By Dave Andrusko
It was only a matter of when, not if, Susan G. Komen for the Cure CEO Nancy Brinker would announce she was stepping down to focus on Komen’s “global mission and raising resources to bring our promise to women all around the world.” That totally predictable announcement came down last night.
Once Planned Parenthood and its many allies in the media and the Abortion Establishment muscled Komen into reversing a proposed change in funding criteria which would have had the effect of no longer funding PPFA, Brinker’s days were numbered. Already many heads have rolled, including policy chief Karen Handel who resigned almost immediately.
Handel’s “resignation was followed, in quick succession, by Katrina McGhee, executive vice president and chief marketing officer; Nancy Macgregor, vice president of global networks; and Joanna Newcomb, director of affiliate strategy and planning,” the Associated Press reported.
Brinker was not the only Komen official mentioned in the statement. Komen board members, Brenda Lauderback and Linda Law also are leaving.
But the other big name announced Wednesday night is Komen President Liz Thompson who’ll depart effective September 7. The company line is she is “leaving Komen with a ‘heavy heart’ after four years there but that the ‘time is right’ because there is new energy in the organization and she has accomplished her goal to improve Komen’s reporting and grant-making strategy in supporting breast-cancer research,” as the Wall Street Journal reported.
However a Washington Post account offered a far different explanation.
“One Komen insider not authorized to speak on behalf of the organization expected Brinker to ‘still be intimately involved on a day-to-day basis,’” wrote Sarah Kliff and Lena H. Sun. “The same insider said Thompson was leaving the organization out of frustration, worried about the role that Brinker would still play at the beleaguered organization.”
For her part, Brinker offered the wholly unconvincing explanation that the changes are not a result of the Planned Parenthood controversy. “I think we all made mistakes and we addressed them and we’re through that and we’re moving on,” she said, adding, “It’s not cleaning house, it’s an evolution.”
Having accomplished what it wanted, President Cecile Richards Cecile Richards issued a statement praising both Brinker and Thompson for their “profound contributions to women’s health” and for helping elevate the importance of breast cancer detection and prevention.
Not that it probably matters now, but it’s important to remember that when the controversy was swirling in February, Brinker vigorously denied in interviews and in a You Tube video “the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood.” Komen’s emphasized how the change would increase efficiency and eliminate duplication of services. Planned Parenthood does not perform mammograms; they do breast screenings and referrals.
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