In
a
development
that
sent
shock
waves
through
the
D.C.
Republican
Party,
gay
D.C.
Council
member
David
Catania
(R-At-Large)
on
Thursday
resigned
as
a
member
of
the
party’s
governing
committee
after
party
Chair
Betsy
Werronen
refused
to
certify
his
election
as
a
delegate
to
the
Republican
National
Convention.
Party
loyalists
received
another
shock
hours
later
when
Council
member
Carol
Schwartz
(R-At-Large)
resigned
as
a
delegate
to
the
GOP
convention
in
protest
over
Werronen’s
decision
to
bar
Catania
from
the
convention
by
not
certifying
him.
Werronen
said
she
based
her
decision
on
Catania’s
public
statements
criticizing
President
Bush
for
endorsing
a
constitutional
amendment
to
ban
same-sex
marriage
and
vowing
to
work
for
Bush’s
defeat
in
the
November
election.
“At
the
end
of
the
day,
for
us
to
certify
a
delegate
for
the
convention,
you
have
to
support
the
re-election
of
the
president,”
Werronen
said.
“That’s
why
you
are
there.”
Catania
said
Werronen
overstepped
her
authority.
He
said
party
rules
require
her
to
certify
duly
elected
delegates
as
long
as
they
are
pledged
to
vote
at
the
convention
to
nominate
Bush
as
the
Republican
Party
candidate
for
president
—
something
Catania
said
he
had
agreed
to
do.
According
to
Catania
and
other
members
of
the
D.C.
Republican
Committee,
from
which
Catania
resigned,
party
rules
don’t
require
delegates
to
back
the
party
nominee
in
the
November
election.
“What
she
has
done,
on
its
face,
is
to
hold
me
to
a
standard
different
from
everybody
else,”
Catania
said.
He
said
he
believes
he
could
win
a
legal
challenge
to
Werronen’s
action,
but
said
he
doesn’t
plan
to
contest
the
decision.
“I
resigned
today
because
I
don’t
have
the
time
or
the
energy
to
deal
with
this
drama,”
he
said.
D.C.
gay
Republicans
have
considered
Catania
one
of
the
leading
forces
behind
an
influx
in
membership
in
the
local
party
among
gay
Republicans,
who
have
been
credited
with
energizing
the
party
in
a
city
where
registered
Democrats
outnumber
Republicans
by
a
nine
to
one
margin.
Catania
had
been
a
loyal
supporter
of
Bush
up
until
the
time
the
president
declared
his
support
for
the
Federal
Marriage
Amendment,
which
would
add
language
to
the
U.S.
Constitution
banning
same-sex
marriage
in
all
50
states
and
U.S.
territories.
Prior
to
Bush’s
decision
to
back
the
FMA,
Catania
raised
more
than
$50,000
for
the
Bush
re-election
campaign
and
planned
to
campaign
for
the
president
in
the
gay
community.
He
said
he
felt
betrayed
by
Bush’s
decision
to
support
a
constitutional
ban
on
same-sex
marriage,
saying
the
president
had
privately
told
him
and
his
domestic
partner
at
a
reception
at
Bush’s
Texas
ranch
that
he
respected
the
relationships
that
two
individuals
choose
to
enter.
In
public
statements
in
recent
weeks,
Catania
has
said
he
believes
Bush’s
support
for
the
FMA
was
a
calculated
ploy
to
gain
votes
from
fundamentalist
Christians
and
social
conservatives.
“I
am
denouncing
him,”
Catania
said
in
March.
“I
will
not
be
supporting
him.
I
will
be
working
to
defeat
him.”
Earlier
this
year,
Werronen
and
other
party
leaders
picked
Catania
and
other
local
gay
Republicans
to
run
on
an
uncontested
slate
of
delegates
and
alternate
delegates
to
the
Republican
Convention
in
New
York
City
in
late
August.
D.C.
Republicans
elected
the
slate
at
a
party
caucus
that
same
month.
Werronen
also
appointed
Catania
to
represent
the
D.C.
GOP
convention
delegation
on
the
party’s
national
platform
committee.
After
Bush
announced
his
support
for
the
FMA,
Catania
said
he
hoped
to
advocate
on
behalf
of
gay
civil
rights
and
urban
issues
at
platform
committee
hearings
and
at
the
convention
itself.
Werronen
said
she
would
replace
Catania
as
a
delegate
with
veteran
gay
Republican
activist
Carl
Schmid,
who
won
election
as
an
alternate
delegate
at
the
February
party
caucus.
“He
was
next
in
line,”
she
said.
Schmid
said
he
is
anguished
over
whether
to
accept
the
position.
“I
told
Betsy
I
was
against
what
she
did,”
said
Schmid,
in
discussing
Werronen’s
decision
not
to
certify
Catania
as
a
delegate.
“I
considered
resigning
but
I
feel
I
gain
a
platform
and
a
voice
on
the
issues
David
and
I
care
about
by
being
a
delegate.”
Mark
Sibley,
another
gay
member
of
the
DCRC
as
well
as
a
delegate
to
the
convention,
said
he
is
unsure
whether
he,
too,
will
resign.
Gay
DCRC
member
Paul
Dione
called
Werronen’s
action
“very
troubling”
and
said
he
was
weighing
what,
if
any,
action
he
and
other
members
of
the
12-member
gay
contingent
on
the
DCRC
should
do.
In
a
May
27
letter
to
Werronen,
Schwartz
said
she
could
not
stay
on
as
a
delegate
following
Werronen’s
action.
“David
has
been
an
enormous
asset
to
us,
providing
able
and
energetic
leadership,”
Schwartz
said
in
her
letter.
“Because
of
my
personal
and
professional
relationship
with
David,
and
because
I
feel
he
was
not
treated
with
the
respect
that
he
deserves,
I
hereby
resign
as
a
delegate
to
the
2004
convention
and
decline
your
appointment
to
the
Rules
Committee.”
Catania
said
that
while
he
did
not
resign
his
membership
in
the
party
itself,
he
is
uncertain
whether
he
will
remain
a
Republican.
“This
is
a
particularly
sad
day
because
I
have
spent
so
many
years
trying
to
build
this
party,”
he
said.
“So
many
people
in
this
local
party
are
wonderful.
But
the
DCRC
leadership
is
more
consumed
with
whether
people
in
the
national
party
will
like
them
than
in
the
principles
we
stand
for.
The
national
party
is
now
advancing
principles
that
we
find
unacceptable.
Why
can’t
we
register
dissent?”
Lou
Chibbaro
Jr.
can
be
reached
at
lchibbaro@washblade.com.
