Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Planned Parenthood's Donations Up Since Susan G. Komen (think "pink") Organization's Decision To Defund PP

UPDATE: 2/7/12:

Karen Handel resigns from Komen for the Cure:

Karen Handel, the former GOP candidate for governor, just announced her resignation as a senior vice president for public policy of Susan G. Komen for the Cure – one week after the breast cancer charity reversed itself on a decision to sever financial ties with Planned Parenthood.

Read her letter of resignation here. The bitch is so full of herself, and you can tell. This story just keeps getting better and better. Not quite full blow red in the face yet, but enough pink to see it coming!

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UPDATE: 2/3/12

Did SGK just blink? (H/T to Crooks and Liars)

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

Well, according to that statement (and a post at AMERICAblog), SGK isn't really backing down, because the grants already approved for PP will still go through, despite their decision not to give any MORE grants. And the statement above does not change that. SGK is STILL reserving the right not to approve any future grants.

So, we have SGK first saying they will no longer fund PP because it is under "investigation." Then last night on their website, they claim it wasn't because they were under investigation, but because PP uses what is termed "pass through" grants, i.e., allegedly PP does not do direct mammograms, but "refers" them out (not sure if that is entirely true of the all of PP locations). And now, today, they change the story again and say that they have revised their internal rules so that any refusal based on any investigations will have to be a "criminal" and credible investigation.

Keep stepping in the doo doo. The smell is going to take a long time to go away, and those pink ribbons are not looking so hot right now.

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Unbelievable! All the press action today over the Susan G. Komen's organization's decision to defund Planned Parenthood!

First, in case you do not know what the SGK Organization is famous for, think "pink," as in breast cancer awareness PINK. Didn't we just have to go through a month of watching NFL players wear pink shoes, gloves and towels, etc. in support of SKG? And what about the "Race For The Cure" that SGK sponsor's annually? Guess you won't see too many liberals, dems and independents supporting SGK, wear pink ribbons, eat Yoplait yogurt, or sign up and/or donate to the Race.

And now that there are serious concerns as to whether the Race for the Cure and its founder are simply an arm of the anti-abortion wing of the Republican party, it's hard to imagine any Democrats or Independents wanting to be a part of that fundraiser any more - unless of course it's to protest it.

Let this be a case study in how to destroy an amazing brand in just 24 hours.

On the upside, Planned Parenthood received upwards of $400,000 today since the news of SGK's decision to defund breast cancer screenings.

This is all to say that perhaps the Planned Parenthood decision isn't all that big of a surprise, given the politics of people involved with Komen. The flap might end up benefiting Planned Parenthood in the end, however. The group has raised more than $400,000 since the news broke, a spokesman said Wednesday afternoon.
UPDATE:

It appears that a couple of SGK statewide affiliates are breaking ranks with the main SGK organization and will continue to support Planned Parenthood.

While the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced its organization will no longer partner with Planned Parenthood, the group’s local affiliate in Denver is breaking from the rest of the Komen organization. The Denver affiliate announced today that the national organization granted it an exception to continue funding Planned Parenthood.

[snip]

The Connecticut affiliate withdrew its support for the national Susan G. Komen organization, and the group wrote on its Facebook page that it enjoys a great partnership with Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. “We understand, and share, in the frustration around this situation,” the group wrote.

4 comments:

Bob said...

"Karen Handel, a former secretary of state in Georgia and a Republican activist, was hired in April as vice president of public policy at the Dallas-based Komen." LA Times

Carrie said...

There are several top people at SGK that are republican hacks, who, from what I read, have been dying (pun intended) to find and excuse to defund PP.

They really stunk the place up with this decision. First, as noted, PP raised almost $400,000 yesterday alone (I think they only get about $600,000 to $700,000 from SGK anyway), so with all the backlash, PP comes out ahead.

Second, though, and most importantly, SGK's decision has tainted their "brand," and I doubt they will be able to drum up the same support for the damn pink ribbon month long extravaganza they generate every October. I am pretty sure there will be a large drop in the participation in the Race for the Cure, and one can bet their contribution levels from regular people will go down.

Guess its time to go to the Koch Brothers and their ilk now, for philanthropic donations. Or, better yet, let's see if the repugs and right wingers can pick up the slack, donation-wise. I doubt it, though. Those guys (not the Koch Bros. but the nutjobs) are very close fisted when it comes to giving away their money.

Arno said...

Georgians are seeing Handel as The Recurring Nightmare, kinda like Newt. I expect her to trouble the nation again, probably sooner rather than later.

Arno said...

...or Randall Terry.