Sen. Gilly's DADT plan may NOT work

Days after Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand mentioned a possible DADT funding pause, several LGBT activists expressed their concerns.

For example:

“It's helpful to talk about cutting funding for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ discharges, but we must be strategic about when such a move would be made and now is premature,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Second, Sarvis does not believe the votes yet exist in the Senate to pass such an amendment. SLDN worked with Gillibrand’s office last year to explore the possibility of placing a moratorium on discharges and investigations for the remainder of the 111th Congress.

“When we did our whip count, the most we got was 44 votes,” said Sarvis, adding that even with last week's supportive testimony from Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense secretary Bob Gates, he does not believe that an amendment would garner the necessary votes.

“The last thing we need is for the first vote on this policy in 17 years to fail,” he said.

also...

Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, expressed similar reservations about disrupting the process that’s now taking place in the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“We want to make sure a vote on that would not foreclose pursuing a vote for full legislative repeal this year,” Nicholson said. “Moderate senators may not want to take a vote on the policy twice in 2010.”

Others are wondering if this is a reaction to Harold Ford Jr.'s growing base in NY. Sources claim that Ford's brand is gaining some strength. This is could be a problem for her, if this plan crashes and burns.