| After a second article and second editorial on March 30th from the Home News:
More power to women seeking office in N.J.
The impending retirement of 12 state senators - all but one of them male - presents a long-overdue opportunity for New Jersey's political establishment and the voters to put more women in the Statehouse come this fall. May the parties and the electorate answer that call. New Jersey's rough treatment of female political candidates in recent decades has become something of a national embarrassment...
Home News Tribune editor
They accepted my 2nd letter and didn't even title it so badly this time. In the print edition, it appeared below a picture of Seema Singh and one of Ellen Karcher, and next to another supportive letter for Karcher, which taken to together seemed to form a comment in and of itself - that they are continuing to keep the issue front and center on the opinion page.
My letter:
Women have long way to go in N.J. politics
Thanks to the Home News Tribune for a second editorial on the abysmal numbers of women in politics in New Jersey. I agree that it's an embarrassment and we are a century behind. In my home state of California, an impressive 36 percent of 53 Congress members are women. If New Jersey had the same proportion, we would have five women in Congress, instead of none. And while New Jersey has never sent a woman to the Senate, both of California's senators are women.
I'm happy to see Seema Singh endorsed to run for state Senate in the 14th District, although she is running in a tough district while open seats in safe districts in Middlesex County are still filled by men, e.g. Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes III in the 18th District. I agree with state Sen. Ellen Karcher, D-Mercer, Monmouth, that New Jersey is progressive and diverse enough to elect more women. She says, "We are woefully behind . . . I don't know what accounts for that." I would blame the structure of the parties and their unwillingness to open up the process.
I am less optimistic [than you] about the 12 state Senate openings. Besides running women this year, like Seema Singh, I advocate reforming the political process. If Gov. Jon S. Corzine can get a ban on dual office-holding through the Legislature, we could see more future opportunities for women and minorities.
Aside from personally wishing the governor a speedy recovery, I'm less optimistic about the prospects for a dual office holding ban if Corzine doesn't resume his duties in the next couple of months.
I hope Codey is going to work with Corzine's agenda and not get bogged down on these types of reforms, which have been notoriously tough for the the legislature to pass without delays and watering down the bills. |
