Komen official quits Planned Parenthood dispute

[warrior1]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PLANNED_PARENTHOOD_KOMEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

ATLANTA (AP) -- An executive with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity has resigned after a dispute over funding for Planned Parenthood. The resignation came in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Karen Handel (HAN'-duhl) announced her resignation as vice president for public policy in a letter to Komen officials Tuesday.

Handel said in her letter that she had supported cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood.

[Atman]

1. Now THAT is some news! Awesome.

I wonder if she'll still get a severance package and a few million bucks from Komen?

.

[targetpractice]

7. I'd be surprised to learn that non-profits offer big severances...

Most non-profits that I've had personal experience with... Employees are making enough money to stay long term, and most employees are passionately driven by the organizations mission... Everyone was hyper aware of saving money doing every day things.

It appears the SGK is operating differently.

[Alcibiades]

60. Komen may be different

Seems more about selling swag than doing good. Most nonprofits don't pay someone like Handel $500k a year. If there's any good that comes of this, maybe folks will pay more attention to how much monies are being siphoned off charity to pay the paychecks of well-connected insiders such as Handel. What on earth was she doing that merited $500k a year, plus expenses?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/05/karen-handel-susan-g-komen-decision-defund-planned-parenthood_n_1255948.html?ref=mostpopular

[zbdent]

41. If she's being investigated ...

she damn well shouldn't get any more money from SGK ... it's their policy.

What? Huh? Oh ... that rule was only in place to be used against Planned Parenthood ...

[AnnNYC]

55. She stated that she won't be receiving a severance package...

...so she can bad-mouth Komen!

So who's really "holding breast cancer hostage to politics," hmmm?

[RKP5637]

2. K&R !!! n/t

[myrna minx]

3. This is fantastic news. K&R n/t

[onehandle]

4. Good. That right-wing hack should have never been hired to begin with.

Let her go work for Operation Rescue or the Army of God.

[mrs_p]

5. Maybe, just maybe

they will now clean house, refund stem cell research, and actually care about causes and cures for breast cancer. This might be the first step in re-establishing themselves as trustworthy.

[AlbertCat]

27. Wouldn't it be awesome....

.... if they did start funding real pathways to cures regardless of political/religious mores, but used, say, the probability of success as a guide. (hello stem cell research!)...
then heavily distributed the news of that plan of support to the public....

and their coffers overflowed with donations from everywhere.


IOW, it'd be nice if these recent stupid mistakes were not only proven to be wrong, but actually counterproductive in the most universal sense (who doesn't want a cure for cancer.... besides insurance companies?) for all to clearly see.

[mrs_p]

39. indeed. agree on all points.

[xxqqqzme]

51. I'm afraid any group using ari

flashpoint as a policy consultant is political, not philanthropical.

[Phlem]

40. As long as Komen is at the helm

I don't think anything will change. It's a republican front.

They are never getting another dime from me.

I'll send my money directly straight to wherever it's needed and not to her.

-p

[zipplewrath]

6. More damage control

She may have been asked to leave. If nothing else it is an attempt to make it appear that Komen is "cleaning house". Truth is they've been exposed for what they are and should steadily shrink and attention and moneys should be diverted to other organizations more directly involved in research and provention, and less in self promotion.

[Surya Gayatri]

10. +1,000 ! n/t

[barbtries]

16. definitely.

in my book their credibility is irretrievable.

[Mojorabbit]

25. Yes, too late now to try and redeem themselves. nt

[Surya Gayatri]

8. Hope the Komen founder and Handel's boss

(can't remember her name) follows her VP into obscure retirement.

SG

[avaistheone1]

37. I sooooooo agree.

[Raster]

77. That would be Nancy "personal friend of geedubya Bush*" Brinker....

...Susan G. Komen's sister. I lived in Dallas when the Komen Foundation was originially created. It's mission was not religious nor political. It's mission was to find a cure for breast cancer. Period. My how times have changed.

[Spazito]

9. Good, now it's time for Nancy Brinker to follow suit...

along with the board members that approved cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood, imo. A clean sweep might, repeat might, save the organization from totally disintegrating.

I will NOT donate or participate in anything SGK approved unless and until anyone involved in the disgusting decision is gone from the organization.

[Missy Vixen]

13. SGK thinks this will stop the bleeding

I have news for them, and I'm no marketing expert. Their brand is done. Finished. The time to make this move would have been last week.

I would LOVE to know how many corporate sponsors have contacted SGK in the last week and withdrawn their support, for instance. Pepperidge Farm made a statement Friday morning, for instance.

[Spazito]

18. I tend to agree, the 'brand' is forever tarnished by their grossly political decision...

if they think Handel's resignation will fix anything, they are still not dealing with the realities of the damage they have done to their own charity.

For SGK to do an about-face on there obscene decision so quickly, there had to be a number of big corporate sponsors and big name supporters withdrawing their support for sure.

[AlbertCat]

30. they are still not dealing with the realities of the damage

The hubris of the conservative cause in all its forms, has proven it's nothing but damage. Across the board disasters. Everything it touches turns to shit. This much is clear.

Alas, it will still take some time for this to soak in for a lot of people.

[peace frog]

24. Yep. FINITO

and good riddance.

[crazylikafox]

14. +1

[MicaelS]

35. If you think Brinker's leaving, you're living in a fantasy world..

Brinker founded this charity because of her sister's death due to breast cancer. There is no way in hell she is going to leave, unless she is pushed out by the other board members, and I don't see that happening.

[Spazito]

44. If she doesn't step down, she is sounding the death knell...

for SKG, imo. It may already be too late to save it but, if she stubbornly clings to the position, she is NOT doing it in her sister's memory, imo. she is doing it for her own ego.

I know I will NEVER again buy anything, participate in or support anything SKG is organizing. There are others, I have little doubt, who might, if she and the board step down, will go back to supporting them, not I.

[MicaelS]

45. Personally, I think she will go down in flames

Rather than resign. But, that's just me. And I think SKG is eternally tarnished. As I think may share your "never again" philosophy, I think SKG will eventually disband.

[Spazito]

46. I agree, I also believe she will not step down...

her arrogance and ego will not allow it. The charity is no longer in memory of her sister, it is, in her mind, HER own legacy to greatness and she would let it die rather than step down for the 'greater good'.

I suspect you are right, it will eventually fade away unable to regain it's credibility. Even if it manages to linger on it will be only a shadow of what it once was and all due to subjecting itself to rabid right wing politics.

[Tansy_Gold]

53. She won't step down, imho. Never

First of all, it's HER foundation.

Second, she has family members and friends on the board to protect her position.

Third, Handel's anti-choice stance was very well known long before she was hired; she was more than likely hired BECAUSE of that stance rather than in spite of it. Her "resignation" is damage control, not come-to-Jesus (pun intended).

Fourth, Brinker et al are far too heavily invested in maintaining the status quo of the corporate cancer CAUSING industry as well as the cancer TREATING industry to ever change their tune and start looking too closely for causes and preventions.

Just mho, of course.

[barbtries]

11. it was too nice of them

to let her resign. but then they hooked up with her and there was no mistake about that. they were so far down the rabbit hole that they thought cutting off PP would get them MORE money. the founder's not going to quit - this woman had to go. so they let her resign.

seems the right may be discovering how the majority of the people in this country feel about having the right to make their own choices and having access to a medical procedure that should be nobody's business but a woman's and her doctor's.

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, warrior.

[friendly_iconoclast]

15. Good. Too bad she didn't take Nancy Brinker with her. n/t

[TBF]

17. About time. Now the board who hired her needs to go. nt

[sinkingfeeling]

19. Now that's a step forward!

[sarge43]

20. Extra bennie

Because the rightwingers put Handel in place, they are not going to be happy with Brinker et al.

I love the smell of flop sweat in the morning.

[Journeyman]

21. Wherever will they find a replacement? It takes a very special person. . .

to take down a well-established non-profit in only 24 hours. That sort of determined incompetence is hard to find. And they'll probably have to pay them way more as well. Gotta pay the big bucks to attract the big fuck-ups. It's "dunce-cap-alism", doncha know.

[Major Hogwash]

22. She didn't get her way, so she quit?!?!?

Oh, isn't that so sad.
She's been there what, 4 months, and they wouldn't implement her fantastic agenda?

Oh, that is just so sad.
I feel so bad for her.
Oh, I think I'm going to cry.
Oh, the tears are swelling up as I type this.
I can barely see the keyboard now to even go on.
Everythings getting blurry.
I have to go now.
I've got to find my king-sized crying towel.

[DUIC]

28. Yes, this is a good thing.

She should have never been allowed to do the things she did. Her resignation is going to go a long way in restoring the damage to Komen's reputation.

[Major Hogwash]

58. She'll never work in Hollywood again!!

Or maybe even the first time!

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[DUIC]

68. Sadly, she will bounce back in politics

Unfortunately, even after such a spectacular failure, she has many supporters that "admire" her actions.

[eyewall]

70. yep, she might try for that Governorship again.

[crunch60]

72. Handel, now you can eat your own words

bye, bye...

Here's a quote from Karen Handel (via her twitter - screen grab):

"Just like pro-abortion group to turn cancer orgs decision into a political bomb to throw. Cry me a freaking river."

[truebrit71]

23. YESSSSS!!!!!

Now Brinker needs to go...

[AngryAmish]

26. Suck it, Komen

Shut it down. All of it.

[joanbarnes]

29. So long!

[Iliyah]

31. Unfortunately

the gop have placed their minions into areas that will. if not already has, effed up Americans for their political views, and one their weapons are using "religion", the "Bible" and "so called people of God" to do their evil biddings and of course their gullible misinformed followers have no clue.

I'm pretty sure Ms. Handel already has a lucrative offer somewhere else. She will continue to eff Americans especially women in the gop war on women, workers, civil rights, health and religion.

[calimary]

62. She'll probably be embraced by some outfit like the American Enterprise Institute

or maybe A.L.E.C. or the Heritage Foundation or some other cockamamie pissant haven for out-of-work, voted-out-of-office CONS who need a paid hide-out and the cover of a recognizable letterhead from a "credible" established front-outfit and a new job title on a new business card for awhile, 'cause they still need to "put food on their families". Makes it APPEAR that they're still legit, too. That's what all these weasels do. And there are so many of these "front" type organizations that are nothing but a safe harbor - or a holding cell, if you will (a nice, cushy velvet-lined, leather-upholstered, three-martini-lunch, K-Street address, chauffeur-driven one) - until they can get back on their feet, or the Dems in charge get voted out, or they can sidle up to some wrong-wing rising star and maybe get back into the front-row seating again.

karen handel probably didn't jump until she knew she had something soft to land on, already lined up. These CONS all stick together and give each other cover and hire each other when they're fired or voted out of office and make sure they still have credibility and "legitimacy" so they can go on TV or cable and and still have a title under their name on the chyron, and be a talking head and build themselves a new platform of influence. That's how they work. They have this machinery VERY expertly set up. They've thought all this through in ways that never even occurred to our side, and that's why they dominate the media to this day.

This won't be the last time we hear from her. If she's a true fire-in-the-belly God-is-on-my-side, then she won't go away. She needs to be watched. Because SHE won't see this as finished. She won't see her work as being done, or stopped, or prevented. Just slowed down a little. And GUARANTEED, she's gonna keep at it. We just have to keep an eye on her. She'll either hide out in one of these CON institutions and advocate that way, or she'll go to ALEC or something and try to go back and work it with partisans at the state level, or she'll go completely under the radar and try to do the most damage she can without being noticed. WHICH IS WHY WE NEED TO MAKE SURE SHE STAYS ON OUR RADAR. These bastards can get a LOT done when they're not watched.

[tavalon]

74. I smell another Faux "News" commentator position opening up, unfortunately

[crunch60]

73. Handel is after all,

the self appointed god police.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction -- Pascal

[NRaleighLiberal]

32. Power to the People (with an assist to social media!). K and R!

[MarkCharles]

33. Advertising Age: Can Komen Recover From PR Crisis?

"In a case for the marketing textbooks, Susan G. Komen for the Cure showed how a brand can boomerang from one of the most loved into one of the most reviled in a head-snapping two days.

The story of how Komen got consumers seeing red, rather than pink, says a lot about how social-media wildfire can singe even the most fireproof of brands. But it also demonstrates how inconsistent communications can fan the flames, and illustrates how quickly sponsors can become engulfed in controversy. On its website, Komen, which has raised billions of dollars for breast-cancer research, lists more than 200 corporate partners. The question now is how much collateral damage those partners have sustained, and whether Komen can persuade them to stick around in the aftermath."

http://adage.com/article/news/komen-recover-pr-crisis/232540/


In other words,
SGK is "DOA"

[Quantess]

34. Her letter reads like a bitter person who was just asked to resign.

They asked her to resign, I just know it.

[Arkansas Granny]

36. I figured this would be the next step. Komen had to do something to try

to get back the support they've lost. I don't think it will work as we've now seen their true colors.

[Contrary1]

38. Too late.

Komen has lost major support from both sides of the issue.

I saw a tv ad over the weekend offering to waive their registration fee if folks signed up for Race for the Cure by a certain date. Didn't catch whether it was offered to all individuals, or just certain groups. Either way, it speaks volumes.

[Phlem]

42. We have to remember

Komen was at the helm and approved everything that was going on.

That house of cards is going down.

-p

[Evasporque]

43. Typical GOP attack strategy.....make some appear controversial and people will flee...

So they made it appear that PP was doing something wrong, then spreading the mis-information and promoting a tactic of "it will rub off on you, you should cut funding for it..."

The unspoken strategy is that conservatives want PP destroyed and they will lie and cheat to get what they want.

[supernova]

47. Best news today!

Handel can go find a job, a real job that makes real wages. Not a cushy PR job that only pretends to do work for real people.

[LynneSin]

48. Good - time to get politics out of Breast Cancer research

If this woman wants to be in politics so badly - run for office again!

[AtomicKitten]

49. Bah-bye, teabagger.

[SpankMe]

50. Two Americas

One Komen official quit when they announced suspension of PP funding. Now, another one quits at the reinstatement of the funding.

No one is happy. Ever. This country is more divided and indignant than at any time since the civil war.

And it's all because of the radicalization of the right.

Send all Republicans to the South, and then let the South go their own way. The real America will be ready to receive women and gays from the South as refugees.

[powergirl]

52. Hateful Shrew - has no grace at all

That was a pissy and unprofessional resignation letter. She should have talked about what a great organization Komen is and that she doesn't want to be a distraction.

Even as a conservative, she pissed off the wrong people. Nancy Brinker who is VERY conservative, was an ambassador to W, raised money for him, etc. and a lot of conservative monied Dallas ladies will NEVER forgive Handel for what she did.

[Highway61]

54. Great news

This is proof positive why Internet and social media works . Congress may have shelved looking at laws for the Internet for now-we must NEVER let them come close. We would have never heard of this on the MSM period. Minimal at best.
It's because of people like us that they caved. As Lennon said "power to the people."

[rocktivity]

56. CUE THE VONAGE THEME!

But with no stem cell research funding, I still say that this isn't over.

According to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, a driving force behind the move was Handel, who was hired by Komen last year as vice president for public policy after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently denounced Planned Parenthood.

If Brinker wasn't aware of Handel's position on PP, she certainly did a poor job of vetting. SGK should never get another dime from anyone.


rocktivity

[gademocrat7]

57. Good news.

But I will not contribute to SGK ever again. Too much baggage. Too little money going to research.

[Loki]

59. This has not changed my mind.

Not one more dollar, not one more mile. My time, my money and my loyalty will go to organizations that stand with all women, not against them.

[lark]

61. Unfortunately, the head of SGK, Brinker is a true believer Repug

She hired Ari Fleischer to recruit Handel. Sorry, SGK, as a 2x cancer survivor, all my "pink ribbon" stuff has gone to our local homeless mission. I wouldn't be caught dead in it now. I also have given quite a bit of money to them, but will now send those contributions to the American Cancer Society instead. They help people like me when we most need it!

[calimary]

67. Well, then, there's your answer.

We have the bottom line here. brinker is NOT one of the good guys. I kinda knew she was a republi-CON already but I also thought her motivations might be more pure because it was her sister after all, and that her focus was strictly the fight against cancer - and no politics. SOME people can still function on that level. But evidently there was indeed an agenda driving all this. Hiring ari fleischer??? Hiring him to recruit a deliberate partisan like karen handel??? This was very certainly NOT accidental. So it strongly suggests to me that there isn't any actual repentance here, or change of heart.

I suspect it's not gonna open her eyes and make her change her opinion on choice. It may change her thinking on how one best infiltrates, or attempts to stack the deck to further the "cause." Maybe she'll try something more stealthy next time. The folks on this side are unrelenting, and they do learn from their mistakes (unfortunately they don't learn the lesson we would hope they would - that maybe they need to reexamine their ideology or at least keep that ideology OUT of their business ops). I doubt she'll learn that particular lesson, especially if she fervently believes against the right to choose, and thinks WE're the ones who are wrong and she isn't.

This kind of setback will do what it always does with people like this. That overriding partisan agenda will not change. Its believers will simply

1) go underground and keep working
2) not admit defeat or a willingness to accept the victorious opponent's point of view, and keep working
3) go underground and wait it out, planning carefully and working under the radar for when they think the opponent's guard is down and the opponent believes it's all settled and over-and-done-with. THEN they crank it back up.
4) chart out other overt ways to go about it, or around it, or head it off, and keep working.

These bastards DO NOT give up. They do what WE need to do: NEVER GIVE UP, and NEVER STOP WORKING!!!! We've seen this too many times. We win a battle and think it's settled and the other side will be gentlemanly and present their swords for the surrender ceremony and that will simply be that. It's over. It's done. Get over it and move on.

But they DON'T!!!!

HOW MANY TIMES have we asked ourselves in frustration and disgust and bewilderment, here and elsewhere, some version of "I cannot believe we're still fighting this battle! I can't believe we are STILL having to fight this! This was settled long ago! This is the 21st CENTURY forcryingoutloud!!! WHY are we still fighting this battle?" I've certainly vented about this in posts of my own - and not only here on DU.

Take a page from this. Know thine enemy. They've vowed to keep fighting, defying, pushing, haranguing, REGARDLESS. And they've vowed to do that in perpetuity. Whatever it takes, and however long it takes. Doesn't matter. If it takes 20 years they're gonna stay on it. If it takes 20 CENTURIES they're gonna stay on it. They think God is on their side and that this is some religious crusade, so they are NOT gonna just suddenly see it our way, or admit defeat and give up and get on with their lives. They're just simply NOT gonna give up. And they're NEVER gonna take "no" for an answer.

So we can't, either. That's what this means. Our hands are tied. We can NEVER give up. Never let up. Never roll over and go back to sleep and assume that a win is a win. ANY win we score is perceived by the enemy as merely a temporary setback, not game-over. WE think it's checkmate time. I mean, we took Roe v Wade all the way to the frickin' Supreme Court forcryingoutloud, and we won. That should be it, correct? Game over. We won. That's that. The ruling of the judges is final. Correct? Well, not with these people.

They don't just not see it that way. They actively and defiantly REFUSE to see it that way. There's a difference. And that's why we can NEVER let up, either. WE dare not roll over and go back to sleep after we've "won." Not until the enemy does. And the enemy's in no mood to do that, ever.

Therefore we can't, either.

It's like Mad-Eye Moody warned Harry Potter - "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!!!"

[tavalon]

75. Hiring Ari for any reason is telling

This may seem over the top, but since corporations are people, this corporation has a cancer and it runs deeper than Handel, much deeper.

[Obama3_16]

63. Yes! So glad that hateful woman is gone

But I still won't donate any more money to that duplicitous organization.

[Phlem]

64. Is there a board of directors for SGK

just curious.

-p

[onager]

66. Yep. (Dem) board member: "We screwed up."

SGK board member John Raeffelli, a Democratic lobbyist among other things, issued this statement to the press yesterday.

Sorry, I forgot to copy the link, but you can find it easily:

We don't want to be pro-choice or pro-life; we want to be pro-cure.

We screwed up, I'm saying it.

We failed to keep abortion out of this, and we owe the people in the middle who only care about breast cancer and who have raised money for us an apology.

[eyewall]

71. This is a pretty explicit confession

that the "investigation" excuse was just a stratagem.

They should also apologize for all the grandstanding about how this was NOT about abortion.

[tavalon]

76. This is the only way to handle this

Use truth and apologize and give a strategy for how this is never, ever, going to happen again. Barring that, they can plant the gravestone now.

[Obama3_16]

65. So Komen's cutting off PP funding was to 'distance the org from controversy'

Lolol. How's that working out for you.

[Fearless]

69. 'Scuse me whilist I warm up the DU3 band...

[rocktivity]

78. That's the DU "Cry Me A River" String Quartet to you!

rocktivity