Thursday, February 19, 2009


Kors' Millionaire Partner Loaned
No on 8 $570,000


The official, professional leader of California's gay community is Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California and a key architect of the No on 8 debacle. Kors, a gay millionaire, not only comes from family wealth, he knows how to get other rich people to open their checkbooks. His partner, James G. Williamson, is an investment management powerhouse and fabulously wealthy.

Public records show that Williamson made a $10,000 donation to the No committee in August, and that it was refunded in September, and one of his firms made an rather large loan of $570,000 to the committee. As with the loan from the LA gay center, the CA Secretary of State's web site gives no information on the Williamson load being repaid by the No on 8 committee.

But the matter of repayment is not my chief concern here. My point is that Kors and Williamson are healthily endowed with money, and they spread it around during political campaigns, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. After all, the gay community prides itself on our rich diversity and gay millionaires have a role to play in our quest for full legal equality and social respect.

Just don't try and force me to swallow gay millionaires Kors and Williamson as the best and the brightest of California's gay strategists. They're model GWMs, gays with money, and their wealth is a contributing factor that helps to understand why Equality California doesn't advocate for lower-income gays.

If Equality California gave a damn about non-wealthy gays, it would call for restoration of the state's renter's reimbursement program that was eliminated in October and affected thousands of gay seniors and disabled people on fixed-incomes.

(Photo caption: Kors, on the left; Williamson, in light shirt.)

From the SF Chron's Prop 8 search engine:


Contributor nameWilliamson Capital, Lp
Occupation
Employer
CitySan Francisco
State or countryCA
ZIP94111
PositionOppose
Amount$570,000.00
Payment typeLoan
Transaction date10/20/2008
Committee nameNo On 8 - Equality California


Contributor nameJames Williamson
OccupationInvestment Manager
EmployerJM PARTNERS
CitySan Francisco
State or countryCA
ZIP94123
PositionOppose
Amount$10,000.00
Payment typeMonetary
Transaction date8/4/2008
Committee nameNo On 8 - Equality California


Contributor nameJames Williamson
OccupationInvestment Manager
EmployerJM PARTNERS
CitySan Francisco
State or countryCA
ZIP94123
PositionOppose
Amount-$10,000.00
Payment typeMonetary
Transaction date9/29/2008
Committee nameNo On 8 - Equality California


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