But his voting record (except on the environment) always shifted when people associated him with then-senator Lowell Weicker (now Connecticut's Independent governor) and other Republicans who weren't very Republican.
Such has been the case recently. Last month The New York Times ran a long story about Wilson's willingness to appease liberal legislators in hacking out an overdue budget. And they were right. Wilson agreed to more than $7 billion in tax hikes and lower cuts than expected in social spending.
The pressure to reverse this "moderate" trend has been enormous. The Los Angeles Times reported that Wilson received 115,000 letters in response to the budget debacle--only one in 20 supported him. So gays and lesbians became the sacrificial lambs.
Wilson's chameleonesque political career (rivaled only by that of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton (D), who will announce his candidacy for president today, will probably get a boost from this. Let's hope not.
* * *
THERE'S FOP, HOP and HOC; HUB, FUP and CLUH. Harvard has a ton of organizations--and it's hard to keep them all straight. Despite the large number, though, most of them are doing some cool things.
But there's one that does nothing. Nada. Zip. It might as well not exist.
It's called the Harvard Jobs Program.
My roommate was signed up for this program this year when he applied for financial aid. He didn't ask to be--they just said he was. But that was fine with him. Maybe there were perks.
No such luck. Even as a member in good standing of the Harvard Jobs Program, his sole privilege was to find a job and earn a recommended amount of money as part of his financial aid package.
That was it. Sounds a lot like what everyone else who wants a job at Harvard does.
I was perplexed, so I called the Financial Aid Office (FAO). No, they don't provide a list of jobs available only for those lucky participants in the Harvard Jobs Program. No, they don't offer any special wages or hours for jobs since my roommate did not qualify for the Harvard Work-Study Program, another organization altogether.
"Well, um, what can he do?"
"Go to the Student Employment Office [SEO] and look on the jobs board for a job," the friendly person at the FAO replied.
In short, his search for gainful employment was no different from mine--and I'm not fortunate enough to be in the HJP.
"It's not actually any sort of referral service," said another friendly person, this one at the SEO.
Harvard has every right to make work part of students' financial aid packages. But the Harvard Jobs Program is only a stupid euphemism for finding work. Do they think we're fooled? This is not very outrageous, but it is very silly.
The INS does unfair millionaire recruiting, Pete Wilson does damage to gay rights for political ends, and the Harvard Jobs Program does nothing at all.