Nashville, April 17, 2006: Once a week the volunteer members of the marriage subcommittee of the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) gather in an otherwise empty office building after the business day in downtown Nashville. Ten people are on the committee, though not every member is always present, and the meeting tonight is an unusual one: it marks the end of the first official week that their newly hired campaign manager, Randy Tarkington, has been on the job.
Before the meeting begins, Tarkington engages in light chit-chat with all the familiarity of a longtime friend with committee member Jared Davidson, who is a college student taking the semester off from his studies. Davidson is seated in a classic leather button-tufted chair at the corner of a long glass-covered conference table with his laptop open.
“I’m still going through all these contacts in my phone,” says Tarkington, “telling everyone about my move. Some of these names I don’t even recognize.” A 12-year resident of California, he moved this past February home to Tennessee.
“I know,” says Davidson. “You know, when you’re at a bar or something—“
“—yes! And you meet a possible business contact or something and get the number. You just put the first name in, and then you think later, who is this person?!”
In a few moments we’re joined by uber-activists Pam Wheeler and Marisa Richmond – two of the hardest working volunteers in our entire community – and the room is alive. Committee member John Snyders joins in by phone. The meeting begins.
“One thing I’ve found, just talking to people the past while,” says Tarkington, “is that no one knows this election is going on.” Heads nod in agreement.
“We have a lot of work to do.”
Randy Tarkington was raised in Centerville, Tenn., which is about 50 miles southwest of Nashville, “the home of Minnie Pearl,” he told me later. “That’s our claim to fame.” He earned both his Bachelor’s degree (in journalism) and his Master’s (higher education administration) at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville.
“I worked four years at Mississippi State and then five years at Vanderbilt before I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area,” he said. At Vandy he was the associate director of residential and judicial affairs, a position he shared coincidentally with Linda Welch, who is now publisher of the GLBT entertainment weekly newspaper, Inside Out Nashville.
As with many in our community, Tarkington’s looks belie his age. Though all of 45-years, his short, erratic, naturally curly hair, matched with a slight five o’clock shadow and the relaxed outfit of a college student, juxtapose disarmingly with his fast, quick-thinking conversational style. Today he’s in a well-worn white linen short-sleeved shirt, light khaki shorts and a pair of brown sandals. The ubiquitous yellow “Live Strong” armband rounds out the look.
“I came back to Nashville to be closer with my family,” he said. “I loved the Bay Area but I wanted to be here, which is ironic because there’s so much talk on the other side about family values.”
Pam Wheeler was charged by the TEP leadership to head up the steering committee that would get the “Vote NO” campaign off the ground and hire the campaign manager. “There were eight people on the hiring committee,” she said, “and each person was a TEP board member, except for me and Mark Lopez.”
The job listing was posted nationwide on grassroots political Web sites, as well as off the beaten path sites such as craigslist.org, the online flea-market-style localized portal that seems to thrive just under the radar in each of the cities where it exists.
“We received about 15 serious applicants,” she said, “and after some phone interviews and some meetings we were able to make our selection.”
A volunteer and activist in the Middle Tennessee area for the greater part of the past decade, Pam Wheeler lacks the seemingly aloof wherewithal that can sometimes be found among the oft-noted leaders in this community. Her “calls ’em as I sees ’em” demeanor is not always out for display on the NewsChannel5+ television show Out & About Today, where she is a host, but is always a welcoming and refreshing jump step from those who feel the need to toe a line.
“Of course, all the references we talked to before we hired Randy said he’s the best person, he’s a wonderful person,” she said. “Finally, I was like, ‘Okay. Now tell me something bad,’ and even then they were still complimentary. One guy I spoke with said Randy sometimes works so hard on a project that his personal life will suffer. I said, ‘We’ll take him.’”
“That he used to live here in Nashville was a big help,” she said. “When we spoke to some people who’ve been active in the community for a long time, they remembered him and had a favorable impression.”
