Gay Alabama Legislator Disqualified

MONTGOMERY, AL -- Patricia Todd, who was set to become Alabama's first openly gay state legislator was disqualified by the Democratic Party committee in Montgomery, Alabama. Todd was disqualified together with the woman she defeated in the primaries, Gaynell Hendricks, because both women violated a party rule that no other candidate has obeyed since 1988.

Hendricks' mother-in-law filed a complaint to the Democratic Party claiming that Todd timed the filing of her campaign finance report with the Secretary of State's office shortly before the deadline to keep voters from learning she had received a $25,000 contribution from the Victory Fund, a political action committee that provides strategic, technical and financial support to openly LGBT candidates.

The committee disregarded the complaint, but instead ruled that Todd had violated a party regulation that requires finance reports to be filed with the party chair no later than five days before a primary election. In fact, the committee found that both Todd AND Hendricks had failed to file with the chair in time, and decided to disqualify both candidates.

Dennis Dison, spoke person for the Victory Fund, issued a statement Thursday night decrying the committee's decision: "Patricia got the most votes in two separate elections the primary and the runoff but party bosses didn't like the outcome, so now they want to simply handpick a candidate. What happened today in Montgomery was unfair, undemocratic, un-American and unwise."

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham was "very surprised" by the decision Thursday, said Zac McCrary, a party spokesman. Turnham believes the party's executive committee might change the decision based on an "archaic bylaw," McCrary said.