 |
 |
Rep. Lynn Woolsey announces her retirement at her Petaluma home last year. CHRISTOPHER CHUNG/PD
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A North Coast congressional seat held by liberal Democratic women for the last 30 years is up for grabs this year, with at least five men and three women in the race.
The district has changed shape over the years, but never wavered in sending Rep. Lynn Woolsey to Congress for 20 years, and Barbara Boxer for 10 years before that.
In 1992, the “year of the woman” in California politics, Woolsey, a Petaluma city councilwoman, pulled a stunning upset to win the seat. Boxer, a former Marin County supervisor, advanced from the House to the U.S. Senate.
Woolsey’s breakthrough came in the June primary, where she topped a field of nine candidates — seven of them men — with 26 percent of the vote, comfortably ahead of former Sonoma Supervisor Eric Koenigshofer.
On election night, Woolsey said: “It’s been an advantage to be a woman … and it is about time women had an advantage.”
She overcame financial odds, as well, running a $62,000 campaign that got twice as many votes as Bennett Johnston, a Louisiana senator’s son who had $500,000 in donations.
A former welfare mother who ran a Petaluma personnel agency, Woolsey said she refinanced her Petaluma home twice to support her campaign.
But now, with Woolsey set to retire at age 75, there’s debate over whether a woman should succeed her.
“This is the 21st century. I don’t think there’s any such thing as a woman’s district,” Woolsey said.
She’s not endorsing anyone, she said, and expressing a gender preference would be tantamount to an endorsement, or at least an exclusion of several candidates.
Running a shoestring campaign won’t work now, Woolsey said, since her compact Marin-Somoma district now runs from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.
Barbara Tomin, a Santa Rosa retiree who was a charter member of the Woolsey women’s group that coalesced in 1992, said she hasn’t decided how she will vote.
“Of course a woman would be very attractive to me,” Tomin said. “I would love a lot more women in Congress. They think differently.”
Many of the women who rallied around Woolsey in 1992, wearing buttons that said “Another woman for Woolsey,” knew her as chairwoman of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women in the 1970s.
That group remained her base, but “little by little they didn’t need to do it all,” Woolsey said.
The group is essentially disbanded now, but members still meet socially, Tomin said.
“I think it would be very sad to lose Lynn Woolsey’s seat to a man,” said Susie Tompkins Buell of San Francisco, a major Democratic Party fund-raiser who is backing Stacey Lawson, a San Rafael businesswoman, in the race.
Two other Democratic women — Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams and Petaluma Vice Mayor Tiffany Renee — also are running, along with Assemblyman Jared Huffman and activist Norman Solomon, both from Marin County, Andy Caffrey of Humboldt County and William Courtney of Mendocino County.
Emily’s List, a national group that raises money for women candidates, on Friday announced its endorsement of Lawson.
“Democratic women are leading the race to take back the House in 2012,” the group said in a press release. Emily’s list has raised $86 million for candidates since 1985.
Huffman has endorsements from more than 50 current and former elected women officials in the North Bay, as well as Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Times have changed since 1992, with women now well represented on North Coast city councils, boards of supervisors and state legislative posts.
California has two women senators. And Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, is the House minority leader and was the first woman elected House speaker.
But women account for just 17 percent in both the House and Senate, women’s advocates point out.
Subscribe by Email
Follow us on Twitter
Should we send another woman to Congress. No. We need to elect a competence representative who can do the job.
Maybe we should start a women for Huffman support group here. He doesn’t require a guru and has both feet planted firmly on the ground.
Who will be our next affirmative action Congresscritter?
Hmmm….
Here’s a crazy idea.
Why don’t we elect a rep. based on excellence rather than genitalia?
We elected a Pres. with lots of PC melanin and zero Americanism.
Are we learning our lesson yet?
Dilettante. Someone using money to buy the seat in lieu of having accomplished, or even tried, to put into place what she stands for.
Nice to have women in office, but as Woolsey’s dearth of leadership/accomplishment showed, that doesn’t always produce the best results.
We need someone who has proven him/herself in government.
Will a 1 percenter be sent to Congress should be the question. A millionaire with a guru. Isn’t that perfect for this area?
Just what we all need. Another brainless “out to save the world” Democrat from Marin County with no real sense of everyday values, voting on taxing us even more so they can play “nanny” and tell us how to run our lives. And the sad part is, that’s what the liberal majority living here will vote for. Just like sheep to slaughter.
It is unusually warm and this article is a complete joke; must be April 1st!
Why does it not surprise me that an article suggesting gender discrimination of the politically correct kind is viewed as OK to print when it is for a position destined for an ordained Democrat?
Pathetic.
Tiffany Renee for Congress? ROFLMAO Latina? Heck, I can speak more Spanish than she can.
Taxpayer:
I agree. The question of the PD in its headline, “Should the North Bay Send Another Woman to Congress?” is as stupid a concept as can be.
Just another example of why the New York Times finally gave up on the PD and sold it just recently.
Gender has zero to do with skills.
You either have job skills or you do not. The Press Democrat clearly figures, wrongly, that gender trumps job skills.
WHAT JOB SKILLS DOES THE CANDIDATE OFFER? That is the question, Guy Kovner.
Who cares what gender replaces her? JUST FIX THE BLOATED PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PENSION PROBLEM.
This is a ridiculous premise.
Everyone knows Sonoma and Marin voters will overwhelmingly vote for the least qualified candidate regardless of genitalia.
The concept that this is even a topic of discussion vexes me…I mean who thinks up the angles on these articles? Should we send another woman, wtf is that all about? “Oh no! we had a woman last time we need to have a man!!
There’s a debate? Who is in this debate In fact where is the debate? I’d like to attend.
Send the best candidate, and should we be fortuante enough to have another XX represent us all the better…I’ll bet the author was a man…yup. Well Ted how about an article from the perspective of “Oh gee we’ve been sending men in all these other districts since time immemorial should we send another? I think we need to have a debate about THAT! Christ come’on dude! Is it that slow of a news day? Get real, in fact get a woman to straighten you and your editor out. See you at the debate…
Whomever we send, please let them be a Constitutional conservative who is bent on reducing the size of government. Well, I can dream, can’t I?
Stacey Lawson may be a woman but the real power behind her is her guru Dattatreya Siva Baba. (Also known as Baskaran Pillai of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ho gave her $5000 for the race; others affiliated with him have given tens of thousands of out-of-state dollars).
People need to look up this charlatan and question Lawson on her ties to New Age kookery. Apparently he sells
http://www.miraclesofdattatreya.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/DattatreyaSivaBaba
http://www.pillaicenter.com/aboutus/pillai/
http://www.thegracelight.com/
Even around here what she’s written in the past most would find offensive (posts at Huffington Post that have mysteriously disappeared).
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/01/your_inner_terr.html
Stacey Lawson has spun a wonderful narrative but appears to have left out some important years in her life. More research please!
Love to see Tiffany Renee win. She is on an historic campaign to become the 9th Latina elected to U.S. Congress in our nation’s history. See her speak On Health Care and Access to Women’s Health Care in this video.
http://youtu.be/cJRnThEHY8M
The PD did a good job giving the impression a vote for Lawson is because she’s a woman and not because she’ll be good. Love those back-handed compliments.
All of other things being equal, a woman should definitely keep this seat.
The United States ranks 90th in the world (tied with Turkmenistan) for the percentage of women in the national legislature. If there is a woman candidate that is of equal or better qualifications than the best male candidate, she should win the seat. No brainer. And in this case, that is exactly the situation we have. Stacey Lawson is a superior candidate to Huffman in almost every respect.
John Walker Lind; should have been executed or sent to Levenonworth for life!
NOT; Woolsley is a big time MISTAKE. Huffman will be a better Congessman; and that’s from a republican!
It doesn’t matter whether the North Bay sends a man or a woman to congress, even the men are effeminate in this area. Let’s remember, it was the soft, effeminate culture of the North Bay that created John Walker Lindh (Johnny bin Walker). This guy rebelled against it so much that he converted to Islam, left the country, and became a fanatic on the other side of the world. If most of the voters in this area met a real man, they would be offended by him.
Any political position that is held by a woman should have only a female replacement. And any political position that is held by a man should have only a male replacement. There’s no way we should consider who is the most qualified person without regard to gender. How enlightened can we be?