Replies

Is Fred Thompson's campaign secretary OPENLY GAY!!?? Wow! Did not know that.

You didn't know that because it isn't true. One of Fred Thompson's former senior commnications advisers (NOT his campaign secretary) was Robert Traynham, whose previous job was Rick Santorum's long-time spokesman. Traynham was apparently outed in 2005:

Santorum defends outed gay staffer -- Gay Anti-gay senator calls aide ‘a trusted friend and confidante’

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), considered one of the strongest opponents of gay civil rights in Congress, acknowledged to the media last week that his chief spokesperson is a gay man who he considers an “exemplary” employee and “trusted friend.”

News that Santorum’s communications director, Robert Traynham, is gay and has been open about his sexual orientation to Santorum since he joined the senator’s staff eight years ago stunned gay activists and Pennsylvania’s political establishment.

“It disturbs me that he has a gay person on his staff and yet he is so hostile to the rights of LGBT people,” said Stacey Sobel, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Center for Lesbian & Gay Civil Rights. “If he is open-minded enough to have an openly gay staff member, why is he not open minded about the issues important to his LGBT constituents?”

Traynham’s sexual orientation surfaced in the news media after the Web site PageOneQ.com reported that Traynham had confirmed in a recorded phone conversation that he is gay and out to Santorum.

Nearly all the major press outlets in Pennsylvania, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, quickly picked up on Traynham’s status as a gay man. Santorum and some of his supporters charged that the outing was aimed at hurting Santorum’s re-election bid next year, where he trails in the polls to Democrat Robert Casey, Jr., the state treasurer.

In a statement released by his office, Santorum said Traynham has worked for him for eight years. During the past four years, Santorum said, Traynham served as deputy chief of staff for the Senate Republican Conference, which Santorum heads, before returning to Santorum’s personal office to become communications director.

http://www.washblade.com/2005/7-22/news/national/outed.cfm

Traynham apparently no longer works for the Thompson campaign; he has taken the job as DC Bureau Chief for Comcast networks:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- CN8, The Comcast Network today announced that Robert Traynham will join CN8 as its Washington D.C. bureau chief. Beginning Monday, October 8, Traynham will report from CN8's state-of-the-art Capitol Hill studio and other D.C.-based events and landmarks to deliver breaking news and insider interviews for CN8's original morning and issues-oriented programming. Traynham will also support CN8's D.C.-based coverage of "America's Next President," the network's most expansive political coverage initiative to date, which will track all of the major events and news leading up to and surrounding the 2008 presidential election.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NEW06503102007-1.htm