by Donnie Jay
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
A Reply From Coors T
Last issue I wrote an article describing what had taken place with Coors having dropped out of their sponsorship and having to seek alternative funding. I would like to thank those corporations, once again, who came on board, Jagermeister, Budweiser Brewing Company, the Bourbon Orleans Hotel and SouthernDecadence.COM. Without whose help, I have no idea what I would have done.
However, I also have had a call from the parent company of Coors, who apologized for what appears to have been a mix-up in communication from the national level to the local distributors. It seems that the confusion arose from a shift in the regional management for the southeastern area. Since the agreement between the company and past SDGM XXX "Irish Mike" was verbal and not written, the new members of the regional management team had no record of their commitment. I received a phone call from Doug Sanborn, a representative of their company and a member of LAGER, which is their association of gay and lesbian employees. Though we both were in agreement that a verbal commitment should have been as binding as any written one, the situation had progressed beyond the point of re-establishing sponsorship as I had already signed a three-year agreement with the current sponsors. During the conversation Mr. Sanborn made a very generous offer as a way of reconciliation to the GLTB community to make a donation to my primary charity recipient UNITED SERVICES FOR AIDS in the amount of $4,000.00. I can only say that I was overwhelmed and gratefully accepted. He went on to explain that Pete Coors, the republican senatorial candidate from Colorado has disassociated himself from the company and that his views are not those of the corporation.
The following is the Internet portion of our communication:
"Donnie Jay,
Thanks so much for you time today. I really appreciate your understanding of this situation. We both agree that verbal contracts are great but should always be put on paper so no mistakes can happen. Our field sales force led by Parrish and Amanda, are quality people and will be in touch with you soon. Thanks for being willing to write the next article to let all know that we are actually a pretty darn good company. When an error happens we step in and get it right. I am sure you can let others in the community know this too. I am attaching the ad that we talked about; I think you will be impressed with it as we all were from Coors. Again. We were the only company to take a stance on the issue and did so prior to the US Senate vote. I will process the donation to UNITED SERVICES FOR AIDS once I have the contact information. That will be in the amount of $4000.00.
I look forward to seeing you sometime soon in New Orleans, I will want a full tour of the good places to see. If your travels ever bring you to Colorado, we would be very happy to show you around out facility.
Thanks for all you do in the community.
--Douglas Sandorn Manager, Corporate Relations"
Their current CEO had issued their company’s policy to their local and some national media as follows:
To this I responded:
"Douglas,
In my public appearances and shows this weekend I announced the things we discussed over the phone the other day and will write in my column this week to reflect the misunderstanding that arose over Coors dropping out of Decadence. I spoke with Jennifer (our local representative) and told her that I will personally call all the managers and owners of GLTB business to clear the air. (Which I will do as soon as I have confirmation that the donation has been received.)
--Donnie Jay"
This morning after meeting with all the parties concerned here in New Orleans and an
honest open discussions as to how all this came to be, I can honestly state that it was
due to miscommunication between all parties involved. I came out of this with a
much better understanding of just how things should be handled in the future and to this end am getting everything in writing.
Once again thank you to all parties involved including our current sponsors, those previous and those yet to join us in our endeavors. To me this has been a very positive learning expierence.
