By Bob Roehr
David Catania, one of the most prominent openly gay elected Republican officials in the country, will not be going to his party s national convention in New York. The local party chairman declined to certify him as a delegate to the convention.
Catania, 36, was elected to the DC Council in 1997. The 13-member body functions as both a city council and state legislature for Washington, DC. As one of only two Republicans on the Council, he has played a prominent role in relations with the White House and Congress, which exercise control over the laws and the budget of the city.
He supported George W. Bush and was a member of the Austin 12, that group of gay Republicans who met with the candidate in April 2002. Earlier in this campaign cycle he raised about $75,000 for the President s reelection and prominently displayed a photo of he and his partner taken with Bush at his ranch.
But Catania became enraged and disillusioned when the President announced his support for the antigay Federal Marriage Amendment. He gave several interviews denouncing the action, saying he could not vote for Bush in the fall.
Members of the local Republican Party elected Catania to be a delegate to the national convention, with a prominent seat on the committee that would write the party platform. He said he would cast his vote for Bush at the convention.
But party chairman Betsy Werronen refused to certify those results. She told the Washington Post, At the end of the day, David does not support the reelection of the President, and so for me to be honest to myself, I can't certify that he does.
Catania, a lawyer, maintains that Werronen overstepped her authority to certify the process and instead imposed an ideological test as well. Be believes he could win a legal challenge but instead chose to resign from the local party central committee on May 27. It is unclear whether he will change his party registration to Independent.
Carol Schwartz, the only other Republican on the DC Council, resigned as a delegate to the convention in protest of Werronen's action.
It's disappointing, said openly gay Republican Carl Schmid. He said members of the local delegation to the convention had tried for several weeks to resolve the issue, but in the end it was more personalities…stubbornness on the part of the two key people involved.
Perhaps the greatest loss with Catania's absence from the convention will be not having a gay voice on the platform committee making the case for those issues and countering antigay arguments of the religious right.
Schmid, as an alternate delegate, will take Catania s place at the convention. He has played a prominent role in the councilman s political campaigns.
I'm hanging by a thread with the Bush campaign, Schmid said. I'm not doing anything to help him, like last time, but I will correct the record.
