community profile

 

BY EUAN BEAR

e doesn’t look a thing

like “Bruno Gianelli,” the

campaign consultant on
The West Wing. Tall, skinny,
glasses, given to casual shirts and
jeans, he wouldn’t impress a
chance passerby as a political
hired gun. But that’s what Marty
Rouse is. He’s also 40 years old,_
gay, and he and his partner of 12
years, Scott Sherman, are moving
back to Vermont, with their
adopted son Sasha.

If you read Newsweek,
you know about Sasha, an orphan
from Eastern Europe, neglected
in the orphanage, diagnosed with
“institutional autism,” as a result
somewhat behind American
norms in his development. But
perhaps the worst insult to Sasha
was when a homophobic neigh-
bor made a report of physical
abuse against his two daddies.
The complaint was not substanti-
ated, but the process required
Sasha to undergo hours of med- V
ical examinations and tests. I

Now they’re coming

home;to_ live permanently in.  

Vermont, where Marty is.again 7
for the fourth time —.working for ‘
the Democrats on the party’s
Senate campaigns.

Marty Rouse is President
of Catamount Consulting, a polit-
ical consulting firm, currently
based in Washington, DC. Among
the firm’s clients this year are the
Human Rights Campaign, AIDS
Action, the Gay and Lesbian
Medical Association (for whom
he acts as “govemment liaison”
in a Washington, DC satellite
office) and the Vermont State
Senate and House Democratic
Campaign Committees.

He says he “just fell
into” community organizing after
he graduated from SUNY
Stoneybrook with a degree in
German and a strong concentra-
tion in political science. “I like to
swim upstream in all that I do. I
wouldn’t say I was drawn to the
left; it’s just where I am. I organ-
ized a boycott against Coors Beer
in New York City.” He also
helped defend Planned
Parenthood clinics and protested
against the building of the
Shoreham (Connecticut) nuclear
power plant in the 70s. “It’s not
lefi, it’s right. It’s what was right
in my mind; the right thing to
do.”

His childhood was spent
in suburban Long Island, “Middle
class all the way — middle-mid-
dle,” he says. “I truly don’t think
there’s any option but to fight for
those who can’t fight for them-
selves.”

Marty has worked on
labor, gay civil rights, HIV/AIDS,
and political campaigns in New

Mrty Rouse, Political Consultant,
. Helps Democrats Keep Seats

York, Vermont, and nationally.

He was a political
appointee in the Clinton
Administration, serving at both
the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services as an assis-
tant to Secretary Donna E.
Shalala and the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban
Development with Roberta
Achtenberg, the Assistant
Secretary for FairHousing and
Equal Opportunity."

Marty Rouse first came
to Vermont six years ago. “In
early 1996, the White House
asked me to run the Clinton/Gore
reelection effort in VT. I was
involved in the New York City
and State campaign, but I was not
a state director (I was the NYC
Field Director and the New York
State Lesbian/Gay and AIDS
coordinator for campaign in ’92).
I accepted and fell in love with
Vermont and its people. So, I’ve‘
been planning to move up for a
while, but wanted to remain in
the Clinton Administration until
the end. I loved my work in that
Administration. The LGBT com-
munity — and all of America — is
better for the 8 years of the
Clinton Administration.”

Peter Shumlin was the
first elected official with whom-

Marty developed a close relation-
ship, he says. Shumlin “under-
stood what was needed to win
control of the Senate from the
Republicans. It’s hard to imagine
now, but in 1996 the Republicans
had a clear majority, 18-12 in the
State Senate. Working closely
with Shumlin — I was the director
of the Vermont State Democratic
Campaign - we developed a plan
to take back the Senate. No one
thought it was possible, but we
won five [more] seats that year,
changing the Senate to a 17-13
Democratic majority.”

It was this majority, he
suggests, that eventually was key
in helping to pass civil unions
legislation. “Had the Republicans
been in the majority, it is doubtful
that a civil unions bill would have
ever made it out of committee,”
Marty adds.

During that 1996 elec-
tion Marty developed many
friendships with senators and oth-
ers. When Shumlin asked for his
campaign help two years later
afier passage of Act 60, he
couldn’t say no. “I didn’t want to
see my friends lose.” The
Democrats maintained a 17-13
majority in the Senate that
November.

In 2000, “after civil

unions was passed,” Marty
relates, “Peter Shumlin and his
wife Deb called me up and were
frightened by the calls they were
receiving from hostile
Vermonters. They pleaded with
me to come up and help one more
time. In reality, they didn’t need
to plead at all — I felt it was my
duty as a gay man who under-
stood Vermont campaigns to help
again. I came up for three
months, living most of the time in
Franklin County State Senator
Sara Kittell’s basement.” Marty
says that experience made him
understand on a new level that
“politicians are real people. They
are public servants, but they also
need to get their kids fed and off
to school.”

His mission this year is
to increase the majority of Senate
seats held by Democrats, and for
him, it’s not just about Vermont.
“We now have a precarious one-
vote margin between keeping
civil unions the law of the land
and a possible long, drawn out
fight to protect our families. I see
the national perspective as well
here. If we can increase the
Democratic majority in the State
Senate this year, elected officials
and lgbt organizers around the
country will be more bold and

 

seek to establish similar legisla-
tion to protect our families. I see
the Vermont State Senate elec-
tions as the most important elec-
tions in Vermont and indeed the
entire country for our
community.”

Because Vermont is a
small state, person—to-person con-
tact is one of the most important
of campaign strategies, Marty
says. “The most effective strate-
gies for campaigns in Vermont
are the ones that enable the candi-
date to be seen as a whole person
and not a politician who has posi-
tions on issues.” Yet some may
disagree, given that fact that cam-
paigns focused on the issues of
civil unions and Act 60 allowed
the Republicans to rise to a
sweeping majority in the Vermont
House.

Even as a political hired
gun, Marty doesn’t always get
candidates to take his advice.
“Many of the candidates listen to
my suggestions; some don’t.
Most who do end up enjoying
their campaigns a lot more, even
if they lose. But I think my track
record is pretty good. But, if you

don’t have good candidates,;they,:.-

really can’t win.” He:-says he gets
personally involved in the candi-

dates’ lives, and feels “they are A

very special people.”

Asked what a typical
day looks like for him, Marty
says, “I’m very busy all day/night
long, always on email and always
on home/business/cell phone. In
Vermont, I’m always in my car
driving around meeting candi-
dates at their homes, not having
them meet me in Montpelier. I
like to get to know them, their
family, their home, etc. It helps
me help them more, if I can get
to really know how they live day-
to-day.”

The most rewarding
thing for him about being a cam-
paign consultant “is seeing candi-
dates who really understand their
role in helping and representing
their entire community. I also
enjoy watching them develop into
good candidates. Being a good
elected representative and being a
good candidate are two entirely
different things.”

The hardest thing?
“Knowing that you can’t be all
things for all people; there’s too
much work to be done.”

When he’s not shepherd-

ing candidates through a cam-
paign, Marty runs marathons
(best time: 3:42) and half
marathons as a member of the
Washington, DC chapter of
Frontrunners, a glbt running
group. He’s run the Covered
Bridges (Virginia) half-marathon
twice, and marathons in V
Baltimore, Washington DC, and
Burlington. V