Golly, Mr. Barron, are you gutsy

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Steve Sauerberg must have his victory over Dick Durbin in November in the bag because his press spokesman Chris Barron's been busy -- not promoting his boss Dr. Sauerberg -- but scolding a gay media outlet for running a "shoddy hit piece" about gay activists among DC Republicans. Today, a "Chris Barron" writes here on Out.com:

I am a Republican political consultant in DC, the former National Political Director of Log Cabin Republicans and an openly gay man. Your piece on Gay Republicans in Out was little more than a shoddy hit piece. If you were interested in talking about gay Republicans in DC you could have actually reached out to folks like myself – who aren’t “cowering in the closet.” Instead you chose to interview Democratic Congressman Barney Frank, an unnamed Democratic consultant, and Mike Rogers – a low-life left wing activist who has made a career out of partisan and shameless attacks on Hill staffers.

You should be ashamed for penning this hit job and Out Magazine should be embarrassed for running your article.
On April 24, 2008 at 1 : 08 PM

 

Wow, I wonder if Senator Durbin is aware of how endangered he is?

Mr. Barron's history as the former National Political Director of Log Cabin Republicans concerned us a few weeks ago, and we wrote about it on Illinois Review.  Dr. Sauerberg was aware of the controversy, and chose to back Mr. Barron despite his political baggage problematic to conservatives.

Mr. Barron was obviously emboldened by his boss' loyalty and evidently now has time to spend promoting himself online as a Republican gay political consultant. Must be nice work, if you can get it. 

Maybe that Chris Barron was a different Chris Barron that used to be the former National Political Director of Log Cabin Republicans and another openly gay man.  You never know.

IR stories:  Sauerberg:  Personnel is Policy; Where Sauerberg stands on gay marriage; Conservatives steam over Sauerberg staffer

Comments

[Anon]

Illinois Review...the internet hate machine.

[spintreebb]

More troubling than self-identifying as gay is that he self-identifies as a DC operative with no mention of Illinois.

Does Sauerberg see Barron's job to be in DC? or in Illinois?

Wasn't the 2006 election all about rejecting the beltway mentality of the GOP congress that had forgotten everything outside the beltway?

[ChiCountryGuy]

What does this have to do with anything?

More hate from IR, seconded.

Seriously, Fran, what is the goal in posting this?

"More troubling than self-identifying as gay is that he self-identifies as a DC operative with no mention of Illinois"

He's a consultant based in DC, why would he mention IL? Cause he has a client in IL? Should he list all the states he represents clients from? C'mon, this is ridiculous.

The man is gay. Get over it and stop bashing him. He's commited to defeating Durbin like the rest of us. He's the press secretary, not a policy guy. Let's support him and Sauerberg.

[ChiCountryGuy]

And no, I'm not a Sauerberg staffer.

[Fran]

Hate? Where's the hate? No hate here.
Mr. Barron's political mistake was bashing the President for holding a policy position the Log Cabin Republicans didn't agree with -- in 2004 -- in the middle of a veryclose election. Need we remind you how close it was?

Mr. Barron's Political judgment was questionable then. It's even more so with this little online, public rant today. Out.com is not a private discussion board. And that particular story is getting a lot of attention. . . and so are the commenters.

We thought Illinois Republican conservatives might be interested. We were.

[Mark Kulp]

What does Barron bring to Sauerberg? Nothing but distraction. There must be someone with more conservative credentials.

BTW, disliking offensive behavior is not hateful.

[Anon]

Judge not, lest ye be judged.

[Michelle]

Judging a person's political savvy is required if you want to win.

This puts Sauerberg in a difficult spot -- he just invested a million dollars into a campaign that's going nowhere because he's in effect telling the social issues conservatives they don't matter.

Hey, if that's how Sauerberg wants to throw his money away, it's his business. I'll probably vote for him against Durbin.

Who does Barron think he is?

[Goodland]

It seems to me that the IR conservatives are sticking it to Sauerberg and alienating themselves by constantly running threads like this.

Judge Barron by his work. Until you learned of his orientation, I don't recall you slamming the campaign.

It's unfortunate that this party continues to work against itself.

[Downstate GOP Faithless]

I heard a rumor that he also performs abortions in his basement, while at the same time selling meth to school kids...you have to admit, doing that AND leading an anti-biblical life certain takes time, so yes it seems fair to wonder how he will ever perform his actual job!

[Down with Durbin]

I really can't believe IR editor and some others here. What does Barron's posting on a gay website have to do with absolutely anything? He's gay. Get over it. I fail to see how this post has anything to do with anything, save to stir up the handful of addled readers here who can't differentiate between Durbin and a Republican whose spokesman happens to be gay.

Oh and on the "he worked against Bush" in 04 argument, Fran, I'll say it again. So what? From what I understand, they weren't so much working against the president as they were not working for him. Instead, they chose to support Republicans in down-ballot races who were more supportive of their goals. Those sorts of Republicans, I'd imagine in the Northeast, were the type that allowed us to hold our majority in Congress till '06. They were strategic. Do you really begrudge them that?

[Down with Durbin]

Oh and a follow up to my previous post: does IR now have Google alerts set to track Chris Barron? Certainly a quick glance of Google and Google News results for his name fails to yield this.

Or alternately, are the fine folks at IR spending their free time perusing the websites of gay magazines?

Do tell...

[Torchwood]

You right-wing whack jobs better face the reality of the truth concerning Gays.

We are all around you, and the sooner you get over your homophobic nonsense, the sooner the Republicans in Illinois will begin winning again.

Captain Jack Harkness

[Anon]

Not all of us right wingers are homophobic, Torchwood. Just like not all gay people are flamboyant members of the Village People.

I understand your sentiments though...it's the people who run this blog that make you feel like a second class citizen, I would be fed up too.

[Cal Skinner]

There is still time to get signatures on the Protect Marriage Illinois petition. Petitions for all election jurisdictions can be downloaded from the web site, http://www.protectmarriageillinois.org/

Sauerberg has signed it.

[Jon Zahm]

We need to build up the farm team of IL conservative consultants. It is sad that Sauerberg would think that he had to reach to the DC gay Republican community to find a Spokesman for an Illinois race. I would agree with Fran that this was a poor choice. He should have picked a CR Chairman at an IL school getting ready to graduate this Spring with a Poli Sci degree and some good volunteer or field political experience.

LOL, Barron calling the Democrats left wing when he himself is left wing, that's hillarious.

Consider how silly this is.

Your latest criticism of Mr. Barron involves your problem with his post in some media outlet where he is defending fellow Republicans.

But you haven't considered what he had to say - you just go with your assumption that he is a liberal- and the only basis you have for saying that is because he is gay. You apparently do that because your real purpose in tracking Barron's activity is to blast his client.

So, while he and Sauerberg actually spend their time confronting liberals - you spend all your time attacking Republicans.

so many posters, so few actual success stories...it seems to me the talent pool in illinois is pretty small, and to suggest a CR could do his job is a bit small, especially from someone who could lose an unopposed primary

[JB]

There are many conservative gays too.

[Jon Zahm]

nice anonymous shot-

ask Jan Carlson, a 44-year incumbent who had not lost a race since 1968, if I still help my clients win races

[OneMan]

Jon,

Helping Jan when you were 2 (or perhaps even before you were born)? Man you do have mad skillz :-)

The good doctor was willing to step up and dedicate his time and some of his own money to this race and he deserves credit for that.

Would it had been better if some 'name' conservative had stepped up in this race, perhaps but none did so we need to go with the guy we have.

I have heard lots of complaints over the years about staff (campaign and/or those of elected officials) for a host of different reasons. Including people who post here.

But when it comes right down to it, the question is if they get the job done. If we start judging people by their staffs and what those folks have done in their past or their lifestyle choices where does it end. Is any staff member who was ever divorced an issue? How about one that is co-habituating with someone? What if they got busted for possession when they were 19 or DUI?

I guess it's the libertarian in me but I am much more concerned about a candidates feeling on taxes than the background of a staffer.

[Ipso Facto]

Sauerberg is a total friggin' jerk. I got to meet him last night at the Champaign County Lincoln Dinner. I'm going to vote for Dick Durbin which will be 2nd time in my life I voted for a Democrat.

[Dgreatone]

In case anybody wants to see the article all this is based on:
http://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=23655

Hope you don't see your name in the article!