Well that was fast
Dallas News is reporting that Komen for the Cure just released a statement from Nancy Brinker and the Komen Board of Directors:
We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.
The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.
Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.
Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.
It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s politics.
Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public’s understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.
We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.
I haven’t seen any other news outlets reporting on this (just chatter on Twitter), so I’ll keep you posted.
UPDATE: As I read the press release more carefully, it’s not clear that Komen will reinstate Planned Parenthood funding at the same levels as it has in the past. The language “We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants…” is troubling. We need to stay on them. I have no doubt that Planned Parenthood will keep fighting. Women’s health should not be a political partisan issue. Komen must maintain funding levels not only for this grant cycle, but for future grant cycles.
UPDATE 2: Komen apparently has changed their criteria regarding funding. They will discontinue funding for organizations that have been found guilty in a criminal investigation, not just for organizations that are under investigation. I guess that takes care of their Penn State problem.
Here’s a video report via karoli at Crooks & Liars:
(h/t @fleetadmiralj)
Komen needs to cut Karen Handel loose. Otherwise, we won’t see an end to this nonsense. She’ll be baaaaack.
Right…I mean she was just hired in December…by EARLY February she has already caused a PR nightmare two months into the job. Geez, I should be so lucky to be able to take a squat and shitter in the office when I’m only two months in and NOT be fired. Let’s see how soon until she needs to devote more time to her family, fingers crossed.
Jeebus, even their apology is bullshit.
“preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants”
Mighty white of them. Planned Parenthood grants had been steadily increasing. We’ll see if that trend continues.
” time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women.”
Don’t start none, won’t be none.
“We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. ”
Translation: Now will you keep buying the pink stuff?
I don’t trust this thing one little bit. Maybe the lawyers that crafted this non-apology apology BS can get over to the Ron Paul camp. He needs some help denying the Nazi emails and whatnot.
This reads for me as a play for time. They’re hoping that whatever post hoc rationale they come up with in 2013 sails through with no objection.
The question is whether Komen will have any money to fund grants after all their controversy-shy corporate donors pull funding.
I for one will be sending my donations directly to PP. What was that famous W quote? Oh yeah ” fool me once shame on…..can’t be fooled again”
The moral of the Komen story, class, is:
“Money talks, and bullshit walks”
Komen had better keep Karen Handel on a very short leash.
So I went back and listened to that CNN clip. WTF? We have the threat of 26 senators signing a letter to thank for this? How about the thousands of people who sent donations directly to PP, slammed the Komen Foundation repeatedly and threatened the corporate sponsors with boycotts?
No it was the 26 millionaires! Give me a break.
Sorry, no takebacks. Komen has shown itself to be a shill for the ‘lifers and nothing more than a pink washing money machine. They knew what sort of sh!tstorm this would be but thought that the only voices would be those deemed ignorable (teh Poors, liberals) but then they realized that the big money (Ford, Yoplait, NFL) were considering cutting SGK loose cause they don’t have time for this, there was a MAJOR change and decides that PP would be funded after all.
After this, I would anything that comes from SGK with a grain of salt the size
Sorry, no takebacks. Komen has shown itself to be a shill for the ‘lifers and nothing more than a pink washing money machine. They knew what sort of sh!tstorm this would be but thought that the only voices would be those deemed ignorable (teh Poors, liberals) but then they realized that the big money (Ford, Yoplait, NFL) were considering cutting SGK loose cause they don’t have time for this, there was a MAJOR change and decides that PP would be funded after all.
After this, I would anything that comes from SGK with a grain of salt the size Of a toaster. Support womens groups directly and let SGK choke on their pink ribbons.
Has Komen sacked everyone responsible for this shitshow fail parade? No? Well then.
I’m just glad that I haven’t heard any “What is Obama going to do about Komen?”
Obama is a bit preoccupied at the moment dealing another hissy fit over women’s health issues by the Catholic Church.
Obama can keep his hands clean on this one. This is a case of the free market calling the shots, and SGK heard them loud and clear. But those losers ain’t getting a dime of my money. Let them beg for coin at RNC headquarters, since they seem to be of like minds and all.
P.S.: And as you point out, there really isn’t much in the way of guarantees for PP in this smokescreen. There’s a good discussion of this going on right now over at Little Green Footballs, along with some observations on the usual right-wing suspects flipping their shit over this announcement. Imagine that — Komen alienates the left and center with these shenanigans, then has the right screaming for their donations back when it tries to play both sides of the fence. That PR genius of Komen’s couldn’t have done more damage to the outfit if she had tried.
Yeah, I’d been hearing rumblings from time to time even before all this that Komen wasn’t all they were cracked up to be, but I’d always assumed that the good they did outweighed whatever else wasn’t cool about them. But after everything that’s come out in the open, It’s clear that this is a bad outfit. They get nothing from me until they clean up they act, and at the barest minimum thoroughly clean house with their executive board.