinois NOW did not have a lobbyist in Springfield.
By reacting so emotionally you missed the real message: that when the time came to vote Obama took a pass. He did not vote as he promised us he would. That’s it. We needed him — he wasn’t there.
===By reacting so emotionally you missed the real message: that when the time came to vote Obama took a pass. He did not vote as he promised us he would. That’s it. We needed him — he wasn’t there.
So why did you endorse Lisa Madigan?
She didn’t use this strategy on these bills.
Attorney General Madigan voted no on the bills in question. To my knowledge she has never used this strategy.
For the above quote
Ms. Brett misleads again…. In her video she was referencing the mailer that went out accusing Obama of being weak on choice because he voted present 7 times on obvious votes such as “late term abortion” and “parental notification.”
on the youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuMYKs8iJs
at 1:01 she says
“Hillary Clinton was telling people at pro-choice rallies… that Barack Obama was weak on choice as a state senator, which is patently false because
I was president of chicago NOW at the time, and I worked closely with him and he had a 100% voting record.”
statement from Bonnie Grabenhofer, IL NOW State President:
Much has been printed in both the mainstream and alternative media and many have watched videos of Lorna Brett’s comments on important votes that occurred while Barack Obama was serving in the Illinois State Senate. Ms. Brett continues to present herself as the President of Chicago when IL State Senator Barack Obama was making decisions on votes that were critical for women and girls in Illinois. As the current Illinois NOW State President, it is essential that I clarify for the record that Ms. Brett’s assertions are not correct. Lorna Brett was president of Chicago NOW from 1996-1998. She was not, as she represents, the president of Chicago NOW at the time IL NOW activists were meeting and talking with legislators about the abortion bills in the early 2000s.
Five of those votes occurred in the 92nd General Assembly session in 2001. Our records indicate that Ms. Brett has not been a member of NOW since 1999. Ms. Brett with not involved with either Chicago NOW or IL NOW when we were fighting to stop these bills. Ms. Brett is misleading people and using her very old affiliation with NOW to help distance Senator Obama from his vote of present on key bills and as a platform for her personal criticism of Senator Hillary Clinton.
To be clear, voting “present” on those bills was a strategy that IL NOW did not support. At that time, we made it clear to the legislators that we disagreed with the strategy. We wanted legislators to take a stand against the harmful anti-choice bills being brought to the floor of the Illinois State Senate.
Voting “present” does not demonstrate leadership and does not send the clarion signal that one is unwavering in their support of a woman’s right to choose. IL NOW knew that those bills were unacceptable to women. Except for these present votes, Senator Obama’s record on choice has been excellent, but he has not taken leadership on the issue at the same level that Hillary has.
Ms. Brett and the Planned Parenthood lobbyist Pam Sutherland assert that the strategy to vote “present” was devised to give political cover to legislators in conservative districts. State Senator Barack Obama did not represent a conservative district and he could have voted “no” with little negative consequence in his district.
*** end
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from the current president of NOW, Kim Gandy,
It adds insult to injury that the “messenger” Lorna Brett wasn’t even active in NOW at that time, which they told me, but which I also happen to know PERSONALLY….
it was a strategy, yes — but a strategy of looking for cover on abortion votes. It was one thing to look for cover for his moderate friends, but another to take the cover himself. Were the Illinois NOW people really upset and angry about those votes? Yes, they were, and it was long before there was a presidential race (witness the 2004 senate endorsement). Is he anti-choice? Of course not. Is his record as good as Hillary Clinton’s? No it isn’t.
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Wait until the Repubs out Ms. Brett in August if Obama is our candidate…
Funny, but if you read the postings on this, you might have learned the votes go back to 1997 actually. Both Lorna and Illinois NOW are wrong on the timing. This has been a consistent issue with Illinois NOW not being able to find it’s ass with it’s own hands.
Furthermore, Illinois NOW endorsed Lisa Madigan even though she voted the same way. Gay Bruhn couldn’t answer the question above because she was told it was only Obama and was simply wrong. Get your shit straight before posting talking points.