Three Pride board members resign after meeting with Kehoe, Gloria and Atkins

By David Harvey

SDUN Reporter

A private meeting at the San Diego office of state Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) has resulted in the resignations of three LGBT Pride board members, including the board’s chairman.

Board secretary Carl Worrel resigned the day after the Jan. 23 meeting, while chairman Philip Princetta and treasurer Mike Karim stepped down Jan. 27 at the first meeting of a newly appointed board of directors.

Princetta said he had called Kehoe on Jan. 22 to schedule an informal meeting regarding Pride, but that she advised him to invite the entire Pride board to her office on Jan. 23, including three newly-appointed members: Debra McEntee, Suanne Pauley and Joe Mayer. All but Karim and Mayer attended.

In addition, Kehoe invited District 3 councilmember Todd Gloria and former councilmember Toni Atkins to the gathering.

“All of us agreed that the board would resign by the end of February, so that we could have a new board that would start with a clean slate,” Kehoe said. “I think that any organization like that has to have the public’s trust and confidence that they’re making the right decisions on behalf of the community.”

However, Princetta said Kehoe, along with Gloria and Atkins, compelled Worrel, Karim and him to leave the board immediately.

“How she got us to go, we have no idea ourselves,” Princetta said. “It was shocking. We had had it. We were bullied at that meeting and we didn’t care for it and we had had it. If we were so bad for the community … then why would we even stay? In other words, in my mind, if you want us out then we’re going to get out right away. If we’re poison for the whole organization, why even stay another month to poison it?”

While the board was not required to comply with the senator’s request, Princetta said he was under the impression that Kehoe would “do anything to get the job done.”

The sudden resignations followed previous statements from the board that they would finish their terms despite rocky relations between San Diego’s LGBT community and the organization’s leaders. The controversy began in late December after the Pride board awarded a $5,000 bonus to Princetta. Pride’s executive director Ron deHarte, who was opposed to the gift, was subsequently fired, and two other staffers resigned in protest of his firing. Princetta later returned the money, and the board began adding new members.

At the Jan. 23 meeting, Kehoe provided a list of prospective board candidates. The board – with the exception of Worrel – voted on the candidates to fill six of the 20 available board seats, creating a nine-member board.

Some of the candidates from Kehoe’s list were not accepted, said McEntee, who explained that the board decided they could not in good conscience vote for people they hadn’t met. However, she said, those candidates were not ruled out as future prospects.

“I really believe that meeting [on Jan. 23] was … to address the community’s concerns and to start the process of moving the organization forward and rebuilding that trust,” McEntee said. “At no time were we told, ‘You have to bring all these individuals on.’ It was simply a list of people that had, and in some cases hadn’t, expressed a desire [to join the board].”

An announcement on the Pride Web site said the new board members are Judi Schaim, Chris Shaw, Andrea Villa, Jeri Dilno, Bob Leyh and Larry Ramey. Schaim and Ramey were elected as co-chairs, and McEntee will serve as secretary and Mayer as treasurer.

Kehoe, Gloria and Atkins did not respond to Princetta’s assertion that he was intimidated at the meeting, instead referring to a joint statement [see Letters on page XX] that said the Pride board “had lost its sense of responsibility to the community.”

“As an elected leader, I had a responsibility to relay the concerns I have heard from so many in the community to the Pride board,” Gloria added via e-mail. “I look forward to seeing a new Pride board implement measures that will increase transparency and public participation in the actions it takes. This action will ensure that planning for this year’s Pride celebration will continue and that San Diego’s largest civic event will take place as scheduled.”

Despite feeling “bullied,” Princetta said he thinks Kehoe meant well in calling the Jan. 27 meeting.

“In the first week of the crisis, we [issued] an apology to the community … and we said at the time that our intention wasn’t of malfeasance with the $5,000,” Princetta said. “It could be the same with Senator Kehoe. In other words, her intention may have been good; her delivery of that intention may have been questionable.”

San Diego LGBT Pride was founded in 1974. In addition to the annual Pride festival and parade, the non-profit organization offers an array of programs to support the area’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.