Women and Politics

This post was submitted by Rebecca Freedholm, WCF Communications Fellow

It was another long night in primary elections, as WCF-endorsed candidates Penny Kotterman, Millie Herrera, and Deb Markowitz encountered highly contentious races.  

After her victory in last night’s primary election, Penny Kotterman is one step closer in her race to become Superintendent of Public Instruction in Arizona. Kotterman’s campaign must now continue this momentum in preparation for the general election this November.

This fall, Kotterman will face Republican nominee and Arizona State Senator John Huppenthal. For many voters, choosing between these two candidates will be a no-brainer. Kotterman has been an educator for over 30 years and has established an impressive record of teaching students, developing education policy, and improving the profession of education for both new and experienced teachers. She has also served as the president of the Arizona Education Association for 6 years, during which she has worked with Governors as well as three Superintendents of Public Instruction to formulate crucial policies in Arizona education. While Kotterman’s opponent may have experience as a state legislator, he has no where near the level of expertise and devotion to teaching that Penny Kotterman has.

Millie Herrera also reeled in a victory in her primary last night, and now advances in her race for State Representative of Florida’s 114th District. As a mother, activist, and business leader, Herrera serves her community in a number of significant capacities. She was formerly the president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida, and empowered the Hispanic community in Florida to participate in the electoral process. Herrera has also been a leader as the Vice Chair of the Kendall Community Council, an Advisory Board Member to the Girl’s Advocacy Project, and as a Guardian-ad-Litem providing support for abandoned, neglected, and abused children. Herrera is a tireless advocate for her community, and will continue to dedicate herself to public service once elected to Florida’s State House of Representatives.

Up in Vermont, Deb Markowitz is still awaiting primary results for her bid for Governor. This race is extremely tight and will likely not be decided until every vote is counted—and possibly even recounted. Currently, Markowitz is within reach of the leading candidate. Unless this margin widens, this race may not be decided until September.

Penny Kotterman, Millie Herrera, and Deb Markowitz are all inspiring, accomplished leaders. WCF hopes you will join us in helping these women attain victory in elections again this November.

This post was submitted by Rebecca Freedholm, WCF Communications Fellow

It’s been sixteen years since Miami-Dade County has elected a new Commissioner, but now that the long time incumbent has stepped down, county politics will finally get a fresh face. The race for Miami-Dade County Commissioner has become the most contested county race this year, with six candidates vying for the office. Of these candidates, Annette Taddeo has emerged as the leader most apt to provide the county with a new and unique perspective.

Raised in both Colombia and the United States with both Italian and Colombian heritage, Taddeo characterizes her story as “classic American—building on a diverse background to achieve success and prepare for the challenges of the future.” Drawing from her diverse background and entrepreneurial spirit, Taddeo became the Founder and CEO of LanguageSpeak, a comprehensive language services company offering translations, conference interpretation, and private tutoring in over 100 languages.

In addition to her role as a successful businesswoman, Taddeo has served as an inspiring leader of several organizations, and is especially committed to women’s organizations. She is a national founding partner and Executive Board Member of WIPP (Women Impacting Public Policy), and previously served as the Chair of the Women’s Enterprise National Council’s Leadership Forum. She is also a member of the exclusive Committee of 200, the Belizean Grove’s TARA’s (Today’s Already Rising Achievers), Women Corporate Directors (WCD), and NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners). She has also won several awards from the Latina community, including the WIPP Entrepreneurial Diversity Award and the “Latina Excellence Award” from Hispanic Magazine.

As a prominent leader among business owners, women, and minority communities, Taddeo will surely bring a refreshing and unique perspective to public office. Most importantly, however, as Commissioner she will continue to dedicate herself to the people of Miami-Dade County:

“My leadership style and perspective—shaped by decades of real-world experience as a business leader and a life lived outside of politics, make me uniquely qualified to be your next commissioner. I am running for the County Commission in District 8 to make sure that the people are first and always have a seat at the table. I will be the voice for the real bosses, the hard working taxpayers of Miami-Dade County.”

If elected as Miami-Dade County Commissioner, Taddeo will provide a strong voice for her community and will work hard to fight for what is right. WCF recognized Annette Taddeo’s potential from the beginning of her political career, and we are proud to continue our support for her through tomorrow’s election and beyond.

This post was submitted by Rebecca Freedholm, WCF Communications Fellow

Tomorrow, Tuesday August 24th, Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz will face a highly competitive five-way Democratic primary in the race to become Governor of Vermont. Although this is an exceedingly tight race, Markowitz has the energy, the enthusiasm, and the experience to come out on top.

Markowitz is not a stranger to challenging political races—she’s won six statewide elections against both Republican and Progressive opponents. In her first bid for elected office she beat a two-term incumbent to become the first woman elected as the Secretary of State of Vermont.

Now entering her twelfth year as Secretary of State, Markowitz has built an impressive record of achievement in Vermont. She has ameliorated the process of starting and expanding businesses in Vermont, effectively undertaken an ambitious election reform agenda, and proved to be a champion of open and accountable government. She has also implemented a crucial Safe at Home program to protect victims of domestic violence from being tracked down through public records.

Markowitz has consistently demonstrated her commitment to serving the people of Vermont. That is why she has gained endorsements from city and town officials all throughout the state. Six Burlington City Council Members provided a confident statement about Markowitz’s qualifications with their endorsement:

“Deb has proven her effectiveness as a chief executive. We will all greatly benefit by allowing her to implement her policies of efficiency, effectiveness, and practical problem-solving across all of Vermont. Most importantly, she is the candidate who is most likely to beat Brian Dubie in November’s general election because she is energetic, engaging, passionate and has broad appeal highlighted by her six statewide victories, including winning every single city and town in Vermont. She is the candidate who sees the big picture rather than focusing on a single issue or ideology. Local government, and all Vermonters, are confronting many challenges right now and will continue to do so in the near future. Deb Markowitz is the partner we need because when she sees a problem, she solves it.”

City and town officials are not the only people showing support for Markowitz—“1,812 Vermonters from 177 cities and towns across the state have invested in her campaign.” Markowitz’s grassroots fundraising efforts have been enormous, and her “neighbor-to-neighbor outreach program” may provide her with the momentum she needs to achieve victory on Tuesday.

Markowitz is a brilliant and hardworking leader for Vermont and WCF is certain that she is the candidate most capable of serving her state as Governor. Tomorrow’s gubernatorial primary may, however, be one of the most contested races that Vermont has ever seen. Markowitz will need plenty of support in this election, and WCF hopes you will join us in standing behind this wonderful Vermont leader.

This post was submitted by Rebecca Freedholm, WCF Communications Fellow

Earlier this week, WCF President/CEO Siobhan “Sam” Bennett appeared on Fox News to offer her expertise on how voter dissatisfaction with the current administration will affect the 2010 midterm elections.

In a segment entitled “The Blame Game,” Steve Doocy claims that constituent’s discontentment with the economy and unemployment may lead voters to turn to the GOP during this midterm election cycle. According to Doocy, Republicans and Democrats are engaged in a “blame game,” each faulting the other for the current state of the economy.

While Doocy and David Winston, President of the Winston Group and advisor to the House Republican Conference, discussed how partisan politics will play out in the upcoming elections, Bennett suggested that frustrated voters may want to turn their attention elsewhere:

“Bottom Line—the voters are mad, and you’re absolutely right: it’s all about the economy, it’s all about jobs. And, again, we’re ranked 86th in the world in the number of women in elected office. Vote for a woman and you’ve got someone that voters trust and presents a fresh face to the electorate.”

The fact of the matter is that representation of Republicans and Democrats in Congress has been relatively balanced for a long time. If voters really want change, they should focus on getting more women candidates elected. Women currently hold only 17% of the seats in Congress, even though research shows that women’s unique leadership style has a positive influence on decision making.

People who are dissatisfied with the decisions coming out of Washington these days need to concentrate less on partisan politics in this election cycle and more on ushering in “a fresh face” to Congress. Women’s different perspectives and powerful modes of leadership may likely prove to be the key to improving our economy.

As Bennett asserts, “Women are unusually well-positioned in this election cycle.” Women candidates will, however, require voters’ help in getting elected to office in November. Join WCF in supporting strong women leaders during midterm elections so that they can enact important changes in Congress.

This post was submitted by Rebecca Freedholm, WCF Communications Fellow.

Aaron Guerrero from The Daily Caller believes that Republican women candidates may not ultimately have the banner electoral year they had hoped for. Citing the recent primary losses of Karen Handel in Georgia and Jane Norton in Colorado, Guerrero theorizes that some GOP women’s “heavy emphasis on gender” may thwart their endeavors to reach public office.

The surge of Republican women contending for their party’s nomination in this election cycle has led many to deem 2010 “The Year of the GOP Woman.” Indeed, the GOP has seen an impressive increase in the number of female candidates competing in this year’s primary elections: There are 14 female Republicans running for seats in the U.S. Senate and 94 striving for positions in the House (numbers that more than double those from 2008).

Women are vastly underrepresented in all levels of public office, so this recent rise in female political participation is an exciting and encouraging sign of change. Why, then, does Guerrero instruct these GOP women to shy away from “discussions on gender?”

“Other candidates should stick to the formula that has worked for other women within the GOP. Talk up your professional background or unique personal history, portray yourself as a political outsider, and above all else, largely avoid discussions on gender.”

Guerrero fails to recognize that discussions on a female candidate’s personal history, professional background, and identity as a political outsider can never fully exclude “discussions on gender.” As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, “There are life experiences a woman has that come from growing up in a woman’s body that men don’t have.”

The fact that women have unique life experiences makes it imperative that we fight to achieve gender parity in our political system. These experiences inform women differently and inevitably drive them to assume different perspectives and modes of leadership. Furthermore, research reveals that women’s unique leadership style has a positive influence on decision-making across many fields.

Our government cannot adequately represent all citizens if it doesn’t include women’s diverse perspectives in its legislative process. Considering the lack of female representation—especially Republican female representation—that our government is currently experiencing, it would seem more apt to instruct women candidates to emphasize discussions on gender rather than to obscure them.

The only examples (and there are only two of them) of campaigns impeded by discussions of gender that Guererro offers are those which focused on stereotypical artifacts of femininity—lipstick, purses, and high heels. And in the case of Jane Norton, the focus on superficial aspects of gender identity was instigated by an appalling sexist comment made by her opponent, who claimed that he was more qualified than Norton because he did not wear high heels.

If women candidates fall short in this year’s election cycle, it may likely be because the majority of Americans fail to realize that gender parity in public office is a substantive issue.

Whether we resort to antiquated stereotypes or apathetically maintain that gender is a non-issue in politics, we are not doing enough to ensure that all American people are adequately represented and served by our political system.

I deeply hope that this record year in women candidacy is only the beginning of women’s increased political participation.

This post was submitted by Rebecca Freedholm, WCF Communications Fellow.

After an impressive performance in last night’s primary election, Suzan DelBene now continues in her race to become the Congressional Representative for Washington’s 8th District.

DelBene is not a stranger to leadership—she has been an innovative, real-world leader as an entrepreneur and technology executive for over 20 years. Having guided some of the most prominent companies in the world—including Microsoft—DelBene has the skills necessary to pioneer solutions to Washington’s toughest challenges:

“I’m running for Congress because I believe we’ve reached a pivotal moment in the history of this region and our nation. Critical issues—unemployment, health care, and climate change; our broken financial system, struggling education system, and crumbling infrastructure—demand thoughtful leadership and forceful action.”

DelBene’s demonstrated experience in business provides her with the critical knowledge needed to generate new jobs and businesses, to ensure fiscal accountability, and to enact policies that will allow her constituents and their businesses to prosper.

DelBene has personal experience with the hardships Washington citizens are facing during this difficult economic recession. While growing up, her family faced serious financial insecurity, and she learned “that jobs are more than just money—they are a source of pride, confidence, dignity, and identity.” DelBene is deeply invested in the individual and collective struggles of her constituents and has what it takes to get her community back on track:

“What the 8th District needs today is someone with real-world leadership experience who understands how to solve problems, create opportunities, and get things done. We also need someone who recognizes the value of working with people who come from different backgrounds and bring different points of view. And we need someone who is committed to representing the entire 8th District and learning from all of its citizens.”

As she advances to the November general election, DelBene joins another inspiring Washington leader—Senator Patty Murray. Both of these women will be incredible leaders for Washington, and WCF hopes you will join us in supporting these candidates this fall.

Cross-posted from the American Prospect

Few things in the progressive world have changed as dramatically since 1990 as the role and power of women in public life. But the change has not been all in one direction. And 20 years later, it’s fair to ask the question: Do women, on the issues of highest priority to women, have the clout that they ought to in progressive politics?

The early 1990s seemed like a promising new beginning for progressive women, driven in part by the discouraging politics and policies of the previous decade. In 1989, the Supreme Court had ruled in the Webster decision, allowing restrictions on the use of state funds, facilities, and employees for services related to abortion. Then, in 1991, women watched in astonishment as Anita Hill faced a panel of 14 white men intent on discrediting her testimony and her motives. That image of a black woman being viciously confronted, says Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, president of the Women’s Campaign Forum, was a “cultural tsunami” for women.

Reflecting now on the heady days of the early 1990s, Gloria Feldt, a past president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, says, “For me, what was happening was a shift from feeling like the battles had been won to feeling like we have a long way to go and we have to take hold of this agenda.” Far from being embraced by the Democratic Party, she says, women in politics were “feeling like there was a mission to insert ourselves. ? Women were very, very engaged and activated, more so than for over a decade.” It was that energy—sparked by fear and frustration—that drove a handful of women’s groups to mobilize energy for female candidates and that in 1992—the “Year of the Woman”—increased the number of women in the Senate from two to six.

What followed were two decades of apparently phenomenal progress. We saw the appointment of the first two female secretaries of state, the passage of the Cairo agenda that reframed women’s reproductive health as a human-rights issue, the evolution of strong anti-domestic-violence and anti-sex-discrimination law, and the selection of the first female speaker of the House. It was also a period when the gender gap in electoral politics widened, making the women’s vote ever more central to Democratic victories.

So how is it possible that, almost two decades after the Year of the Woman, Bennett could ask, “Will 2010 go down in history as the ‘Anti-Year of the Woman?’” as she wrote in an angry piece on the Huffington Post in late May. And how is it possible that the Republicans can claim the Year of the Woman as their mandate this year, without apparent irony. It’s time that anyone concerned with the future of women in progressive politics begin wondering hard.

Bennett was writing about the slate of female candidates for 2010 facing a “lack of party support, lack of recruitment, ingrained sexism, and male-dominated leadership of both parties.” (Bennett, who herself has run several times for lower office and ran for Congress in 2008, says she has “never been through a more misogynistic experience in my life.”) But the problem isn’t limited to Bennett, or to this year. Professors Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox have interviewed thousands of successful and politically active women working in areas that are often pipelines to a political career. They have consistently found that these women, from both major political parties, “are less likely than similarly situated men to be recruited to run for public office by all types of political actors”—in fact about half as likely.

What is perhaps most amazing is that this discrepancy is true, as Lawless and Fox have noted, despite the fact that women fare as well as male candidates when they actually do run. In other words, the problem isn’t an electoral bias—it is bias in the boy’s club itself. And what is perhaps most sad is that, according to their studies, Democrats only appear to do better at recruiting women: “Democratic and Republican women are equally unlikely to have received encouragement to run for office from elected officials [or] from party leaders.” Women’s groups on the left encouraging their own women likely make up the difference.

This year the right is citing candidates such as Nikki Haley, who fought tooth and nail to win the Republican nomination for governor in South Carolina, and Meg Whitman, who won that nomination in California. But while some high-profile races include Republican women, the numbers don’t actually pan out. “Although Republicans boast that they have more women running for House seats than ever before,” wrote Erin McPike in the National Journal in May, “few have become prominent contenders. Of the 115 candidates identified by the National Republican Congressional Committee as its ‘Young Guns,’ just nine are women. Only two women are in the top tier of that program.”

But the disheartening news isn’t limited to the fact that women’s election to Congress has plateaued around 17 percent, putting the United States 84th in the world in terms of women’s representation in the national legislature. When you talk to advocates for progressive women’s causes, there are more than a hefty handful—many of whom flocked to Barack Obama’s side during the primary season—who will say that it’s gotten awfully crowded under the bus since the president took office.

Sadly, we are in many ways back where we were two decades ago. The misogynistic culture of Washington was laid bare again in the petty and ruinous attacks on Hillary Clinton and her bid for the presidency. And the reproductive-health policies embraced by President Obama since his election have been, overwhelmingly, disappointing. These are nearly too numerous to count, and every activist has her own pet peeve. There’s that campaign announcement candidate Obama made to Planned Parenthood in 2007, saying that “the first thing I’d do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.” The promise turns out to have been nothing but words to make his audience happy. Instead, in the first weeks of the Obama presidency, we got the decision to strip family-planning funds out of the federal stimulus bill. And that’s to say nothing of the humiliating disaster of health-care reform, which Jehmu Greene, president of the Women’s Media Center and an adviser to Clinton during her presidential campaign, describes as “the greatest rollback of reproductive freedoms in a generation.”

If women’s groups really wanted to get out from under that bus, they’d exploit the widespread anger over these betrayals—regardless of whether Obama, congressional Democrats, Bart Stupak, or the Catholic bishops are mostly responsible—to drive a second Year of the Woman, and indeed there are aggressive campaigns by groups like the Women’s Campaign Forum and the White House Project to motivate women to run and vote as women, for women. “I think Anita Hill did a beautiful job in disturbing complacency,” Bennett notes. “So what do we do now to affect and disturb complacency? We all have to raise the alarm and say that this must be fixed. And I can’t think of a better thing to wake everybody up than the Stupak-Pitts Amendment [to the health-care bill]. What an insult. What a bipartisan insult.” Across the country, there are more programs to support women’s candidacies than ever before, and they are coordinating with one another in ways that they did not the last time around.

But politically speaking, among the powerful women’s advocates in Washington, there’s a key ingredient missing, and that’s courage. Just look at the responses to health-care reform from groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, which had supported Obama during the presidential campaign and clearly expected some loyalty in return: Their statements about health care seemed desperate to find a way to make lemonade from the lemons. Or remember the extent to which some feminists were willing to insist, during the presidential campaign, that Obama would be the better candidate for feminists: He has turned out to be neither more progressive nor more daring than the most mainstream of Democrats, while on women’s issues he has represented the seductive liberal call, as one editor of this magazine wrote half a decade ago, for the Democrats “to become the party of the common good.”

The problem with that call, however, is that all too often the “common good” may be commonly good for the Democrats without being good for all Democrats. At least some who have long stood under the Democratic umbrella are finally realizing that fact. In late spring, the Courage Campaign, an upstart California gay-rights group, circulated a petition advocating the overturning of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. “Dear Democrats, we need to talk,” the letter, written in the voice of a spurned lover, began. “This may be a hard letter to read, but I need to figure out if this relationship is still healthy for me.” The petition was light in tone but serious in message. “I’m just not getting what I need out of this relationship. You rarely call me anymore, and when you do it’s to ask for money. And I just can’t get excited anymore by your empty promises and half-gestures.”

It’s a letter women’s groups could write today. But I haven’t seen any new women’s group with “courage” as its first name. The “common good” culture of progressive politics has become so prevalent that women’s groups seem unwilling or unable to see that progressive interests and progressive women’s interests are not always the same thing. “[Obama] will throw pretty much anybody under the bus to get to where he wants to go,” Feldt comments. “What [women] have to do is to make it impossible for him not to stick with us. We have to be in his face every minute, and that’s what I don’t see happening right now.” Instead, women are still being nice, holding up the umbrella so that everyone stays dry. But they’re so busy holding up the umbrella, they don’t notice that they’re the ones getting wet.

Sarah Blustain is the former deputy editor of the American Prospect.