
This past Saturday while our Institute cohort was hard at work, a situation was playing out that speaks to the very heart of why WFWM’s Leadership Institute for Political Impact is so critical. Saturday afternoon a congresswoman with goals, a judge with principles, a nine year old girl with dreams, a congressional intern with aspirations, and people with plain old hope and interest, were gunned down senselessly. On behalf of our inaugural cohort of women, I give you our response to this event.
We could all very easily sit and decide that the world has gotten too out of hand, that the safest thing to do is stay in our own backyard, stay hidden, stay safe.
But we won’t.
We won’t let vitriol and violence take over our world.
We won’t let the discussion be taken out of our control.
We won’t let our voices not be heard.
We won’t let Congresswoman Giffords down.
We won’t let principles be destroyed.
We won’t let adults turn their backs on children’s dreams.
We will do the hard work to create civility, honor and peace
We will craft discussions that are grounded in respect
We will speak our truth aloud
We will run for and hold public office
We will create just, equitable and safe communities
We will encourage and teach our children to have their dreams.
We will create the world that we know and believe is possible.
Together.
Carla Oleska
C.E.O.
Send Me "Back to the Kitchen"?
SOURCE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/betty-sutton/send-me-back-to-the-kitch_b_552066.html
Democratic Congresswoman (Ohio's 13th District)
Last week a talented, young woman full of promise came to me with a flier her family received in the mail from the Republican Party. As she handed me the mailer, with a sense of disappointment and hurt, she pointed to a line in the flier that read, 'Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and send her back to the kitchen.'
The young woman, her heart heavy, then said, "I can't believe that this is how some people value women. And, even if they do, I can't believe that they would feel comfortable promoting it in a flier like this." And then, this bright, capable woman, who I know to be ready and able to do great things for our community and nation, said this: "I don't know why I even went to college; if this is how people treat you, what's the point?"
The mailer was supported by funds from a Republican multimillionaire challenger by the name of Tom Ganley who has decided he wants to take my place in Congress. Ganley placed a huge advertisement in the flier to build support for the campaign to - how did they put it - oh, yes, to get me "out of the House and back in the kitchen."
We have set a goal to send 15,000 signatures calling on Republican candidate Tom Ganley to unequivocally denounce the comment immediately, and for Medina County Republican Party Chairman Bill Heck, who continues to defend the belittling comment, to step down.
Posted by WPWI on 05/08/2011 at 04:20 AM in COMMENTARY, WOMEN AND POLITICS | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)