Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Integrity Candidate

I held a fundraiser for Dana Kennedy, Candidate for Phoenix City Council. After Dana gave her talk about the race and her opponent, one of our guests said he'd like to make a contribution to her race. Dana asked him if he had any business before the City of Phoenix and he said, "Well, I have a couple cases against the Phoenix Police". Another guest piped in that the matter didn't directly relate to City Council business, but could end up at the Council. Dana rejected the contribution wanting nothing to interfere with her clear judgement. Her opponent takes tons of money from real estate developers and those with matters before the City Council.

Candidates like Dana restore my confidence in the integrity of poltics and government. Spread the word about her race: www.kennedyforphoenix.com.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

A Call for Mediocrity

A recent Stanford and University of Chicago study
shows that "women in Congress introduce more bills, attract more co-sponsors and bring home more money for their districts than their male counterparts do. The study, which examined the performance of House members between 1984 and 2004, found that women delivered roughly 9 percent more discretionary spending for their districts than men." For instnce, "Rep. Zoe Lofgren delivered around $859 million to her district, compared with $541 million brought in by her predecessor, Rep. Don Edwards, during his final term, the researchers said."

The reason for this outperformance is that women still face more primary and general election challenges than men and those women that manage to get elected are superstars. According to the Politico article, "Women who run and win are likely the most politically ambitious and talented of their pool, having potentially overcome hurdles including voter bias and self-doubt about their ability to win."

Since I've devoted the last decade to getting more women into the political pipeline, one could say I'm working towards giving woman equal opportunity to be mediocre!

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27152.html#ixzz0RIVfwQLL

Friday, September 4, 2009

Emerge Arizona Director Dana Kennedy Runs Brilliant Race

A top Phoenix city official called me on Wednesday, Sept 2, to ask me "Who did Dana Kennedy use as her campaign manager? Everyone at City Hall wants to know because she ran such a brilliant race." Dana won enough votes in the September 1st election to force the incumbent into a runoff in November. I also heard that Dana's campaign had the feel of a federal campaign with its number of volunteers and its level of organization. Apparently, Dana has set a new bar for the caliber of race for the Phoenix City Council.

I was happy to report that Dana had been her own campaign manager and Emerge Arizona alumnae had volunteered in force. Emerge Arizona women literally took over the phonebanks at the Democratic Party headquarters during the last week of the campaign. Dana spent $30,000 on her race, while the incumbent spent $200,000, needing five times as much per vote - and the incumbent had much greater name recognition at the outset of the race. How do you want your city to be run? Join me in supporting Dana's candidacy at www.kennedyforphoenix.com.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

French Finance Minister Argues in Favor of Legislation and Preferential Treatment of Women

Christine LaGarde, in a Forbes Woman video argues that legislation and preferentrial treatment are required to create more gender equality. LaGarde is the former head of international law firm, Baker McKenzie and currently France's finance minister. She believes "it will take too long" to create gender balance without more aggressive measures.