Promoted by Jason Springer: It was a day to celebrate the accomplishments of Women in Government, while knowing they still have more work ahead. Thanks for posting the diary.
Women Advocating Good Government recognized the first ever candidates for Lt. Gov both being women. Photos courtesy of Jeannine LaRue, Chair-Elect of WAGG.
Myra Terry, former president of NOW NJ and founder of WAGG, introduced Ingrid Reed, saying
"We look to the first ever Lt Gov. to have real influence in matters of state and to be an effective arm of the executive office."
Ingrid Reed, Policy Analyst and New Jersey Project Director at Eagleton, talked about the importance of being at the table when redistricting happens after next years Census, mentioning
3 NJ legis. districts are won by less than 5% of the vote
8 districts are between 5 and 15%
3/4 of the 40 districts are won by more than 15% of the vote
"Women do well in competitive districts and when there are open seats."
Update by Jason: I split the diary and there are more great pictures along with the rest of the story below the fold.
Let's hear it for Elease Evans, Nellie Pou, Joan Quigley, Pamela Lampitt, Gordon Johnson, and Sandra Cunningham. As reported earlier by both Scott Weingart, who's doing a fantastic job liveblogging the convention for us here at Blue Jersey, and Matt Friedman at PolitickerNJ.com, five members of our legislature stood up to be counted as strong supporters of marriage equality this morning during a presentation by Garden State Equality to our delegation in Denver. We've just added Elease Evans to the list, based on reports from the delegation.
Though there are still doubters, all indications are now that New Jersey will be the third state after Massachusetts and California to guarantee the right to marry for same-sex couples. This kind of momentum, indicated by this morning's surprising development, is incredibly hard to overcome. While civil unions have been a progressive step forward for the cause, New Jersey residents seem to agree that basic civil rights should no longer be denied to a significant portion of our population.
This has been a great week for New Jersey's Democrats. Despite some weird media fixation on whether or not Senator Menendez would be given a speaking role at the Pepsi Center (and everyone knows he'd have delivered the keynote if it were up to me -- and perhaps should have, all things considered), we've seen our share of groundbreaking scenes at this year's convention. Our state's delegation played a big role yesterday, from the morning move to pledge all of our 127 delegates to Barack Obama, to being the last state to have our delegates counted in the roll call before Hillary Clinton's historic motion to nominate Obama by acclamation. It's fitting that six new backers for the marriage equality bill would announce their support at a convention where so much history is being written.
It's been a long time since the atmosphere in Trenton was this positive, especially concerning Family Medical Leave Insurance.
In addition to the panel vote this morning (update!! 2pm, bill passes Labor panel! DEMS vote yay, GOP -- sans Singer, who abstains -- votes Nay.) the focus is on Monday's Senate floor vote. So it's entirely possible that these pro-family measures will be a done deal before summer solstice. Which just might mean NJ workers won't have to choose between a paycheck and a sick child for much longer.
Today is a baby step. The real battle is Monday, March 3 when the full senate take a vote.
While I am waiting for the Family Medical Leave hearing to begin I am gonna cruise down State Street and catch a press conference to hear what the New Jersey Women for Obama have to say.
The polls suggest that Hillary Clinton has a solid lead in New Jersey for now, but the battle goes on for another week and I reckon it's gonna be a hard fought one until the end.
Anyway women from both houses and from the old and new guard will be on hand to offer up their support for Obama. And as an honorary Obama Girl I am definitely obliged to check that out!!
Fortunately the presser is right across the street from the statehouse (at the NJDSC offices) so I won't miss much of the Budget Committee stuff.
Randon musing: Senator Turner is rumored to vote NO on family leave in the Senate budget committee. But she'll be down the road at the Obama presser. They both kick off at the same time. Not sure if there's enough Shirley to go around, but maybe I can distract her until the vote is over?
When 2007 began, women held just 23 of the 120 seats in the New Jersey Legislature. That's only 7 women in the Senate out of 40, and only 16 Assemblywomen out of 80. Of those 23 female legislators, 16 were Democrats, including 5 of the 7 Senators.
What a difference a dayweek year can make. Turns out, my predictions last week kinda sorta came true, with the recent unpleasantness producing two brand new Assemblywomen, Elease Evans (LD-35) and Mila Jasey (LD-27), and a very likely winner this fall added to the 38th District ballot, Connie Wagner.
Add them to primary winners earlier this year - likely future Senators Dana Redd (LD-5), Teresa Ruiz (LD-29), and Sandra Cunningham (LD-31); and likely future Assemblywomen Cleopatra Tucker (LD-28), Grace Spencer (LD-29) and Caridad Rodriguez (LD-33), and suddenly, the Legislature is starting to feel a little more estrogenated. Without a single upset in November, we're already looking at a record 10 women in the Senate (8 of them Democrats), and a record 21 women in the Assembly (16 of them Democrats).
That's right - there will be more Democratic women in the legislature next year than there are women total there now. Historic, yes. But, still nowhere near where we ought to be.
Of course, there's still more story to tell, because it wouldn't be election season if there weren't a cool upset or two brewing. With a record number of women challenging Republicans all over the state, how many more women do you think can land in the legislature next year?
*Take the poll* on the flip (and share the reasons for your votes in the comments):
I have no problem with throwing corrupt politicians in the pokey regardless of what month is showing on the calendar. As far as I'm concerned, a crook is a crook and a crook's place is behind bars. We don't delay prosecution of murderers, rapists, and thieves because it would be inconvenient to their career. We shouldn't treat elected criminals any differently.
But there is a real problem with busting elected criminals between the primary and general elections. Namely, their names have to be removed from the ballot and someone else's name placed in their stead. Across the country, primary turnout is pretty low, so it's a bit of a stretch (in most cases) to say that a primary election actually reflects the desires of the district - and New Jersey is no different. But as tenuous as that claim might be, the current system for replacing candidates has an even more distant claim to representing the desires of the district's people.
UPDATE: PoliticsNJ is reporting that indeed, a South Orange woman - Bd. of Ed. Member, Mila Jasey - has locked up the seat in the 27th District. 1 down; 2 to go.
When Democratic Committees in the 35th, 38th and 27th Districts meet this weekend and next week to choose replacements for the Assembly seats vacated by Alfred Steele and Mims Hackett, and a new candidate for the Senate race abandoned by Joe Coniglio, they'll have the opportunity to increase the number of Democratic women in the New Jersey legislature by three, further narrowing the gender gap there, and further demonstrating the diversity of the NJ Democratic party compared to the Republicans.
Proving there can be a silver lining to any cloud, we're already seeing both Sharpe James's and Wayne Bryant's seats about to go to women - the inspiring Senators-to-be Dana Redd and Teresa Ruiz. Maybe we've finally found the cure to women's underrepresentation in New Jersey politics: indict the men.
