Fulton candidacy cements Dem-LGBT alliance in NJ

Meet Brenda "Sue" Fulton, the Democrat Party's hand-picked, expressly-promoted, candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder.  Yes, this Brenda "Sue" Fulton:

Obama Appoints First Openly Gay Member to West Point Board

(Bloomberg News, July 5, 2011)

Presidential Appointments | Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund

(Victory Magazine, Autumn 2011)

Obama Appointee To Board Of West Point Slams Military Academy

(Gay and Lesbian Task Force, June 20, 2013)

West Point’s Cadet Chapel To Host It’s First Same-Sex Marriage

(Fox News, December 1, 2012)

Brenda "Sue" Fulton is the New Jersey Democrat Party's Tammy Baldwin.  She's a national star in the LGBT campaign for cultural hegemony and her high profile advocacy on national issues -- at the national level -- suggests that she will not stay too long as a minority member of a Freeholder Board, content with the dusty passages of a county budget.  Like the beautiful and articulate Senator Baldwin, who started out as a member of the Dane County (Wisconsin) Board of Supervisors, if Ms. Fulton is elected to the Monmouth County Freeholder Board, she will soon be moved up to the Legislature (Baldwin was a member of the Wisconsin Assembly), then to Congress (ditto for Baldwin), and then to the United States Senate (where she can join Senator Baldwin).

Wisconsin, you say?  Yes, the same state that elects Conservative Evangelical Republican Governor Scott Walker elects Liberal Gay Democrat United States Senator Tammy Baldwin.  Why? Some years the Right gets its vote out, other years the Left does better.  It depends on the year.  Unlike New Jersey, in Wisconsin you don't spend a lot of time pissing off your base to impress people who will never vote for you.  This approach seems to work for Wisconsin Republicans, who hold the State Senate 19 to 14 and the Assembly 63 to 36.

In contrast, New Jersey Republicans seem to be in a 1990's time warp, curiously stuck on the out-dated idea that something called "swing voters" matters more than turning out those who require no re-education to vote Republican.  "If only we had a candidate who was liberal, gay, AND Republican," they say.  But on some level they must know that if they did, such a candidate would fail to win liberals, gays, OR Republicans.

How has this "the grass is greener on the other side" fetish worked for the NJGOP?  You failed to pick-up any seats even with a popular Governor at the top of the ticket.  One election later, and you are now left with numbers not seen since the post-Watergate period.  What new depths are you planning to plumb in 2017?

And while you are trying to figure out how to be a somewhat uptight, uncool, patrician version of the Democrats, they have just launched their Tammy Baldwin and as she blazes a trail through the levels of elected power you can kiss goodbye forever anything better than a 95-5 split on voters who think LGBT issues are important.   Think we're making too much of it?  Just check out Brenda "Sue" Fulton's Wikipedia entry:

Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, a member of the Academy's first class to admit women. She commissioned in the Army as a signal officer, serving as both a platoon leader and company commander in Germany before receiving an honorable discharge at the rank of Captain.

During her ensuing years in the private sector, Fulton worked briefly with the Campaign for Military Service (later SLDN), supporting Bill Clinton's efforts to overturn the ban on gay service. These efforts failed, leading to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

After the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, Fulton served as a founding board member of Knights Out, an organization of LGBT West Point graduates, and later OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBT military members. In those roles, she advocated for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and worked closely with the Pentagon on implementation of the repeal. She is still active in Knights Out, and currently serves as President of SPARTA, an LGBT military group advocating for transgender military service.

Fulton was among the more than 75 USMA women alumni who attended the first Ranger School graduation to include women, calling the moment as important as her classmates' own graduation from West Point.

In 2011, President Obama appointed Fulton to the West Point Board of Visitors, making her the first openly gay person to serve as a board member in its history. She spoke as part of a three-person panel at the first-ever LGBT pride event held at the Pentagon, where she discussed her experiences in the Army and at West Point.

In 2013, Fulton openly challenged Academy leadership on its handling of cadet misconduct, specifically related to sexual harassment and assault.  Her tenure has been marked by increased diversity in entering classes, with higher percentages of African-American, Latino, and women cadets.

In 2012, Fulton and Penelope Dara Gnesin became the first couple to be married in a same-sex marriage at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel at West Point (not to be confused with the Old Cadet Chapel).  They currently live in Asbury Park, NJ.

In 2015, Fulton was elected chairperson of the Board of Visitors at West Point, making her the first woman graduate to hold that position.

When in the cold snows of 2018 you are attending the swearing-in of a Democrat Governor with a dozen Republican Senators and a little less than double that number of Republican Assembly members, don't say we didn't warn you.  But hey, keep on dreaming that dream. . . Christie Whitman is coming back. . .