| Reilly continued to work in politics through the 1970s. In 1977, he was the national spokesman against the Anita Bryant anti-gay campaign in Dade County, Florida. Reilly was the only non-gay person hired by the campaign, and spent six months in Florida fighting for equal rights and fair treatment for Miami’s gay community. Although the anti-gay campaign won the battle, many of the tactics and the visibility of the campaign politically energized the gay community and paved the way for future political victories.
By the end of 1976, Reilly’s political and business career had gotten off to a respectable start. He had successfully managed both a successful store and a series of upset wins in the political arena. However, he had only made $10,000 from seven years of political consulting; the bulk of his income was still coming from Walls and Corners.
Reilly realized that he needed to make a commitment to one or the other if he was to continue being successful. “I concluded that at that point running the store was taking time away from my work running campaigns, so I decided it was time to close it down and move forward living solely off my campaign management income,“ says Reilly.
He closed Walls and Corners at the end of 1976 and devoted himself full-time to political campaign management and began what would be a momentous next step in his career – winning an upset victory for a longshot candidate for Congress named Bob Matsui – whose district was located in Sacramento, the seat of power in California. The results would shape Reilly's future in politics. |
