appoint a woman -- miami herald 11/29/05

Appoint a woman

Re the Nov. 22 story South Florida pushes for Latin senator: Thank you for mentioning that New Jersey Governor-elect Jon Corzine is considering a woman to appoint to his seat in the U.S. Senate. New Jersey does not have one woman in Congress, even though it is the ninth most populous state.

Women elected Jon Corzine on Nov. 8. Now they should ask why the Democratic Party says incessantly to us, ''You're critical in the election,'' then does next to nothing to elect more women in the quest for equal representation in Congress, where women hold a measly 15.2 percent of the seats. If women's votes are so critical, here is the situation to show that the party is there for women.

It's nice that South Florida Hispanics feel that they have a friend in New Jersey Democrat Rep. Bob Menendez. But that has nothing to do with representation in the U.S. Senate for the people of New Jersey. Corzine should elevate state Sen. Nia Gil to his seat, and the Democratic Party should pull out all the stops to keep her there.

PAULA XANTHOPOULOU, Miami

dccc actions in illinois race are shameful!

dccc chair rahm emanuel's attitude towards chris cegelis -- running for congressional open seat in il08 (henry hyde's district) -- is appalling. cegelis gave hyde a run for his money in 2004, the first such challenge in 30 years. she lost by only six points, in her first campaign in a republican district! hyde is now retiring -- but instead of nurturing cegelis's run for the now open seat, the dccc's message beginning last december is: you're not good enough because you didn't raise enough money. rahm has been trying to recruit someone else ever since, and been turned down once or twice.

now he'd like disabled iraqi war veteran tammy duckworth to run against anti-war cegelis pitting dem women who probably agree on most things against one another. duckworth had apparently no political aspirations and has been in walter reed hospital most of last year. how would duckworth (who does not currently live in the district) fare? lynn sweet of the chicago tribune reports: "While Duckworth is a political rookie with no campaign experience or political organization behind her, if she runs, she will be able to tap into a turnkey political operation engineered in large part by Emanuel. That operation consists of some of the state's highest-profile Democratic political professionals, including media consultant David Axelrod, direct mail marketeer Peter Giangreco and Jasculca, who said he met with her in Washington a few weeks ago to discuss the possibility of a campaign."

why couldn't cegelis be the recipient of that largess, are the dems so desperate to exploit the war (and duckworth) that they are willing to finance an expensive, woman-against-woman primary and than a general election campaign against a republican who might be for the war but never voted for it in congress?

when and where will the dccc unwillingness to take concrete steps to elect MORE women end, and when will women stop falling for it?

correction?

many thanks to david chen who informed me that the new york times did mention nia gill in a story 11/23 that did not make the national editions. my response to him: "forgive me if i do not think that was enough or that i was not pleased to have her not mentioned yesterday. why can't the times mention no representation for nj women in congress or the stats re how many more women voted for corzine than forrester -- this is a story that keeps getting ignored and it is simply not fair. if people were aware that there are no nj women in congress, but there are more women than men there...thanks for listening."

nytimes still mentioning only men for nj senate seat vacancy!

it's unbelievable that the new york times still will not admit that nj governor-elect jon corzine is considering a woman for appoinment to his u.s.senate seat. TWO WEEKS AGO, the trenton news reported that he was considering state senator nia gill -- whom he called an "extraordinarily capable woman." will the men who make the times newsroom decisions take off their blinders, or should we cancel our subscriptions to the times and subcribe to the news? a report which took up an entire news column today once again totally ignored that piece of information. it's really not the times job to make senator gill invisible and therefore not a bonafied candidate, but that's what they did when carol moseley braun ran for president, didn't they? it's the times job to tell us what they know about that story -- and they know about nia gill and the fact that nj women have NOT ONE VOICE in the u.s.congress.

Letter to NYTimes RE NJ Senate Seat Appointment

To the Editor:

Your follow-up coverage of the NJ governor's race has been prodigious, including Doug Forrester's excuses for his second statewide loss and the role of ex-wives in election campaigns. Under the category of replacements for NJ Governor-elect Jon Corzine's US Senate seat, however, you have not addressed the possibility of a woman being appointed -- even though your neighboring NJ has NOT ONE WOMAN in either the US House or Congress. This means that 51.5 % of that state's population or about 4.4 million women have absolutely no voice in Congress!

On Friday, Senator Corzine told The Trenton News that he was indeed considering State Senator Nia Gill as his replacement -- not just Good Ol' Boys Acting Governor Richard Codey or five sitting congressmen as previously reported. Senator Corzine has called Senator Gill an "extraordinarily capable woman." Appointment of a woman like Senator Gill would be a huge step forward for both the women of New Jersey and equal representation. Let's applaud Senator Corzine for his out-of-the box thinking and urge him to move forward with appointing a woman for his U.S. Senate seat.

Sincerely,
Paula Xanthopoulou
www.withoutboundaries.com