Well, that didn’t take long.
A major Susan G. Komen for the Cure donor has called for the breast cancer foundation to “clean house” including Komen founder and chief executive Nancy Brinker.
In a letter to friends and family, published by The UK Guardian Wednesday, Eve Ellis, who spent six years on Komen NYC’s Board and raised over $250,000 for the group, explained that she does not believe Brinker’s claims that the decision to cut grants to Planned Parenthood were not politically motivated.
Ellis wrote, in the letter sent Monday, that in order to restore her trust Komen must replace the Board, Brinker must resign, and Karen Handel, the former senior vice president for public policy must be terminated (Handel resigned Tuesday).
“A clean house would enable Komen to carry on its much-needed, admirable work without the baggage of being the organization that had actually deliberated on and subsequently made the heartless decision to defund Planned Parenthood and to endanger the heath of thousands of women,” she wrote. “When we have a clean house, we should get answers to how this happened, and a clear refocus that Komen stands for all women’s health.”
According to Ellis, Brinker cannot be trusted and that politics were definitely at play in the decision to pull funding — not just because Handel, the supposed force behind the decision — but also because of Brinker’s past ties to the Bush administration and the fact that Brinker told affiliates on Saturday that former Bush White House Press secretary Ari Fleischer would be helping Komen with “crisis communications.”
“Nancy Brinker was a George W. Bush Ambassador appointee and is a Bush family friend. Is it just coincidence that the head of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, is the daughter of that feisty progressive nemesis of the Bush family, the late Governor of Texas, Ann Richards?” she wrote.
Ellis added that while the reversal of the decision to defund Planned Parenthood was “a step in the right direction” more needs to be done and that a “clean house” is the way to restore trust.
Brinker founded Komen in 1982. Cecile Richards has been with Planned Parenthood since 2006.