AVOIDING HARD WORK: SHADOW CONVENTION IS SHALLOW

San Francisco --- In Philadelphia, at the GOP convention, Frank Ricchiazzi,
a veteran member of the gay Log Cabin Republican Club, was crowing over how
far his group had come since 1992. The Houston convention that year was so
divisive that Log Cabin members almost left the GOP, he said.

Eight years later, a gay GOP congressman, Jim Kolbe of Arizona, addressed
the GOP convention, the club helped pick a speaker with HIV, and the ticket
features a running mate, Dick Cheney, with a lesbian daughter.

''What it says to pro-choice Republicans'' who are trying to change the GOP
platform on abortion, Ricchiazzi proclaimed, ''is to follow Log Cabin,
baby, because we're getting our party back.''

Some naysayers believe the club didn't get much of anything. Daughter Mary
Cheney, they say, is being muzzled. Kolbe spoke on trade, not gay issues.
They conveniently forget that Gore 2000 is just as coy when it comes to
campaign manager Donna Brazile, an erstwhile lesbian activist.

Naysayers also rake Cheney for not allowing openly gay adults to serve in
the military, and conveniently ignore running mate Joe Lieberman's vote in
favor of a bill by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to deny federal funds to
schools that present material that is ''supportive of homosexuality.''
Ditto President Clinton's signing of a bill barring federal recognition of
same-sex marriages. Neither party is where gay activists want it to be.

Which brings me to the point of this column --- why I skipped the Shadow
Convention in Philadelphia, and am skipping the one in Los Angeles. People
who are serious about bringing about change know that it is a long,
blood-draining process. It requires persuasion; it requires organization;
it requires hours of boring meetings, years of filling the right committee
with the right people, and more fund-raising than any sane person wants to do.

The Shadow Convention pooh-poohs all the hard work it takes to produce
change in a democracy. It's a place for people who think they can click a
mouse or show up at a meeting and long-standing federal policies will
magically morph into what they want.

Shadow Convention promoter Arianna Huffington told the Associated Press,
''A lot of people are being left out of the political debate.''

Try Missing in Action. Besides the two major parties, the Reform Party,
Libertarian Party and Green Party pretty much cover the political spectrum.
Surely, any adult in America can find enough in common with one of these
parties to become a member.

Supporters say that the Shadow Convention is addressing issues the GOP and
Dems have neglected, such as campaign-finance reform. Wrong. Party suits
haven't neglected these issues --- far from it; the major parties have done
their utmost to trample campaign-finance reform. They're not neglecting the
cause; they're making the case for it, and will keep on doing so until
party faithful won't let them.

Meanwhile, nothing said at the Shadow Convention will crimp the party
biggies' style.

I am not excusing either party's behavior. I'm pointing out that when the
rank and file insist on change; when they organize and threaten to boycott,
and they do a convincing job of it, they influence policy.