Duke Energy CEO Denounces North Carolina Amendment 1

At a breakfast meeting discussing business issues where he was the keynote speaker, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers fielded a question on North Carolina's toxic anti-gay Amendment 1. After first stressing that he was speaking as an individual, and not on behalf of Duke Energy, Rogers then proceeded to trash Amendment 1 and predicted that if the measure passes, history will not look kindly on those who backed it. Indeed, he said the measure and its supporters will be viewed in the same category as those who supported the horrible Jim Crow laws of yesteryear. That analysis is accurate for a number of reasons not the least of which is that the folks who back Amendment 1 are the same people (or their descendants) who wanted to maintain racial segregation forever. With racial bigotry being less socially acceptable, these haters and enemies of equality under the civil laws have targeted gays as their victims. Here are highlights from a piece in the Charlotte Observer:

Rogers hesitated, but then couldn't stop himself from telling the crowd of 300 or so how he felt. If North Carolinians put the gay marriage ban into the state constitution, Rogers said, "You're sending a message to the world about what kind of community this is; that we're not inclusive."

Read more here: http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/04/dukes-jim-rogers-tees-off-on-marriage.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

"If this amendment passes, we're going to look back 20 years from now, or 10 years from now, and we're going to think about that amendment the same way we think about the Jim Crow laws" that discriminated against African-Americans. North Carolina is competing with the world for business, he said, and "we have to be inclusive and open."

Read more here: http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/04/dukes-jim-rogers-tees-off-on-marriage.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

It's heartening that a business leader of Rogers' stature sees the discriminatory intent of the amendment so clearly and is willing to say so in public. Now, will others in the business community join him?

Read more here: http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/04/dukes-jim-rogers-tees-off-on-marriage.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

"I'm old-fashioned: I believe we're all the children of God and we shouldn't have special rules for some and not for others. We have to recognize differences in people and celebrate those differences. That's just something I believe.

"And I'll go a step further - and this is going to be somewhat controversial when I say this. If this amendment passes, we're going to look back 20 years from now, or 10 years from now, and we're going to think about that amendment the same way we think about the Jim Crow laws that were passed in this state many, many years ago. "This is the 21st century. We're competing with people around the world. We've got to be inclusive and open."

Read more here: http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/04/dukes-jim-rogers-tees-off-on-marriage.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

It's noteworthy that Rogers believes that Amendment 1 will make North Carolina less competitive in the business realm. It's a case I have made many times before: most progressive and innovative businesses do not want to locate in areas that are backward and socially discriminatory.

Virginia Localities Are Adding Gay Employment Protections

The political puppets of The Family Foundation ("TFF") in Richmond have succeeded in blocking efforts to protect employees in Virginia from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Like other anti-gay faux "family values" organization's, TFF's agenda is basically one of making life as much of a living Hell for LGBT Virginians as possible and then pretending that it is the Christianists, not LGBT citizens, are being persecuted. I learned long ago, that if TFF head, Victoria Cobb's lips are moving, it's pretty good bet she lying. Faced with a lack of progress at the state level, more Virginia localities are adding sexual orientation and gender identity language to their non-discrimination policies in the hopes of attracting top talent and giving a less backward appearance to their jurisdictions. With Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli continuing to make Virginia look like a gathering of Neanderthal's it's a tough sell for localities to say that they are progressive. Locally, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake have adopted their own gay friendly policies and other cities are contemplating a similar move. Time will tell how the trend plays out. The Virginian Pilot looks at the trend:
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Of the roughly two dozen Virginia localities with policies in place to protect gay and lesbian government workers, South Hampton Roads is home to two – Chesapeake and Virginia Beach.
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Norfolk may soon join them. While the city doesn’t include sexual orientation in its employment policy, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said the guiding principle “is not to discriminate against anyone for any reason.” Fraim said City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko told him City Manager Marcus Jones could put that policy in writing without City Council’s approval. Fraim said he will recommend that Jones do so.
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But even as jurisdictions consider adding them, questions remain about how much legal weight these policies have. Past guidance from the Virginia Attorney General’s Office suggests local governments lack the authority to impose them unless the municipalities are granted that power by the General Assembly.
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When McDonnell became governor, he did not mention sexual orientation in an executive order on employment policy. But after Cuccinelli’s advice to colleges sparked a controversy, McDonnell followed up with a directive to state executive branch agencies that prohibits “discrimination based on factors such as one’s sexual orientation or parental status” because it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
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Family Foundation president Victoria Cobb disagrees. Localities that approve those policies may succeed in making a political statement but not much else, said Cobb, whose organization has opposed efforts to expand gay rights.
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To Cobb, the legal question was settled in an April 2000 state Supreme Court ruling against Arlington County’s plan to extend health benefits to employees’ domestic partners, including those of the same sex. The court found that it violated the Dillon Rule, which holds that local governments have only those powers granted to them by the state legislature.
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Others aren’t so sure. Bill Hefty, an attorney and lobbyist who specializes in local government issues, isn’t aware of definitive case law on the subject.

With Military Spending Cuts, Will Virginia's Anti-Gay Laws Hurt Business Recruiting?

Currently, the Department of Defense is looking at ways to reduce spending and the elimination of programs and commands - locally, the proposed closure of the Joint Forces Command is a prime example. As one of the largest recipients of military dollars, lower spending levels could wipe out jobs, both in Hampton Roads and defense contractor rich Northern Virginia. I have argued for quite some time that the religious based anti-gay discrimination enshrined in Virginia's laws and championed by Christianists like Taliban Bob McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli will eventually bit Virginia in the ass big time. Why? Because such legally enforced bigotry will make employees less willing to relocate to Virginia, which translates to businesses being less willing to relocate to the state. I regularly get calls from LGBT individuals faced with possible job relocation to Virginia - many are defense contractor employees - concerning whether or not they should accept the job or promotion. Once they hear the details of Virginia's anti-gay laws (e.g., no recognition of same sex relationships and zero employment protections), many turn down the job offers. As other states become more gay friendly, this phenomenon will likely only get worse. A piece in the Washington Business Journal looks at this issue, and it looks like Virginia is cutting its own economic throat. Here are highlights:
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At the top of the list — ranked high above “Will we have children?” and “Will we hyphenate our last names?” — is a far more vexing question. Specifically, where will we live? I promise you, the implications of this go far beyond our bedroom — and reach into your boardroom.
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In the world as we would like to imagine it, we’d leave Logan Circle’s grit, buy a picket-fenced bungalow in a leafy part of Clarendon and settle down to raise our kids — one boy and one girl, of course — send them to Arlington’s fine public schools and keep our fingers crossed that they get into the University of Virginia. In the meantime, we’d Metro or walk to work and enjoy the 25 percent lower property taxes we’d be paying in Arlington as opposed to say, Takoma Park. But that’s hardly the reality we live in.
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Gritty though it may be, D.C. will both marry us and give legal weight to our commitment. Maryland won’t tie the knot for us, but they will recognize it. Virginia … not so much.
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Virginia law also offers us no protection from being fired for who we are — in fact, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli all but ordered discrimination in March when he issued a letter advising Virginia’s colleges and universities that, in the absence of statewide anti-discrimination legislation, they had no legal right to include gays and lesbians in their nondiscrimination policies.
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What does this mean to you as a business owner, you ask? Even back in 2004, before same-sex marriage became a realistic goal, a third of non-gay people surveyed in a Harris Interactive/Witeck-Combs poll said they believed anti-gay laws would have “quite a bit” or “a great deal” of negative impact on employers’ ability to recruit and retain the most qualified employees. By 2009 — same-sex marriage had taken hold in a few states by then — nearly 8 out of 10 gays and lesbians surveyed said they would prefer a job in a state where marriage equality is recognized.
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[a]s the federal government slims down and curtails spending on contractor dollars, what will Richmond’s anti-gay climate mean for Northern Virginia’s ability to lure replacement corporations and retain its talented knowledge workers?

Pentagon to Eliminate 6000 Norfolk Joint Forces Command Jobs - Meanwhile, McDonnell and Cooch Scare Away Progressive Employers

The Hampton Roads region in particular and Virginia in general have allowed themselves to become far too dependant on the military as a means to keep the local economy afloat. Rather than embracing modernity and progressive values that might attract new high tech and green industries, Virginia's leadership in the form of Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, Virginia AG Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli and the GOP Kool-Aid drinkers in the General Assembly seem to strive to make Virginia appear to other parts of the country and world as the home of rednecks, racists and homophobes. Now, the local Hampton Roads faces a major hit to the military funded economy. It has been announced today that the region's Joint Forces Command is targeted for elimination as part of the Pentagon's cost cutting initiatives. That translates to 6000 lost jobs, millions and millions in lost payroll, and a major hit for commercial real estate owners who have been leasing facilities to the military. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:
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Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called for the elimination of the Norfolk-based Joint Forces Command on Monday as part of a broader effort to reduce certain kinds of military spending - especially a growing reliance on defense contractors. "The culture of endless money that has taken hold must be replaced by a culture of savings and restraint," Gates said.
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It employs about 6,000 people - most based in Hampton Roads, others elsewhere in Virginia and Florida. Its headquarters are at Norfolk Naval Station, and it has a command center in northern Suffolk.
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Not surprisingly, elected officials across the state and region lambasted Gates' announcement and said they would fight it, but it's not clear what they can do to halt the process. Unlike the Navy's plan to relocate an aircraft carrier from Norfolk to Jacksonville, Fla. - which requires Congress to approve funds to make Mayport Naval Station ready to host a nuclear carrier - Gates indicated this bureaucratic reshuffle doesn't require legislative approval.
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Gates' proposal for shifting defense spending has broader implications for Virginia than the closure of JFCOM. . . . The commonwealth is home to more than 12,000 defense contractors and is second only to California in military-related businesses, Gov. Bob McDonnell said. The companies that employ them have collected $341 billion since 2000, so a reduction of 30 percent over the next three years, as Gates directed, will be an enormous hit, he said.
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In Suffolk, the command has been a powerful engine driving local economic development. Hundreds of military and civilian employees work at its north Suffolk campus, a 640,000-square-foot facility leased for an estimated $16 million. Hundreds more are employed by defense contractors working nearby.
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I'm not sure what it will take to educate Virginia's leaders that rampant anti-gay initiatives, AG opinions authorizing the random stopping of suspected immigrants, and far right Christianist extremism forming the state's laws do not a make for an image that will be attractive to many companies that might be seeking to relocate (either too or from Virginia). Some of the leadership in Hampton seem to be figuring it out, but the lesson is totally lost on McDonnell, Cuccinelli, the GOP controlled House of Delegates and local Congressman like Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman.

Bigotry is Bad for Business - Jan Brewer and the Arizona Business Community

It seems that most bigots in politics are largely opportunists who often place personal advancement and/or media exposure ahead of the true best interests of their state or country. It's all about them and pandering to the lowest common denominator for short term political gain. It seems Arizona Governor Jan Brewer - a far right Missouri Synod Lutheran Christianist who is against LGBT equality - is a case in point. She jumped headlong into immigrant bashing and has seen an uptick in popularity in some circles, but the Arizona business community is none to happy with her because what's good for Brewer's ego satisfying celebrity is not so good for business. Newsweek has an article on the growing schism between Brewer - who seems to think she's the president of Concerned Women for America rather than the governor of a state where she is supposed to represent the needs of all citizens and residents - and the business community. Here are some highlights:
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Back before they grew distant, Barry Broome, head of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, would talk to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer every few weeks. . . . he never imagined what was to come: that she would sign into law one of the nation’s most draconian illegal-immigration bills; pick a costly, high-profile fight with the federal government to defend it; and create a public-relations fiasco for the state.
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Strains between Brewer and the state’s business community are starting to show. Though her championing of the immigration measure has proved politically popular and catapulted her to national prominence, that success has come at a price. . . . Several companies have packed up and left. At least 40 groups have canceled conventions and conferences, says Debbie Johnson, CEO of the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association. And the Phoenix area alone is projected to lose $92 million in business, according to Mayor Phil Gordon. “Anyone who says our image has not been hurt is living in a bubble,” he says.
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Many business leaders are reluctant to criticize Brewer publicly. . . . The state is perilously close to sealing a reputation as a bastion of intolerance. Phoenix “risks becoming the next Birmingham,” says Robert Lang of Brookings Mountain West, a think tank based in Las Vegas. Noting that Arizona is trying to diversify into the solar-energy and biotech industries, he adds, the state is “playing with fire…Who is in solar? Not the kind of people who are listening to Rush [Limbaugh].” It makes Gordon cringe.
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Many Latino organizations, both local and national, are leading the charge to punish the state economically. In many ways, the effort is shaping up as a de-fining civil-rights struggle for Hispanics. They’re pressuring baseball teams to boycott the state. They’re petitioning cities and states to cut off business ties (many have done so, including Los Angeles and St. Paul, Minn.). They’re urging artists to forswear performing there (among those who have agreed are Kanye West and Rage Against the Machine). And they’re warning other jurisdictions considering similar legislation that an equally potent backlash would await them.
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“We will make clear that the damage to Arizona can happen anywhere else that tries to pass a law like this,” says Alfredo Gutierrez, a former Arizona state senator . . . . He’s modeling his approach on the anti-apartheid campaigns against South Africa and has been reaching out to Latin American countries to discuss the possibility of sanctions. “We even have a committee in Rwanda,” he says. “I just discovered it while Googling.”
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Brewer’s likely Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Terry Goddard, may yet prove to be a tough adversary. He has fought crime linked to illegal immigration for years—credentials that give him legitimacy to attack her and the GOP for their handling of the issue. “This is the worst thing that ever happened for business in Arizona,” he says.
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One can only hope that Brewer and the forces of hate and intolerance lose in November. Arizona is certainly a state that the boyfriend and I won't be planning to visit anytime soon even though I have a family connection to the state that reaches back to the early 1920's. Meanwhile, Virginia's clinically insane Attorney General Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli is encouraging police to stop and question those in Virginia who look like they may be immigrants and ask for their documentation.

Sally Kern's Anti-Gay Rants Are Hurting Business

Hopefully some other cities - e.g., Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake for starters - will learn from Oklahoma City the possible consequences of harboring anti-gay sentiments and/or electing extreme homophobes to office. It seems that while the Kool-Aid drinkers in Oklahoma City are reveling in Kern's message of hate, big bussiness and the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce in particular are less than joyous. In fact, they are already learning that Kern's posionous mindset is turning away progressive businesses and has made the city a place consultants advise clients to avoid.

I have stated in the past and say again that the LGBT community needs to use its financial purchasing power to punish states, cities and businesses that are anti-gay and take their gay dollars elsewhere. With a purchasing power greater than that of the Africa American community within the USA, a concerted LGBT boycott of cities and/or products WOULD have an impact. In short, hate should carry a price. According to this story from the Oklahoma City Journal Record, perhaps it is already happening in Oklahoma City. Here are some highlights:

OKLAHOMA CITY – A San Francisco Bay-area financial services company has not yet ruled out Oklahoma City for a major office relocation, a vice president of a real estate search firm confirmed. A decision is expected in three to four weeks. But Tom Maloney, vice president of California-based Staubach Co., would neither confirm nor deny that the 1,000-employee, AAA-rated client company’s top executive is a lesbian who expressed concern over Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern’s recent anti-homosexual statements, as has been the topic circulating among local business leaders.

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Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, said the issue is a major concern the chamber is trying to address. He confirmed a Staubach consultant was troubled by Kern’s comments during a recent visit to the city. “He told us straight up … ‘I cannot recommend to any of my clients that they should consider Oklahoma City because of that,’” Williams said. “When you have one of the nation’s premier relocation experts making those statements, you should pay attention to that and not dismiss it.

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The significance of the Staubach visit to Oklahoma has grown with e-mail rumors. A representative of a national gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender (GLBT) organization said notes are being circulated that the unidentified company is actually a motorist group – skewing references to the company’s triple-A credit rating – that 6,000 jobs are involved, and that the executive stormed out of the meeting in anger. When asked about Kern’s recorded statements and their effect on any potential company relocations to Oklahoma City, Maloney said, “I’ve got no comment as to what, if any, impact that they’ve had.”

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As for Kern’s comments, “They no doubt send a message out there that no city wants to send, and that is one of divisiveness instead of unitedness,” he said. For the last five years, the chamber has made a greater effort “to embrace differences and embrace diversity, to build a community that is open and welcoming to anyone.”