Grassley (R-Iowa) has limited questions to five minutes per senator, which will cap the overall length of the event. Republican leaders also plan to hold tighter reins on the hearing. “I think most men - and particularly men my age - have no idea how much this environment has changed just in the last couple of years and you can look pretty foolish,” he said.
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One Republican senator, who requested anonymity to speak freely, acknowledged that some lawmakers risk coming across as insensitive or out of touch. Hatch on Wednesday said he does not plan to ask questions himself but said that could change. Orrin Hatch, 84, who is remembered for his aggressive questioning of Hill on the same panel in 1991. But Grassley has just as much reason to worry about what some of his own members might say, such as Utah Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). He was referring to possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidates on the panel, including Sens. “The goal is to depoliticize the process and get to the truth, instead of grandstanding and giving senators an opportunity to launch their presidential campaigns,” Grassley said. Republicans defended their use of Mitchell as an attempt to turn down the temperature in the hearing room and make Ford more comfortable. Mitchell is on leave from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, where she works in a sex crimes and family violence bureau. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) didn’t help his party much by explaining Wednesday that they had hired a “female assistant” to handle the questioning. To avoid part of the minefield, all 11 male GOP senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee (there are no women) are expected to give their allotted time to an outside female lawyer, Rachel Mitchell, who has been hired to do their questioning. And it’s all coming in the middle of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault. A podium of older, white, male senators grilled a young black woman for hours about embarrassing personal and sexual details, and then many dismissed her story as a lie.Īdding to the pressure this time are additional allegations from two other women claiming sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh in the 1980s. It will be perhaps the most dramatic congressional standoff since the 1991 Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearing, and Republicans are eager to avoid the public backlash that followed that proceeding. In July, 2002, Ford hired Witeck/Combs Communications to handle their advertising to the gay and lesbian market, according to the Witeck/Combs website.Republicans head into Thursday’s hearing with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and California professor Christine Blasey Ford with hopes of shoring up his confirmation for a quick Senate vote.īut just as important, they’ll be trying to avoid political embarrassment for themselves. In July, 2004, Ford became the first of the Big-3 auto companies to add “Gender Identity” as a protected category. named Ford as among the top 10 companies for GLBT workers. In April, 2004, Volvo Cars of North American (a division of Ford) was given an Advertising Research Foundation award for it’s campaign targeting GLBT customers. In March, 2004, the co-founder of Ford’s gay, lesbian or bisexual employees group (GLOBE) was honored by the Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community center. In a press release dated 2/1/05, Ford announced a pledge of $250,000 to the “Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale, one of the largest donations ever made from a fortune 500 company to a lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) organization. The Ford Motor company, either through its company policies or through donations, has been supportive of several gay and lesbian goals.Įxamples, mostly from the Ford Motor Company site: It urges a boycott of Ford Motor Company because of the company’s support of various gay and lesbian efforts. This widely circulated eRumor is a forward of an alert from the American Family Association, a Conservative watchdog group in Mississippi. Ford Motor Company’s Support of Gay & Lesbian Causes- Truth!