SHAHEEN, LARSON & LEE OPINE ON WOMEN
IN POLITICS
By Gintautas Dumcius
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON, TUESDAY, OCT. 17, 2006….For women, public office and
politics remain the final frontier, according to a panel of
high-powered women who met on Tuesday.
Challenges lay in getting larger numbers of women, a
demographic political analysts say will be crucial in the
gubernatorial election and races nationwide, to run and
fundraise for candidates, panelists said. Their comments
came in response to a question about a Brown
University/Union College study that found 59 percent of men,
versus 43 percent of women, consider running for office.
When running for an executive office, women must establish
“toughness credentials” without appearing too aggressive,
said Jeanne Shaheen, the governor of New Hampshire from 1997
to 2003.
“That’s a very fine line you walk as a woman,” said Shaheen,
who now directs Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.
The American electorate also holds differing views on men
and women running for office, with women more often seen as
outsiders, and more ethical and honest, Shaheen said.
“That could bode well for women this year,” she said, with
scandals rocking Congress.
The panel included Barbara Lee of the Barbara Lee Family
Foundation, and Boston attorney Gloria Larson, Shaheen, with
little disagreement among the three.
“It’s so incredibly important for women to be at the table,”
Larson said, pointing to her personal assistant at her law
firm of Foley Hoag, who ran for selectwoman earlier this
year in Holbrook and won. “I think it’s a fabulous thing
when women take up the calling.”
Lee said that while men tend to know they want to go into
politics early, women tend to get involved because of a
specific issue, such as Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin, who
got involved due to a railroad crossing; and Sen. Patty
Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, who ran for office
when she learned the state was going to cut a pre-school
program her children attended.
In the state Legislature, the gender gap lingers: Out of 200
state lawmakers, 50 of them – or 25 percent - are women.
(Two of them – both representatives - attended the
breakfast: Dorchester Democrat Marie St. Fleur and Newton
Democrat Kay Khan.)
“And yet pundits will tell you that this election year, the
key to the corner office really hinges on the vote of
women,” said Gloria Craven, partner at the lobbying firm
Craven and Ober Policy Strategies LLC, who moderated the
discussion before a crowd of individuals, made up mostly
women in business. “So you are a powerful group.”
The panel discussion, held at the Four Seasons and hosted by
the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Network,
comes as Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey is making a bid to become the
state’s first elected female governor.
A recent Suffolk University poll showed Healey trailing
Democratic rival Deval Patrick, who would make history of
his own as the first African-American governor, in support
from women voters by as much as twenty percent, down from
thirty in previous polls after press reports on his former
advocacy of a convicted rapist.
Shaheen called the existence of two minority candidates and
the lack of race and gender as issues in the campaign
“refreshing.”
Among the obstacles for female candidates: raising cash.
Shaheen said she raised $10 million for her US Senate run in
2002. “It’s unfortunate that’s our system,” she said.
Fundraising organizations like the Democratic-leaning
EMILY’s List and the Republican WISH (Women In the Senate
and House) can help, she added.
Larson said that at fundraisers she runs 95 percent of
attendees are men. She half-jokingly suggested women hold
off on buying a pair of Jimmy Choos, which happen to cost
the same amount as an individual might contribute to a race
in Massachusetts.
Asked what the most important issues are for women in the
gubernatorial election, Lee said economic interests are
considered key, including equal pay, health insurance, and
retirement issues.
Shaheen said there are “no such things as women’s issues.”
“People’s issues are women’s issues, and clearly this
election is important to women in business just as it’s
important to everybody else. Because it is about policies
that are going to affect people’s lives,” she said, with
policies that include the tax structure and investments in
education, business and the state’s future. “It’s about
who’s going to be here on a day-to-day basis and make a
difference with those policies that affect people.”
Larson, a Republican who served as Gov. William Weld’s
economic affairs secretary and now supports Patrick, agreed.
“We haven’t done nearly what we should’ve done to invest in
public higher education,” she said, adding that the state
was at a “pivotal point” in its history, and needs to
compete not just with other states, but the entire world.
“Massachusetts is a great place, but we can be a whole lot
better,” she said.
Larson’s lengthy remarks prompted Lee to say, “I was just
going to say, don’t you think Gloria should run for office?”
“The question on everybody’s mind would be, but which
party?” Craven said, eliciting laughter from the crowd.
When asked about her political plans after the meeting,
Larson, a self-described “public policy junkie,” said, “I’ve
never wanted to run for office,” instead choosing to focus
on serving on boards and think tanks, and as chairwoman of
the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
But, she added: “I don’t think you can ever rule out what
you’re going to do in the future.”
Asked under what party she would run, Larson said, “To be
determined.”
Before making for the exits, Rep. St. Fleur (D-Dorchester),
said: “I think everything they had to say was right on the
money.”
“All of them hit the nail on the head,” added Jesse Mermell,
executive director of the Massachusetts Women’s Political
Caucus, after the panel.
“When it comes to fundraising, it’s a huge challenge,” she
said. “It takes a lot of money to run.”
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HEALTH
STATUS REPORT
Thursday, October 19, 2006
RELEASE OF THE 2006 MA HEALTH COUNCIL HEALTH STATUS REPORT
"Common Health for the Commonwealth"
Massachusetts State House
Boston, MA
McCardinal Photo 617-786-9196
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Senator Richard Moore discussing
the MHC Health Status Report. |
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Representative Peter Koutoujian |
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