I am grateful that Elisabeth James, the manager of the Westin in Seattle and one of the trustees of Komen's upcoming local gala, called me back just now. (I called her yesterday.)

But when I asked her what she thought of Komen's decision to defund Planned Parenthood...she blamed the problems on the media.*

Do you disagree with the decision to defund Planned Parenthood? I asked her.

"I don’t disagree with it based on if there’s an investigation and that’s the standard, and holding to your standards is the only way you can avoid being political," she said. "Personally, do I support Planned Parenthood? Absolutely. I just separate those things."

Why doesn't the local chapter reject the defunding mandate, like Denver's has done? James doesn't know, and isn't really asking.

I think my job is to support Komen to give those [defunded] women additional funding so they can have screenings. I haven’t had this conversation with the local group lately. I’m a trustee with the gala… I have personal support for Komen. To me, what I’m supporting and raising money for is breast cancer research, and whether I do that through Komen, or I write a check to Planned Parenthood, those are individual choices that people will make.

...All of the grants that I saw from the local chapter in my time on the grant committee were related to small, local outreach programs that served women and communities that either weren’t getting enough information, weren’t getting enough service, or had already been diagnosed and weren’t getting enough support.

No word yet from Joni Earl, but I'm still hoping to hear from her.

*I asked James how she gets her information, but then realized she didn't have any.