Women and Political Office

On the heels of the depressing news that the Washington State Legislature is mostly white, middle-aged and male, I urge women and any women in a minority group to consider running for office (or supporting a friend who may want to run).

I have helped walk candidates through running for School Board (with help from great former directors and others) because it's important to know what you are getting into with a race AND what that work is like if you win.

But I am certainly no expert but there are ones coming to town.  The National Political Caucus of Washington is having a campaign training for women on Saturday, March 8th from 8 am to 5 pm at the Tukwila Community Center.  The cost is between $40-60 depending on if you are a member or non-member.  From their webpage:

Sessions include:
  • Are you Ready to Run?
  • Developing and delivering your message
  • Finding and raising the money
  • Targeting and talking to voters
  • Campaign Nuts & Bolts: getting started, deadlines, rules, organization, and more!
Our lunch panel includes elected officials who have been there and will share their insights, tips and answer your questions. Confirmed to join us are Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall, Bellingham City Councilmember Roxanne Murphy, newly appointed 38th District Representative Lillian Ortiz-Self, and 46th District Representative Jessyn Farrell.

Plan to join us after the training from 5pm-6pm for appetizers and no-host bar mingling and networking at nearby Billy Baroo's. This is your opportunity to talk to the trainers and consultants, other attendees, and meet representatives from other endorsing organizations!

I would like to see more women and more women of color who are willing to fight ed reform be elected.  To that end, I am willing to sponsor three women who would like to go to this event.  I ask that you explain who you are, what office you would like to run for and a paragraph about your thoughts on public education.  (What you write to me will be held in confidence; I will not disclose anyone's names.)

Do this within the next week as I do not know how many people can go or how fast it will fill up.  My blog e-mail is
sss.westbrook@gmail.com



Comments

Anonymous said…
Melissa, Lillian Ortiz-Self was appointed in the 21st District, not the 38th. June Robinbson is the House member who was appointed recently in the 38th. Thanks.

-- Ivan Weiss
2/18/14, 5:59 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Thanks Ivan, that italicized blurb was written by someone else.
2/18/14, 8:58 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more